Market brings new flavors
MILFORD — The city’s offerings for area foodies just got bigger.
A new Asian megamarket featuring products from China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan has opened at the former Shoprite site on Cherry Street.
Jeff Gee, part owner of G Mart along with his father and others, said they decided to open in Milford because an employee at one of his father’s out-of-state locations, a University of New Haven student, said this area would be a good market as there are many potential customers but no supermarket with a heavy presence of the products from that region.
Gee, who is from China, said people often say, “I miss the food I had in China.”
The supermarket at 155 Cherry St. opened Feb. 20 in a retail strip that has seen significant changes over the last five years. The retail site was purchased by Stoneham Milford LLC in 2008 for $28.1 million, according to online property data by Vision Government Solutions.
The former Shoprite at the property moved across Cherry Street in 2016 to a much larger site that had been home to a movie theater complex and also abuts the Boston Post Road. Shoprite owner Harry Garafalo, who also owns stores in Orange and East Haven, among others, had operated on his former Cherry Street site since 1992.
Gee said G Mart’s opening weekend was busy, although they didn’t advertise or promote the opening because “we didn’t want too many people here with the pandemic.”
Gee said they expect to draw customers from all around the area, likely from as much as a 30-minute drive away.
G Mart — named in honor of Gee’s father, Shunwah Gee, is spacious and open.
Customer Bethany Quion, who left the store with a cart full of products, said she lives in Orange and it’s nice not to drive to New Haven or New York to shop.
“I’m having a great time,” she said. “It’s a lot more convenient.”
Shopper Helen Jin said the store is “organized and clean,” but best of all she doesn’t have to drive “40 miles to New York” for ingredients she needs.
“They have most of the products here and the price is reasonable, too,” Jin said, noting she wished there were more products from other parts of the world, including Mexico.
Jennifer Yao said her shopping experience was “good,” and she found some items she had never had before.
“It’s my first time here,” she said.
The store has rows of more types of soy and other sauces than many Americans realize exist, as well as a huge variety of noodles, tea, dumplings, spices and Asian-style desserts, such as the popular “ice bars.”
The produce section is chockfull of vegetables not always found in most American-oriented grocery stores, including baby butter bok choy, enoki mushrooms, red meat dragon fruit, Korean pears and Chinese leek.
The store also has a huge selection of fresh and frozen meats – including the popular Asian sliced beef.
Also, there is a broad variety of fresh and frozen seafood, including cuttlefish, squid, octopus, and all kinds of shrimp, along with live, Dungeness crab in tanks – a rare sight in other area groceries – and fresh lobster in tanks alongside the crabs.