2nd Frank’s market offers another seafood option

New location provides greater inventory, selection for customers

Bobby and Becky Allman of Galloway went to Frank’s Fish & Seafood Market II on Hilliard-rome Road Sept. 3 to buy several pounds of crab and shrimp to boil during the Labor Day weekend for a gathering in Zanesville.

“I saw (the market) as I drove by it several times in the past week and planned to come back to buy what I needed,” Bobby Allman said.

But upon the recommendation of market man

ager Kelly Miller, they added another item to their purchase: alligator sausage.

The alligator sausage and duck, rabbit, pheasant and turtle meat are among some of the more exotic fare available at the new 8,000-square-foot Frank’s Fish & Seafood Market II that opened in August at 2410 Hilliard-rome Road in Columbus, just south of Hilliard.

“(The new location) provides greater inventory and selection for our customers,” said owner Frank Gonzalez.

It is the second location for Gonzalez, who opened the first Frank’s Fish & Seafood Market, nearby at 5251 Trabue Road in Columbus, about 20 years ago.

The 4,000-square-foot market now is designated with an “I” to differentiate from the new store.

About eight years after the first market opened, Frank’s Fish and Seafood Carryout, 5249 Trabue Road, opened within it, providing limited seating for customers to order food and eat there.

Both the market and the carryout will continue to operate on Trabue Road.

Gonzalez, 59, said he invested about $1 million to purchase the former Mosley Meats building at 2410 Hilliardrome Road, gut its inside and then remodel and equip it to open as Frank’s Fish & Seafood Market II.

The market’s biggest sellers remain popular seafood staples, such as tilapia, salmon, cod and swordfish, Gonzalez said.

But the market also sells “exotic” meats, he said.

The market sells the same kinds of fish and seafood that are served at some of the finest restaurants in Columbus and throughout Ohio, said Gonzales, who founded Columbus Fish and Seafood Wholesale about 30 years ago.

The wholesale business first operated at the Valleyview Commerce Center before relocating to Trabue Road.

After relocating to Trabue Road, Gonzalez said, it was not uncommon for people to knock on the door and ask to purchase fish.

It occurred often enough that Gonzalez opened up part of the market as a retail shop in addition to the wholesale operations he continues today.

Columbus Fish and Seafood Wholesale provides fish and seafood to about 250 restaurants and stores in a 75-mile radius of central Ohio, Gonzalez said.

Three trucks make the central Ohio deliveries five days a week, and two other trucks make deliveries in other parts of Ohio and northern Kentucky, Gonzalez said.

The wholesale and retail operations generate annual sales in the millions of dollars, he said, and grew from an operation he began at a Columbus garage,

built on the experience he gained when he first began working at the seafood store of a family friend in Youngstown in 1978.

The new market also offers a wide selection of wines from Heidelberg Distributing Co. in a variety of price ranges, Gonzalez said.

Frank’s Fish & Seafood Market II is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.

kcorvo@thisweeknews.com

Frank Gonzalez, owner of the two locations of Frank's Fish & Seafood Market, shows some of the wine selections available at the store in Columbus.

PHOTOS BY A. KEVIN CORVO/THISWEEK Market manager Kelly Miller reaches for a bowl of shrimp to fill an order Sept. 3 for a customer at the new Frank's Fish & Seafood Market II at 2410 Hilliard-rome Road.

PHOTOS BY A. KEVIN CORVO/THISWEEK Kelly Miller, manager of Frank’s Fish & Seafood Market II, rings up an order for Bobby and Becky Allman, who visited the market Sept. 3 for the first time.

These red snappers are among the seafood available at Frank’s Fish and Seafood Market II.