Asian supermarket

In non-Asian countries, an Asian supermarket largely describes a category of grocery stores that focuses and stocks items and products imported from countries located in the Far East (e.g. East, Southeast and South Asia).^{[citation needed]}

These stores go further than a typical quintessential supermarket in that they sell general merchandise, goods, and services related to specific Asian countries of origin, immigrant communities or the ethnic enclave that the store may be located in.

They also often tend to diversify by carrying products from other fellow Asian countries; Japanese supermarkets may carry some Chinese, Indonesian, Korean and Singaporean products; Korean supermarkets carry some Chinese and Japanese products; Chinese/Taiwanese supermarkets carry Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese products, and so on.

Asian supermarkets carry items and ingredients generally well-suited for Asian cuisines and simply not found or considerably more expensive in most Western supermarkets, due to low turnover and small quantities.

While it primarily caters to a single particular Asian cultural group, many also additionally caters to other Asian immigrant groups who do not have easy access to foodstuffs from their country of origin. These are prevalent in Asian enclaves in the United States and Canada. Urban centers such as New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Diego, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Seattle have Chinatowns, Little Indias, Little Saigons, Koreatowns, or Japantowns and other ethnic neighborhoods with specialty small business, but surrounding areas or smaller cities will have Asian supermarkets providing the same but reduced amenities for the same purposes.

Sometimes, these markets are surrounded by an Asian-themed strip mall. The markets are generally ethnocentric and may be mainly Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese or Filipino market; however, in many areas such supermarkets cater to a more diverse Asian population as a means of diversification and Pan-Asian cooperation.

It is this diversity that led to the establishment of Pan-Asian goods in a one-stop shop with aisles selling foods in common and others dedicated to other groups such as Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Malaysian, Singaporean, Vietnamese, Thai, Taiwanese, Korean, and others. Some Asian supermarkets in Australia and the United States also stock Pacific food items aimed at the Pacific Islander communities in those countries. Similarly, some Asian supermarkets in the Netherlands stock items from Suriname aimed at the large Surinamese communities of Indian and Javanese origins found in the country.

Despite sourcing from many multiple nations, items stocked are very different depending on their target ethnic market. For example, in Chinese and Vietnamese supermarkets it is common for animal meat to be hung on hooks for display; in Japanese supermarkets this is less common except for seafood. Chinese supermarkets may also carry Japanese products but the range of selection would be very limited as compared to a Japanese supermarket. For example, for green tea, in a Japanese market, an entire aisle may be dedicated to it, stocking a wide variety and grades of regional loose-leaf teas, whereas the Chinese market may simply carry a few brands of Japanese tea bags and bottled teas, while focusing on chrysanthemum tea.