Dive Brief: Asian grocery chain 99 Ranch Market landed in Arizona last week with the opening of its store in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix. The 44,085-square-foot store includes the grocer’s food court, Eat Up, which offers chicken and noodles from Nine Wings, a vegan and vegetarian-friendly restaurant called Veggie Village, and Jin Tofu Village, which serves Korean cuisine. More restaurants are expected to open, the grocer said in a press release. 99 Ranch’s new store comes at a time when several grocers are settling in the greater Phoenix area. Dive Insight: With the opening of the Arizona location, 99 Ranch now has 54 stores in 10 states. The store at 1920 W. Chandler Blvd. is approximately a 15-minute drive from H Mart’s only Arizona location, which opened in Mesa last spring. Along with 99 Ranch and H Mart, the Phoenix area is seeing growing food competition with the opening of stores from Aldi, Asian grocery store W Mart, Trader Joe’s, and other retailers, The Arizona Republic reported. 99 Ranch is headquartered in California and is focused on expanding its reach to existing and new customers. Last year, the Taiwanese American supermarket chain expanded its presence on the east coast by moving to Massachusetts and Virginia. In November, the grocer teamed up with Instacart. The competition in the Asian food market is growing. H Mart is expanding its US presence by coming to Florida and has plans to open an automated micro-fulfillment center in New Jersey. Asian food e-grocers are also growing in the US, like Umamicart, which launched earlier this year.
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