Kim’s Mart, Davis’ only Asian market, is undergoing an expansion, which will be complete mid-May.
“We’ve been [at 636 Fourth St.] for 12 years,” said owner Chur Jun. “I have been thinking about expanding for a long time now.”
Kim’s Mart will inhabit the space two doors down at 628 Fourth St., which was previously Pallen’s Martial Arts. When renovations are complete, the grocery will be twice its original size.
“The store is too crowded now,” Jun said. “We need more space for people and products.”
Right now, Kim’s Mart offers a variety of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese groceries, as well as other household items. It also features some readymade foods including what Jun called the “very popular” kimbap, which is Korean-style sushi. All pre-made sushi ranges from $2.99 to $3.99, and the grocery rolls in store contain both meat and vegetarian items.
When the move is complete, Kim’s Mart will offer a wider variety of pre-made food products in addition to kimbap.
“We will have more pre-made side dishes,” Jun said, “[as well as] more things that are ready to eat and more Korean barbeque dishes for lunch, like spicy pork and chicken.”
Kim’s Mart customers agree that the expansion will be good, mainly because they will have more of a selection of products to choose from.
“I get the sushi most of the time and it’s pretty good,” said UC Davis fifth-year senior Trinh Le. “I would probably buy the [new] pre-made foods.”
Kim’s Mart is the only Asian market in Davis and is limited byits current confines to how much variety itcan physically offer. Therefore the expansion will broaden the customers‘ choices in what they can find locally.
“When we expand, the store will be better organized according to country and there will be a bigger selection of food and products,” Jun said.
“I’ve been coming here for a long time,” said Davis resident Cindy Nolan. “I come to find unusual things that I can’t find in other stores and it’s also less expensive.”
The store’s expansion might also affect UC Davis students.
“Right now we don’t have any UC Davis students working at the store,” Jun said. “After we expand, I’m thinking of having some UC Davis students as employees.”
Jun said the renovations and final move will not affect business hours. Kim’s Mart is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:30 to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
ALEX BULLER can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com.
