EDMONDS — Mindy Mar said there’s a simple reason why the recently opened 99 Ranch Market along Highway 99 is so busy.
"If you go there, they pretty much have everything," said Mar, who lives in Bellevue.
That includes 50-pound bags of rice from Thailand, shrimp-flavored chips and even imitation shark fin.
With a wide range of imported grocery items, along with less-exotic staples such as Jif peanut butter, Triscuits and Cheerios, the Asian supermarket has attracted large crowds of shoppers since its opened Oct. 30.
Even in the middle of the day on Friday, it was not easy finding a parking spot in front of the market.
"I come by here all the time and it’s always full," said Jesse Riley, an Edmonds resident who finally checked out 99 Ranch Market last week.
He was impressed by the changes made to the interior of the former Kmart store and the range of food items. "And the prices seem pretty good, too," Riley added,
Not long after Kmart closed its 77,000-square-foot store at the corner of 224th Street SW and Highway 99 in June 2002, the owners of the 99 Ranch Market chain announced plans to move in.
The Edmonds store is the second in the state for the market, which also operates a store in Kent. The chain’s California-based parent company, Tawa Supermarkets Inc., calls itself the largest Asian supermarket chain in the United States, with about two dozen locations in several states.
Alan Lee of Tawa said extensive renovations to the inside and outside of the building cost "several million dollars."
"We did a lot of upgrades," Lee said, noting that the work took much longer than first anticipated.
But the customer response since the opening has lived up to the company’s hopes, Lee said.
"So far, so good," he said.
David Ho, an assistant manager at the Edmonds store, said it employs between 140 and 160 people. He said the large selection of specialty items in the market are aimed at customers from a number of countries, including Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam and Thailand.
With that in mind, the store features a few things not found in the run-of-the-mill supermarket. That includes large tanks of live sturgeon, carp and tilapia and water-filled containers featuring live oysters, mussels and clams in the seafood department.
There’s also a bakery with a range of Asian-style buns, a video store with Asian-language tapes and a restaurant that includes sushi, egg rolls and wonton on its menu.
The market uses about 55,000 square feet of the former Kmart space, with the rest transformed into spaces for small shops.
In one of those spaces, Mar has opened Pacific Herb &Grocery Inc., which sells traditional herbs and Asian health foods.
She said she decided to open near the Edmonds market after finding out that many who patronized her Seattle shop came from south Snohomish County. Her business also has a store near the 99 Ranch Market in Kent, so she’s seen the drawing power of the supermarket.
In the space next door, Ella Chern of Shoreline has opened A Rainbow Dragon, which sells imported gifts. Originally from Hong Kong, Chern said 99 Ranch sells spices that she previously found only in Seattle’s International District shops.
She said she hopes the traffic generated by the market helps out all of the surrounding businesses along Highway 99.
"I think it will make this whole area a lot busier," she said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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