99 Ranch Market

99 Ranch Market (大華超級市場, also called Tawa Supermarket in its Chinese name, sometimes called Ranch 99 due to confusion based on its logo) is one of the largest Asian-American supermarket chains in the United States. It operates mainly on the West Coast, especially in California. It also has stores in Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Nevada, and Washington. It is also has a joint venture with the Chinese-Canadian T & T Supermarket chain, which operates mainly in the Vancouver area and also Calgary and Toronto.

Roger H. Chen, a Taiwanese expatriate, opened the chain's first location in 1984 in the Vietnamese-American community of Little Saigon in Westminster, California. The name was originally called 99 Price Market but was eventually renamed 99 Ranch Market to give the supermarket a somewhat trendier name. The chain is headquarted in Buena Park, California.

Although most of its customers are ethnic Chinese Americans, especially serving middle to upper class Taiwanese-American immigrants, the chain sells a wide range of imported food products and merchandise from the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, and Southeast Asia. It also carries some domestic products made by Chinese-American companies and mainstream American brands. The number 99 is a lucky number for many Taiwanese. In addition, it has also reached out to pan-Asian customers, especially Filipino Americans and Korean Americans, by opening locations in areas containing these two ethnicities.

Most 99 Ranch Market locations have a full-service take-out deli serving a combination of Taiwanese, Cantonese, and Sichuan fare. The stores also have a bakery with cakes and fresh Chinese pastries. Most of the bread products and pastries sold in the markets are made inside the store.

The chain often operates chiefly in the newer suburban Chinatowns, including Milpitas (where the supermarket is strategically located near the Taiwanese-dominated technology industries of the Silicon Valley) and Irvine (where wealthy Taiwanese Americans have settled in the city during much of the 1990s) in California. In many cases, it has been the anchor tenant for other stores and restaurants in these developing suburban shopping areas. Many Chinese businesses have been known to "follow" 99 Ranch Market to many new locations such as Sam Woo Restaurant. It has found less success operating in the older Chinatown of Los Angeles due to obscure location, lack of parking space, and perhaps competition from local small grocers which are generally popular among lower-income elderly Chinese. It is one of the very few Asian supermarkets operating in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, but the Van Nuys location remains popular among black, Mexican, and white customers, as well as Chinese-speaking customers.

In design, it is similar to mainstream American supermarkets, with aisles wider, cleaner, and less cluttered and a somewhat more relaxed feel than most Chinese markets. The supermarket accepts credit cards whereas many markets in old Chinatowns do not. Also, a handful of 99 Ranch Market locations have an in-store branch of East West Bank, a major Chinese American bank. Although the chain remains successful and popular, prices are on average generally more expensive when compared to some smaller Chinese grocers. In addition, given the market chain's premium locations the costs of rent for tenants are also generally higher. However, setting up in suburbia, 99 Ranch Market may be the only Asian American supermarket and shopping center for miles around. This is especially the case in San Diego, California and Kent, Washington.

Its annual sales are estimated to be at $150 million.

Because 99 Ranch Market serves a predominantly Taiwanese-American base, Mandarin Chinese serves as the lingua franca of the supermarket and its adjacent businesses.

In Southern California, its main competitors are the ever-expanding chains of Hong Kong Supermarket (established in 1981) and Shun Fat Supermarket (started in the mid-1990s). These two supermarket chains tend to be located within proximity of some 99 Ranch Market locations, especially in the Asian American-dominant region of southern California.

External links

• 99 Ranch Market (http://www.99ranch.com)
• T & T Supermarket (http://www.tnt-supermarket.com)
• AsianWeek article: The Malls of Asian America (http://www.asianweek.com/032698/bay.html)—covers the immense popularity of a 99 Ranch Market shopping center in Milpitas, California