First Look: Inside Asianfresh's New Jersey Store
For New Jersey shoppers not satisfied with having "international food" relegated to a single aisle, a new Asianfresh Food Market in Cherry Hill may be a better choice.
Asianfresh soft-opened the Route 70 supermarket on Sept. 3, marking its first New Jersey location and second overall after Philadelphia. An official grand opening is scheduled for Sept. 12.
During a Labor Day weekend visit, the Path to Purchase found a store built around the key pillars of fresh food, value, assortment depth and discovery.
Large produce tables feature a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, while digital promotional signs call attention to aggressive opening prices. A substantial seafood department includes fresh selections and live tanks.
In center store, pallets and large case stacks of rice, coconut milk, beverages and other staples give portions of the store a warehouse-like quality and reinforce a value message.
The long grocery aisles are densely stocked with noodles, sauces, seasonings, snacks and beverages associated with Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Filipino and other Asian cuisines. Many products are brands, flavors and formats that are rarely given significant space in large U.S. grocery chains.
Asianfresh’s emphasis on fresh food, assortment depth and value aligns with broader shopping patterns among Asian American consumers. NIQ reports that meat, fruit, prepared foods and seafood account for outsized shares of this group’s food spending.
Asian Americans also over-index by more than 2-to-1 in warehouse-club shopping, driven partly by bulk efficiency, assortment depth and cultural breadth, according to the firm.
The local market is substantial as well. Asian Americans represented 11% of New Jersey’s population in 2023, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
Asianfresh joins several established retailers serving this diverse customer base, as well as other shoppers seeking a broader range of foods in the area. It sits less than two miles from H Mart’s Cherry Hill store, which recently underwent a major renovation, and is close to Hung Vuong Food Market.
