In the western world, an Asian supermarket, sometimes called an Oriental supermarket, stocks items imported from many places in Asia.

They carry items and ingredients generally well-suited for Asian cuisines and not found in most mainstream supermarkets. These markets often have Indian food, large sacks of Thai jasmine rice, soy milk from Hong Kong, chrysanthemum tea from Mainland China, Japanese seaweed, bamboo shoots, various chili sauces, as well as Asian snacks - for example, prawn crackers and rice crackers - and other imported foodstuffs. Asian vegetables such as bok choy, bean sprouts, leeks, ginger, green onions and mustard vegetables are frequent items in produce sections. Other merchandise like Japanese rice cookers and woks are also sold in these markets.

They may sell varieties of live fish, clams, crabs, lobsters, oysters, abalones, which are kept swimming in aquariums. Delicacies such as sea cucumber, black duck eggs , ginseng and shark fin may be stocked as well. Asian markets may also carry Asian brands of beverages and cigarettes.

These supermarkets are often started and operated by Asian immigrant entrepreneurs and their families. Asian supermarkets can range from small mom-and-pop grocery stores to large supercenters and may cater specifically to one ethnic Asian immigrant group or to a wide pan-Asian crowd. They often serve as anchors for new Asian shopping centers and Chinatowns. Some Chinese shopping centers and supermarkets have been constructed using traditional Chinese architecture and provide a wide range of goods and services geared towards immigrant customers, such as Asian restaurants, beauty salons, bakeries, book stores, and other businesses. Some Asian supermarket chains with large supercenters have become successful enterprises with great sales, such as 99 Ranch Market in the western United States and Wing Yip in the United Kingdom. In recent years, some mainstream markets have attempted to compete with major Asian supermarkets for the minority customer base by stocking certain "Asian" goods.

In some cases, some redevelopment agencies of several cities have turned to Asian supermarket chains to fill vacated stores largely abandoned by mainstream supermarkets. One of the major redevelopments highlighted in the press has been Buford Highway in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville, Georgia, where Asian supermarkets have done brisk business in a once-blighted neighborhood. Such supermarkets have also revitalized the once-rundown sections of Bellaire Boulevard in Houston, Texas, and turned it into a thriving new Asian shopping district.

Asian supermarket chains

North American

• 99 Ranch Market - Pan-Asian, mostly ethnic Chinese
• Ai Hoa Supermarket - Formerly a large Chinese Vietnamese supermarket chain in southern California, now operates one store in Los Angeles Chinatown.
• Diho Supermarket - was a growing a Chinese supermarket chain, with first store in Monterey Park, California. Now operates one store on Bellaire Boulevard in Houston.
• Hong Kong Supermarket - ethnic Chinese
• Kam Man Foods - chain in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, West Virginia. First store in Manhattan's Chinatown.
• Mitsuwa - Southern California
• Shun Fat Supermarket - ethnic Chinese
• Super 88 - small chain in the Boston area, with the first store located in Boston's Chinatown
• T & T Supermarket - ethnic Chinese
• Uwajimaya - Pan-Asian and Western, mostly Japanese. Based in Seattle, Washington, with stores in Bellevue, Washington, and Beaverton, Oregon
• Yaohan - Pan-Asian, mostly ethnic Japanese, now defunct

European

• Paristore - Paris, France
• Tang Frères - France
• Wing Yip - United Kingdom

=Exernal lonks

• http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D13F63F540C778EDDAA0894DB404482 "The New Chinatown? Try the Asian Mall" New York Times article on the growing trend of Asian supermarkets in the United States