Best Asian Market in Spokane
There is an interesting and rich hidden history of Asians and Asian Americans in Spokane. From the Trent Alley of the 1880s and 1940s to the International District and the sporadic placement of Asian American residents and businesses throughout the city today, Asians and Asian Americans have made their marks in Spokane, despite making up only 2.7% of the population.
One business that is of cultural significance to the Asian and Asian American community in Spokane is the Best Asian Market on Sprague Avenue, a Vietnamese-owned Asian grocery store. At Best Asian Market, foods are imported from a multitude of Asian countries, including Vietnam, Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, and Guam. This Asian/Asian American grocery store provides the community not only with foods that are familiar, comforting, and necessary to their diets, but also hosts cultural events such as a Chinese New Year celebration. The owner also makes frequent donations to the Spokane Buddhist Temple and St. Anthony’s, a church with a significant Vietnamese population, and employs mostly Asian immigrants and refugees at the market.
Having access to foods that are culturally familiar and cater to a necessary diet is important, and it is no wonder why Asian and Asian American markets like this are visited so frequently by community members. Thuy Randall, a community member, recalled not having access to Vietnamese foods when she first came to Spokane in 1971: “In the 70s, there were no Vietnamese grocery stores. There was one Japanese grocery store but that was it.” She expressed that she felt lonely and isolated and exclaimed to her white American husband that she wanted to go back home to Vietnam, which motivated him to put an advertisement out in the newspaper to search for other Vietnamese people in the city. Over the decades, more Vietnamese and other Asian American businesses opened as more immigrants moved to Spokane, due to the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965.
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References
Best Asian Market. (n.d.). Homepage. http://www.thebestasianmarket.com/home Erway, C. (2018, October).
All hail the Asian supermarket: An American institution. TASTE. https://www.tastecooking.com/all-hail-the-asian-supermarket-an-american-institution/ Frlan, K. (2010, August).
New identity lifts stretch of Sprague: 'Action plan' looks to improve safety, attract business. Spokane Journal of Business. https://www.spokanejournal.com/local-news/new-identity-lifts-stretch-of-sprague/ Kershner, J. (2007, March).
Spokane neighborhoods: Old Chinatown - Trent Alley - thumbnail history. History Link. http://www.thebestasianmarket.com/home Erway, C. (2018, October).
Trent Alley: Spokane’s original melting pot. https://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/151
United States Census Bureau (2019) QuickFacts Spokane city, Washington. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/spokanecitywashington/PST045219# Welsch, Q. (2018, April).
Best Asian Market finds common ground in Spokane's Asian community. Inlander. https://www.inlander.com/spokane/best-asian-market-provides-products-for-asian-food-services-throughout-the-region-while-finding-common-ground-in-spokanes-asian-community/Content?oid=9504058