Photography by Vada Bostian / Aesthetic Images

If variety is the spice of life, then Greensboro’s Super G Mart is the place to go when your grocery shopping could use a little zest. The 76,000-square-foot store, which opened in June 2008, devotes a portion of its floor space to pantry staples like breakfast cereals and salad dressings. But it is the West Market Street shop’s more unique offerings that make it a welcome complement to supermarket chains, as well as an appealing option for anyone looking to find specialty items or break free from a food rut.

“You cannot compete with a Harris Teeter or Walmart,” says Stephen Kim, Super G Mart’s owner and president. “My emphasis is ethnic and international, things that customers cannot find in Walmart or Harris Teeter. You can find lettuce, tomato, but a cactus … who sells that?”

Cactus leaves are just one of many standout items in Super G Mart’s extensive produce section, one of the most popular areas in the 36,000 square feet set aside just for groceries.

Though Kim notes that summer is the best time for many fruits, the produce section contains a large assortment year-round. Apples and oranges share shelf space with chayote and sugarcane. Bananas come in multiple varieties — including baby bananas, a short, chubby version with a sweet taste, and plantains, a version that’s firmness makes them a good choice for frying or baking — while crunchy Asian pears feature a deliciously sweet and slightly nutty taste. More adventurous customers may even venture to try the durian, a spiky Southeast Asian fruit that’s unusual flavor and powerful odor quickly make it either loathed or loved.

On the veggie side, the produce section blends familiar leafy green offerings like lettuce and broccoli with fresh options for spicing up winter days, including a section of chili peppers so potent that simply walking past can make your eyes water. Reasonable prices make it easy to experiment without emptying your wallet.

Super G Mart’s seafood section is another of the store’s highlights and a starting point for customers looking for ingredients to make sushi, shrimp scampi, or even a new recipe. “Not many stores carry a live blue crab in this area,” Kim notes. “It’s something fresh.”

The store’s large meat section features cuts of beef and pork not typically found at other supermarkets, but often used in Asian, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern cooking. A trip down its organized aisles reveals a wider selection of teas, coffees, canned goods, and spices than can be seen in many stores. Kim notes that he also carries more varieties of rice than he can count.

Just as appealing as Super G Mart’s food is its staff’s commitment to customer service. Kim keeps a close watch on produce, making sure it is as fresh as possible, and he encourages customers to let him know which new products he should stock. He says that he introduces new items almost daily. “Different countries, different tastes; my job is to find what they like and bring it here,” he adds.

Such dedication has garnered high praise during the store’s first six months. “ ‘Wow, this is huge!’ and ‘You’ve got everything here!’ — I hear a lot of comments like that,” Kim says.

And he’s far from done when it comes to making Super G Mart into the global marketplace he envisions. During its first months, the store stocked a large selection of Asian favorites, thanks to Kim’s previous experiences working with small Asian grocery shops and restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area.

As the store begins its first full year of operation, Kim says he will continue fleshing out its Hispanic and Middle Eastern offerings. He says that he also hopes to open an international food court and a small café to serve coffee and perhaps even fresh fruit juice or smoothies.

And as he looks toward the future, Kim says he takes encouragement from what he and his staff have already accomplished: turning a location that formerly housed the remains of a historic plant into a store aimed at pleasing a variety of palates.

“When I look at it, I feel really good,” he says. “From Guilford Mills to super grocery store — I feel great.” 

More than a Grocery Store
Though nearly half of Super G Mart is set up as a grocery, the store and the shopping center in which it is situated contain much more than food.

Super G Mart’s housewares section offers the tools needed to cook and eat assorted dishes, including chopsticks (and easy-to-use practice chopsticks for children or those new to the utensil); rice cookers; small, delicate spoons; and teapots.

The megastore is also home to small businesses known as “retail condos.” A flower shop, cell-phone store, music boutique, and hair salon were among the first to open. A tax consulting office recently made its entrance, just in time to offer advice for April 15.

Super G Mart stands as the anchor store in Greensboro’s FantaCity International Shopping Center, which opened in early 2007 and features Hispanic, Indian, and Korean restaurants and bakeries, along with a community center available for rent by businesses and individuals.

FantaCity’s growth was initially slow, due in part to its lack of an anchor store for its first months, says Stephen Kim. Now that Super G Mart has opened, however, Kim eyes the area’s future with optimism. People are “seeing the light,” he says. “It’s coming in.”