Shopping at Giant Foods: Chinese American Supermarkets in Northern California

3 / Beginnings

3 / Beginnings t h e b e g i n n i n g s o f c h i n e s e a m e r i c a n supermarkets were modest. None of the founders had specific plans, let alone grand goals, in mind. They were just trying to make as much money as possible with the opportunities and resources available to them. The early success of Chinese American grocery stores and later supermarkets had as much to do with unique circumstances, timing, and luck as it did with astute decisions and hard work. Chinese Americans took tentative steps in opening their first grocery stores, and the growth of their supermarkets followed the rapid expansion of the industry. With an increasing population, flourishing economy, and relatively manageable startup costs, it seemed that little could go wrong with operating a food store. These early entrepreneurs were provided with waves of opportunity, and they rode them toward prosperity. The founders were immigrants with no prior experience in the grocery business, but they had acquired skills that would help them start and operate a new type of retail food store. By chance or design, their timing could not have been better. Small specialty stores and markets that sold only groceries, meat, dairy products, or fruits and vegetables were being brought together into the combination grocery store under single ownership. Self-service and cash-and-carry were replacing clerk assistance, credit, and delivery. National brands were being advertised and distributed throughout the state, standardizingtheinventoryof foodstores.Changesintheretailingof foodbrought changes in the shopping habits of customers, who henceforth would consider price and selection in addition to service and convenience in choosing which stores to patronize. The immigrants’ skills as cooks, butchers, and produce growers and peddlers became useful in operating their future combination grocery stores. If they had no prior experience in these vocations, they learned on the job. Because the combination grocery store was also in its early stages of develop47 ment, there was room for trial and error before mastering the ways of retailing . Social intercourse with the general public in having sold meat and produce also facilitated the immigrants’ acceptance in selling groceries. Finally, their work ethic and solidarity helped them succeed, prosper, and grow. When they arrived in America, many Chinese American immigrants were penniless,buttheyhadyouth,energy,anddetermination.Fromthebeginning, their goal was to earn as much money as possible from their labor to remit to families in China and to save enough to secure a future for themselves. Deciding to settle in America was not a difficult choice because there was widespread and chronic poverty, hunger, and strife from where they emigrated. When they accumulated enough money from their labor, they opened their own businesses to earn more. A common trait among these early businessmen was their relentless drive each year to do better than the year before. The familial obligation to contribute to the collective business helped substantially to accumulate resources for growth when greater opportunities arose. If the business was a partnership, each partner worked diligently because prosperity for the group meant prosperity for the individual. Likewise, no individual wanted to be responsible for the failure of the partnership. the father of chinese american supermarkets Many of the large operators in Sacramento and other Northern California communities considered Lee Gim to be the father of Chinese American supermarkets . Whether or not he opened the first Chinese American–owned retail food store that sold American products to an American clientele is unclear. However, two claims are certain: his first store provided apprenticeships for many future owners, and his investments helped capitalize more than twenty grocerystoresandsupermarketsinSacramentoandotherNorthernCalifornia communities, including six of the seven Famous Food Markets, which were some of the earliest Chinese American supermarkets. His business acumen, generosity, and probity earned him genuine respect from his partners and associates and from the next generation of supermarket operators. Lee Gim immigrated to San Francisco in about 1916, when he was sixteen or seventeen years old, and he worked in a restaurant, presumably as an allaroundhelperlearningvariousskills .SoonhemigratedtoNorthernCalifornia to work as a cook, first in a small-town restaurant and later in a ranch owned by a prominent family. For the next few years he cooked for the family and ranch workers and looked after his employer’s children. Meanwhile, in the 48 • Beginnings nearby town of Colusa, a friend of Lee Gim, Lee Toy, ran a successful laundry , which was so profitable that he was able to...