Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Preparations continue in the new Kam Man Farmers Market, on Monday.
Super 88 may be long gone, but the region still has an appetite for Asian groceries.
After a two-year legal battle, Wincent International, which operates the Kam Man Market in Quincy, will open its first Boston location Saturday on the site of a former Super 88 market in the South Bay shopping center.
Wincent has been vying for the site since Super 88 filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009. A Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled in August that Wincent could buy the site for $2 million. Since the sale, the company has spent nearly $1.5 million to renovate the badly deteriorated 40,000-square-foot store.
“It’s not easy to find a ready-built supermarket,’’ said William Woo, the store’s general manager and a co-owner of the local Kam Man stores. “And in this economy, it’s not the right time to build something from scratch.’’
Woo said the company spent a year looking for another site in Greater Boston, but South Bay Center in Dorchester was a powerful draw with its mix of national retailers, a private parking lot, and the close proximity of Chinatown and the Vietnamese community that already frequents the Quincy store.
‘We don’t want to be seen as an Asian supermarket. We want to have products that are catering to the ethnic diversity of Dorchester.’
A good location is critical as competition in the Asian grocery sector has intensified in recent years as more players have jumped in, hoping to fill the void left by Super 88. At its height, Super 88, a homegrown Asian grocery chain, had six locations in Greater Boston.
In 2009, the New York Mart Group, which has stores in New York City and Pennsylvania, acquired Ming’s Supermarket in the South End while H Mart, a Korean supermarket, opened in Burlington.
Hong Kong Supermarket, a New York chain that has been operating the remaining Super 88 stores in Allston and Malden, is close to getting the court’s approval to move ahead with plans to purchase the locations outright, said Super 88’s attorney, Frank F. Russell.
C Mart Supermarket, which operates three stores in the South End and the Leather District, is seeking approval to open a fourth in North Quincy.
One reason there so much interest: Massachusetts’ growing Asian population. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council released a report in October based on Census data showing that the state’s Asian population surged by 46.9 percent to 349,768 in 2010, up from 238,124 in 2000.
Kevin Griffin, publisher of the Griffin Report of Food Marketing, a Duxbury trade journal, said the Quincy/Dorchester area is “a pretty big market’’ that should be able to support another Asian grocer despite the close proximity to other competing retailers.
“I can’t imagine – if done well – they will not succeed,’’ he said.
Michael Fang, owner of the C Mart chain, said he does not think the new Kam Man will significantly cut into his customer base.
“It might take a little, but that just means I didn’t do good,’’ Fang said. “Too much competition is not good for business, but it’s good for the community.’’
Although Kam Man will still service its traditionally Vietnamese and Chinese clientele at the new store, the company also wants to make sure it is plugged into the neighborhood’s distinct multiculturalism.
“We don’t want to be seen as an Asian supermarket,’’ said Woo, referring to the failed Super 88 location. “We want to have products that are catering to the ethnic diversity of Dorchester.’’
Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
New owner Wincent International has reorganized the store to maximize space.
Besides stocking food found in typical American supermarkets, a substantial amount of shelf space is set aside for West Indian, Latino, and Cape Verdean specialty products. For Asian staples like tea and soy milk, customers will still have plenty of choices – sometimes an entire aisle devoted to brands known mostly to Asians.
The company hopes to capitalize on an increase in non-Asian consumers now buying Asian food items by creating two sets of weekly circulars – aimed at the two different markets.
One of the biggest challenges the new Kam Man faces is erasing the memory of Super 88’s waning days when foul fish odors, a dirty selling floor, and half-empty shelves greeted customers, Woo said.
To that end, Wincent gutted the seafood area, replacing the plumbing and adding new fresh and salt water tanks; fishmongers will now work in an open cutting area so customers can see behind the counter. The unusual configuration should ensure the area will remain exposed and, thus, kept in pristine condition, Woo said.
The company has also completely replaced the shelving and reorganized the store to maximize space. The meat section has been expanded to include full-service on-site butchering.
Soon Wincent will begin work to secure the licensing and permits to open a food court similar to the one in the Quincy store. It is a high margin and profitable amenity and a key component of the Asian grocery experience, said Wan Wu, general manager of the Kam Man in Quincy and a co-owner along with his brother, Wellman Wu.
And to help Kam Man navigate its new neighborhood, it hired the former manager of the Dorchester Super 88 store to help win back disenchanted customers.
“There’s no short-cutting,’’ said Wan Wu. “We want them to be our customers.’’