A red enchilada sauce recipe asks for dried guajillo and arbol chiles that are torn, stemmed, and seeded.
A Mongolian beef recipe includes shaoxing wine among its ingredients.
To recreate that perfect jerk chicken from a favorite takeout spot, you’ll need scotch bonnet peppers and fresh ginger.
Good luck finding all that at Cub or even at the co-op. At best, you’re likely to find flavorless freezer-based versions of the specialty foods you were hoping to cook on your own. But don’t give up on that new recipe and settle for Trader Joe’s Jamaican beef patties or a frozen chicken biryani dinner from Whole Foods. Check out your neighborhood international grocer.
The Twin Cities is home to more than 40 different international grocers that carry globe-spanning ingredients from white yams to yuzu kosho to galangal. International grocers can provide a newfound pantry of pleasant surprises and new ingredients.
Driving along University Avenue in St. Paul, you’ll pass some fantastic AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander)-owned grocers, and traveling the Central Avenue corridor takes you past a litany of SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African)-owned stores. Add the suburban shops into the mix, and there’s no shortage of international grocers—if anything, it might be easier to find an international grocer than to decide on a recipe.
Eddoes, along with the selection of pepper sauces, pickles, and chutneys at Galaxy Foods in Richfield Ali Elabbady
Shopping at one of the many local international grocers in the Twin Cities doesn’t just help support a small business; according to a recent study by the American Independent Business Alliance, independent retailers return three times as much money to the local economy than chain retailers. Your dollars can translate to more jobs in the community and often go to local farmers who supply these grocers with produce. And while chain grocers stock a limited inventory, international grocers are tailored for the communities that they serve, which can lead to a wider selection of produce, marinades, and sauces.
Think of the trinity that makes up most stir fry sauces: fish sauce, oyster sauce, and hoisin sauce. Whereas chain grocers might have a few different varieties of these sauces, AAPI-owned establishments such as Shuang Hur, Dragon Star, Hmong Village, or Double Dragon Foods in St. Paul, or United Noodles in Minneapolis, carry a wider variety, often comparable or cheaper than what chain grocers carry. Often, international grocers pass the savings along to you—at grocers like Ha Tien in St. Paul or Pooja Grocers or Dong Yang in Hilltop, produce can be cheaper than it is at Whole Foods, Cub Foods, or even Hy-Vee.
When it comes to curries, marinades, sauces, and chutneys used most commonly in Southwest/Southeast Asian, African, or West Indian cooking, the selection chain retailers carry can be incredibly slim. Some major grocery chains like Walmart and Cub Foods do now carry the dominant Walkerswood brand of jerk seasoning, in both mild and hot/spicy varieties. But to find the ingredients you need to make jerk seasoning from scratch you’ll have to visit Galaxy Foods in Richfield. For Southeast Asian cooking, spots like Pooja Grocers in Hilltop and TBS Mart in Richfield carry a wide array of chutneys and cooking sauces. Is it ready made moles, salsas, guisados, and chili pods for Mexican/South American cooking you seek? That’s where spots like El Burrito Mercado in St. Paul, Supermercado Loma Bonita in Hilltop, Andale Taqueria & Mercado in Richfield, La Mexicana Supermercado, and Colonial Market in Minneapolis have you covered.
International grocers also carry cuts of meat that aren’t usually as readily available at big chain grocers. Sure, one can find oxtail at Costco, but buying in bulk for the Costco price? Unless you’re a takeout spot, who needs 11 pounds of oxtail? Luckily, Holy Land Bakery & Deli in Minneapolis, Galaxy Foods in Richfield, Pangea Market in Coon Rapids can help you out there, as can a good chunk of Latino and AAPI-owned grocers. Experienced butchers can provide you with a good chuck roast for birria, as well as guidance on finding the perfect halal cuts for African goat stew or Jamaican curried goat. At places like Rong Market in Richfield, live fishes and crustaceans are waiting to hop from the aquarium to your pot.
International grocers also serve up a variety of hot bar/deli offerings. If you’re looking to change things up for their dinner table or to try something new, places like El Burrito Mercado in St. Paul, Supermercado Loma Bonita in Hilltop, and Andale Taqueria & Mercado in Richfield have fantastic Mexican fare, while Holy Land Bakery & Deli and Caspian Market & Bistro in Minneapolis, TBS Mart in Richfield, and Pangea Market & Grill in Coon Rapids serve excellent SWANA related items. Ha Tien has Cantonese favorites readily available, not to mention ready-to-purchase Peking duck and roast pork, and at Hmong Village in St. Paul you can enjoy egg rolls and stuffed chicken wings. Sun Empire Foods in Brooklyn Park has egg rolls; Pooja Grocers’ veggie samosas are ready to grab and go; catch them at the right time and Galaxy Foods has pre-packaged and prepared beef patties.
And as larger chains have vacated the Twin Cities in recent years, international grocers come to the rescue. Byerlys had been at Suburban Avenue on the East Side of Saint Paul since 1971; citing declining sales, it shut down that location in March of 2016. Ha Tien was seeking a bigger location for their thriving market and deli, and moved from their University Avenue location to the former Byerlys later that December. After Walmart closed at Shingle Creek Crossing in April of 2023, Sun Foods bought the space. When Aldi decided to shut down its locations in north Minneapolis and the Hi-Lake Shopping Center in south Minneapolis, Colonial Market bought both, providing residents in both areas with closer options to obtain fresh fruit and vegetables.
And just this month, Supermercado Loma Bonita, a Latino grocer with locations in Crystal, Savage, Saint Paul, and Hilltop, agreed to a 10-year lease in the former Supervalu-owned Rainbow Foods location in Richfield, which closed in 2018. This flagship store will boast an expanded meat department, bakery, and restaurant, serving the needs of the largest Latino community in Minnesota.
Local food dude Andrew Zimmern was asked about visiting supermarkets in other countries in order to get a better lay of the place you’re visiting on Hot Ones a couple of years ago, and he stated it simply: “If you go into another country, and you don’t spend 20 minutes in their supermarket? I think you’re making a mistake. Look at what other people are eating. Also, If you go into a supermarket and look at what other people snack on? You can learn a hell of a lot.”
This same is true here in the Twin Cities. What follows is an exhaustive (but not all-encompassing!) guide to the international grocers of the our area—use it as a starting point on your grocery journey, to source pantry staples, as a reason to check out a new grocer near you, or to find ingredients and snacks to broaden your cooking horizons.
AAPI Grocers:
Ha Tien
1959 Suburban Ave., St. Paul
Shuang Hur
654 University Ave., St. Paul
Dragon Star Oriental Foods
633 W Minnehaha Ave., St. Paul
Dong Yang
725 45th Ave. NE, Hilltop
Rong Market
6515 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis
Sun Empire Foods Supermarket
1200 Shingle Creek Pkwy., Brooklyn Center
Saigon Asian Food Market
1996 Highway 13 E, Burnsville
Hmong Village
1001 Johnson Pkwy., St. Paul
United Noodles
2015 E. 24th St., Minneapolis
Asia Mall
12160 Technology Dr., Eden Prairie
Latino/Indigenous Grocers
El Burrito Mercado
175 Cesar Chavez St., St. Paul
Supermercado Y Panadería Loma Bonita
855 45th Ave. NE, Hilltop
Andale Taqueria & Mercado
7700 Nicollet Ave., Richfield
La Mexicana
1522 E. Lake St., Minneapolis
Colonial Market
2750 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis
Indigenous Food Labs Market
920 E. Lake St., Minneapolis
SWANA and South Asian Grocers
Dur Dur Bakery & Grocery Store
1552 E. Lake St., Minneapolis
Wadajir Grocery & Halal Meat
525 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis
Caspian Bistro & Market
2418 University Ave. SE, Minneapolis
Holy Land Bakery & Deli
2513 Central Ave. NE, Minneapolis
Pooja Grocers
4864 Central Ave. NE, Hilltop
TBS Mart
7836 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis
Pangea Market
8500 Springbrook Dr. NW, Coon Rapids
European and Eastern European Grocers
Bosnian Supermarket
764 County Highway 10, Blaine
Bill’s Imported Foods
721 W. Lake St., Minneapolis
Kramarczuk’s
215 E. Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis
Cossettas
211 Seventh St. W., St. Paul
Broders Cucina Italiana
2308 W. 50th St., Minneapolis
Minsk Market
3920 Cedar Grove Pkwy., Eagan
Ingebretsen's Scandinavian Gifts and Foods
1601 E. Lake St., Minneapolis
