You are currently browsing the THE CHINATOWN BLOG weblog archives for the day February 20, 2008.
- AROUND C-TOWN (26)
- CHINATOWN CALENDAR (42)
- LIFE AND STORIES OF ASIAN AMERICANS (8)
- THE CHINATOWN BEAT (5)
- The PU PU CHATTER (2)
- WORD ON THE STREET (88)
- October 6, 2008: Seeking Candidates for Chinatown Master Plan 2010 Oversight Committee
- September 26, 2008: Peach Farm - Chinatown's Finest Seafood Basement Restaurant
- September 21, 2008: Oak Street Fair 2008
- September 19, 2008: Archstone: A Catalyst for Revitalizing Chinatown?
- September 17, 2008: Sonia Chang-Diaz Wins State Senate Seat
- September 17, 2008: Oak Street Fair - Saturday, Sept. 20th
- September 16, 2008: Welcome Back Royal Palace!
- September 9, 2008: Personal Reflections on the Housing Crisis
- September 2, 2008: What Are People Saying About Parcel 24?
- August 27, 2008: Selling Public Infrastructure and Privatized Chinatown?
Archive for February 20, 2008
Our Sanitary Supermarkets
February 20, 2008 by willng24.
This issue has always been a concern for me whenever I’m dining or grocery shopping. However, Asian food has never been known for its cleanliness. Recently, the Herald had an article about the unsanitary conditions at our local supermarkets. One of the markets mentioned in this article is the Super 88 in Dorchester. Just walking into the store you can see that it isn’t as clean as a Roche Brothers. As consumers, what options do we have? I’ve probably been to every Asian supermarket in town and the cleanliness is roughly the same. Does everyone just accept the fact that it isn’t clean?
Obviously appearances are deceiving. There are American supermarkets noted in this article that share the same unsanitary conditions as our famous Super 88. I have never been to supermarkets of other ethnicities so I can’t provide a good comparison, but has any of you been to a Latin or Italian supermarket? Do they have the same problems?
I have some good friends in this industry and it is a battle for these folks. Most of these establishments are family owned businesses and they don’t have the funds to transform an aged store to something that looks like a Whole Foods. Furthermore, if sales haven’t changed and no one is complaining, the business has no reason to evolve.
So we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. First we can stop shopping at the Asian markets and inform the owners that it is due to sanitary reasons. However, we really don’t have an alternative place to get this produce. So this cycle continues until we figure out how to modernize our local businesses. I’ve always thought that there would be an entrepreneur risk adverse enough to close down an aging Asian supermarket, remodel the entire store and open with a fresh and clean environment that would start the ball rolling for all the local businesses. I guess it is up to the younger generation of grocery store owners to take the plunge and our job to let the problem be known.
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