Shun Fat Supermarket

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Shun Fat Supermarket (Traditional: 順發超級市場; Simplified: 顺发超级市场; Pinyin: Shùnfā Chāojíshìcháng; Cantonese: Soon fot chee cop see cherng, Vietnamese: Siêu Thị Thuận Phát; also known as SF Supermarket) is a small, but growing, Chinese Vietnamese American supermarket chain in the San Gabriel Valley region in California, Sacramento, California, San Pablo, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada. Its first store was opened in the premier Chinese American suburban community of Monterey Park, California. In 2005, Shun Fat Supermarket opened a megastore in the Little Saigon of Westminster, California, joining the already highly-competitive Vietnamese supermarket commerce in the community.

The Asian supermarket chain sells imported grocery items from Asia - particularly Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam - and also a few mainstream American brands as well. Most of its locations tend to be in newer suburban Chinatowns as well as in developing ethnic Vietnamese American commercial districts.

Contrary to popular belief, the name does not mean "avoid fat". "Shun Fat" is the romanized transcription of 顺发 in Cantonese, which means prosperity. In addition, the "t" in "shun fat" is a voiceless stop. Thus "shun fat", in Cantonese, would be pronounced "soon fa". Shun fa (順發) in the Chinese language and thuận phát in Vietnamese language both mean "favorable distribution" (of wealth).

Shun Fat Supermarket was started in the mid-1990s by a Chinese Vietnamese entrepreneur and seafood wholesaler named Hieu Tran. He is the owner of the H&T Seafood, which is based in the city of Bell, California. The market chain competes mainly with 99 Ranch Market and Hong Kong Supermarket. Like these two supermarket chains, Shun Fat Supermarket usually serves as a major anchor in some Asian shopping centers and strip malls, which in some cases have been renovate extensively by Hieu Tran. The San Gabriel Superstore is uniquely a Chinese hypermarket as it sells clothing and small electronics in addition to groceries, although these stalls are operated by independent vendors with separate payment.

In August 2006, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the Westminster Superstore recently in the heavily Vietnamese community of Westminster, California.

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