On January 18, 2025, UNITED, a new Asian supermarket, celebrated the grand opening of its Oakville location.
At the entrance of UNITED in Trafalgar Village Shopping Mall Centre, a business district across from the Oakville GO station, a long line of customers was waiting to open even at 5:00 a.m. opening day.
People were looking forward to the special promotions that day, and they were also full of freshness and curiosity, wanting to see what the new Asian supermarket would be like.
Residents of Oakville, especially Chinese immigrants, are generally aware of the previous case of Famijoy Asian supermarket, which unfortunately closed after operating for a few years. So, how will UNITED survive and achieve sustainable and sound development this time by opening for business in the original location?
UNITED's owner and main operator, Joanna Jiang, who is of Chinese descent, said, "The previous incarnation of this store will always remind us not to slack off, we will listen more to our customers, accept criticism and suggestions, and establish a good community service relationship with our customers. Next, there will also be changes in the store's image design to enhance the customer's shopping experience."
UNITED has been in the Canadian supermarket industry for 16 years, with supermarkets in London and Newmarket. It is familiar with the food needs of various ethnic groups, especially Asian customers.
Therefore, UNITED's food positioning is mainly aimed at Asian food lovers, and many Chinese, Japanese, and Korean products have also been familiar and accepted by most ethnic groups.
Choose to settle in Oakville because, firstly, it is close to the warehouse headquarters in Mississauga, which is convenient for logistics; secondly, the Asian population in Oakville and surrounding areas is showing a year-on-year growth trend; and thirdly, there are few Asian supermarkets in the area and the market demand is high.
These points allowed the operator to make a judgment and decision: the Oakville branch has its own unique space for survival and development.
On the opening day of January 18, many Chinese customers came to the store, creating a lively and enthusiastic atmosphere. Joanna shared that the overall customer experience feedback has been positive, and she has heard and seen that many customers have high expectations of them. As an operator, this gives her full confidence.
Customers all welcome the arrival of an Asian supermarket in Oakville and especially look forward to buying a wide variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, and deli items that are popular with the Chinese community.
For example, live fish, tofu, and homemade milk tea are all specialty foods that customers love. "Later on, we will also add stalls for specialty braised dishes and fried pancakes to meet customer's expectations", Joanna said.
UNITED's business philosophy is to love employees and customers and to pay attention to product quality and customer service. In the future, Joanna will train new employees well, pay attention to every detail of service, ensure good quality, try to consider the needs and wants of customers, and keep prices moderate.
Joanna also said that for local community residents other than Chinese, UNITED will selectively add products from other ethnic groups as much as possible. At the same time, it will provide some job opportunities to people of different ethnicities, invite them into our team, and let more people know about us through them.
"We hope to integrate with the Oakville community," Joanna told us.
One of the features that are different from other local supermarkets is UNITED enables social media commonly used by Chinese, such as WeChat and RedNote, to do content marketing, which is very much in line with the Chinese community's cultural trait of liking to share information promptly.
UNITED's arrival has not only enriched Oakville's Asian food market but also provided a new culinary experience for residents of different cultural backgrounds. Hope this new supermarket will become a bridge connecting the community and conveying food culture so that more people will fall in love with Asian food.
Address: 125 Cross Ave Unit C2, Oakville, ON L6J 2W8