TikTok-Famous Ice Cream Treats and Asian Snacks Await at This Fairfield Food Paradise
It wasn't always this way. When Asian Mart first opened in August 2023, it was more imagined as a market for common Asian goods: different brands of soy sauce, rice, and spices. It was a niche that the store fills for the city of Fairfield. The viral-ness of their products and offerings would happen later, a byproduct of the store's customer service; from the start, manager Eric Fragola says he solicited customer feedback and asked folks what they wanted in the store. The responses rolled in, specialty items like a special chile oil or brand of gluten-free tamari. As they fulfilled those requests, other, more specific asks would come in, such as a popular candy that customers couldn't find elsewhere. 'Once we started doing that for people, it caught on; people started requesting more and more items,' Fragola says. 'And now we actually look at trying to be ahead of that... They can just come in, 'Yep, I knew you guys would have it,' or 'I knew you would be on top of it.''
Still, much of that growth is concentrated in metropolitan areas, keeping both everyday products and the fun snacks a long drive (or a tariffed internet order) away. Mom and pop shops still rule the farther-flung parts of the Bay Area, much like places such as the now-closed RSM Oriental Foodmart & Restaurant in Hercules. Similarly, Asian Mart is a hub for the immediate Fairfield area, but also those willing to make the drive from the Central Valley.
Dianne de Guzman
Dianne de Guzman
When asked to describe the shop, Fragola calls the business a 'hybrid store.' What he means by that is it's a convenient store for cooking essentials from Asia, but there's another, equally compelling, aspect to Asian Mart. 'You can also find the unique, innovative things that tend to come from Asia, these different types of candies or packages, the flavors and experimental things that you see coming out of these different countries,' he says. 'So you're met with this reliable shopping experience that you can go in there and get what you need, but there's always going to be something new... It's going to be tasty, it's just going to pique your interest.'
But most mom and pops don't have the highly curated selection of viral TikTok foods like Asian Mart does, nor influencers like Grub Wit Mike and their followers trekking to their store to find the latest fads in one place:
Asian Mart started with a relatively traditional social media presence — just a Facebook page. Fragola says it was a customer who asked that they start an Instagram account to show off their latest snack acquisitions. 'People literally come to the store with their Instagram open and browse our page just to see what's new in the store, and then they can look for it,' Fragola says. 'So that's become essential for us, in terms of helping people shop, or helping them know what we have.' And while most of their customers are from Fairfield and the Bay Area, Fragola says it's not uncommon for them to get customers from places like Stockton, Modesto, and even Reno, on weekends.
The first request for a hard-to-find item was for the Amos brand Peelerz candy, specifically, the mango flavor. It's a candy with a peelable exterior layer and a gummy interior — both the 'peel' and the interior 'fruit' are edible — and an intense mango flavor. As customers learned that the popular candy was stocked at Asian Mart, Fragola says people bought out the inventory, and the store would get hit with more customer requests. The store cemented its status as a must-visit with snack connoisseurs when Asian Mart was among the first local shops to get the Propitious Mango ice cream, a mango-shaped ice cream pop, with a white chocolate shell colored yellow-orange and packaged just right for the TikTok crowds.
Dianne de Guzman
Dianne de Guzman
It took Fragola six months to find the item, and after one shipment, the inventory was quickly wiped out. It took six more months to get another shipment. These days, the deliveries are steady. Fragola even traveled to the Hong Qi factory to try some new flavors for the shop, expanding their store offerings. There's The Aiko Grape, a grape-flavored ice cream shaped like a grape bunch; a peach-shaped ice cream bar with a pink-white exterior; and a strawberry ice cream flavor that looks like a fresh-picked fruit. Also fun is the selection of Samancos, the ice cream sandwiches that look like wafer-ized fish, and the Not Fried Chicken ice cream, a trompe l'oeil of a dessert that looks like a fried chicken drumsticks but is made of ice cream. One recent afternoon, a customer on a video call with a friend showed off the different types of Hello Kitty marshmallows on a shelf, making the caller pick a snack among the many choices via phone.
Walking around Asian Mart, you'll see plenty of those everyday items Fragola mentions: different kinds of rice, jars and bottles of condiments like bulgogi marinade and Jufran banana sauce, and a selection of ramen and soups so big it takes up almost the entire side of one aisle. There are flavors Buldak and Shin Ramen, of course, but also Nongshim ChapaGuri, Korean jjajang noodles with soup, Nora Kitchen brand instant gintaang monggo, a dessert of mung beans in coconut milk and sticky rice, and Koreno Noodle in packs of four.
'There are just so many flavors out there that are fascinating,' Fragola says. 'And the fact that they can be replicated into something that you can kind of just munch on is just really, really cool.'
Asian Mart (1311 Oliver Road, Unit B, Fairfield) is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Dianne de Guzman
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