Apna Bazaar Farmer’s Market Opens 40,000 SF Store In Franklin Park

---

Boasting that it’s the largest South Asian food market on at least the East Coast, if not the country, Apna Bazaar Farmer’s Market opened its doors August 4 with a little bit of religion, food, and of course, music and dancing.

This is the 26-year-old chain’s 20th store, with locations spread throughout the United States.

The store, located in Somerset Plaza on Route 27 in Franklin Park, features more than 40,000 square feet with thousands of South Asian items, as well as general groceries that one would find in a Western supermarket.

The store also includes two restaurants and a seating area, where shoppers can pick up and eat a light snack or a full meal.

The store’s opening was highly anticipated, as evidenced by the line that reached nearly to the end of the front of the plaza for more than an hour before the store opened.

The day began with a prayer service performed by a Sikh guru, and was punctuated by cultural Punjabi dances by a four-member dance troupe, with two drummers.

Sunpreet Singh, who’s family owns the chain, said that they had to turn people away as they were setting up the evening of August 3.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “They’ve been working on the store for a long time.”

“You won’t be left wanting if you come to the store,” he said. “We’re trying to be that full-service solution for people to do all their shopping.”

Singh said his family chose the location because Franklin Park is a “hub” of the South Asian community.

“This is an area that has a super-strong South Asian community,” he said. “They have other stores in New Jersey, and they always want to embed themselves in the community. We’re very community driven, we care about being involved and support events.”

“We want people to feel that this is their community store,” Singh said. “The community was already here, we just wanted to service them.”

The Franklin Reporter & Advocate took a tour of the store and spoke to customers:

---

We spoke to the store’s principals at the store’s opening:

---

Here are some scenes from the day:

Your Thoughts

comments