Great Wall Supermarket

GW Supermarket
大中华超级市场

Company type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	2004 (New York, New York)
Founder	Lihui Zhang Founder and CEO
Headquarters	New York, New York
Number of locations	22 (2023)
Products	Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, grocery, meat, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor
Website	www.gw-supermarket.com

Great Wall Supermarket
Traditional Chinese	大中華超級市場
Simplified Chinese	大中华超级市场
Literal meaning	Great Chinese Supermarket
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dà Zhōnghuá Chāojí Shìchǎng

GW Supermarket is a specialized Asian American supermarket chain in the U.S., established in New York City in 2004. The chain caters to Asian immigrants, offering Asian products in a Western supermarket-style retail operation.^[1] The President, CEO and founder is Lihui Zhang.^{[citation needed]} There are 22 locations in 7 states as of 2023.^[2]

Controversy

In 2011, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries staff conducted a sting of the Great Wall Supermarket in Falls Church, VA and found the store in violation of several local wildlife laws, due to the sale of live animals, including frogs, turtles, eels, largemouth bass, and crayfish. The sting resulted from a complaint from a conservationist. Two managers of the store were charged with felonies in 2012, later reduced to misdemeanors. Great Wall lawyers argued that the wildlife charges did not apply because all of the creatures on sale were commercially farmed: turtles from Oklahoma, eels from Pennsylvania, bullfrogs from the Dominican Republic, and so forth. The defense claimed that "law governing sales of live fish and other animals has not been updated to reflect advances in aquaculture, and that it is tilted against immigrants with unfamiliar cuisines and customs."^[3][4]

Starting in 2012, residents behind the Rockville store began submitting noise complaints to the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection. As of June 1, 2015, Great Wall Supermarket has two active ongoing cases and has paid multiple fines as punishment for disturbing the peace and quiet of the adjoining neighborhood.^[5]

In popular culture

• A Great Wall store appears as a location in the TV series, Constantine ("A Feast of Friends," Season 1, Episode 4).

References

1. "Great Wall Supermarket: Profile". Great Wall Group. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
2. "Our Stores – GW-Supermarket 大中华超市". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
3. Jouvenal, Justin (March 27, 2012). "Food fight develops in Va. over sale of live animals". Washington Post. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
4. Emery, Theo (April 19, 2012). "As Asians Flock to Northern Virginia, Laws and Palates Collide". New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
5. "Maryland Judicial Case Search". Maryland Court System. Retrieved June 1, 2015.

External links

• Great Wall Supermarket
• www.gwmarts.com E-commerce site