Kim’s Grocery is a family grocery and convenience store that has been operating for 29 years, since 1991, located at 4701 N. 5th Street and Wyoming Avenue in the Hunting Park neighborhood area of Philadelphia. Mrs. Kae Kim and her husband Dong Soo Kim are originally from Korea and moved to the United States in 1980 together with their family. From the outset, the goal of Mr. and Mrs. Kim was to become one of the leading providers of quality food and products in the Hunting Park community, in a convenient and friendly fashion. With a high-traffic location, product offerings that appeal to her diverse customer base, and a tradition of excellent customer service, Mrs. Kim has managed to continually succeed in her local market, maintaining her business year after year.
Kim’s Grocery offers a wide variety of grocery products and general merchandise, including packaged foods, housewares, refrigerated beverages, pet food, convenience items, health and beauty products, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Kim’s also carries convenience products that are desirable for people on the go, and the market is a vendor of SEPTA tokens.
Good customer service, convenience, and variety in product offerings has been the foundation of Kim’s Grocery’s business strategy. Kim’s owner and her husband treat customers like family members, remembering faces and names, listening, and responding to customer requests and feedback, and teaching customers about their own Korean cultural values and traditions.
Kim’s Grocery is a member of the Hunting Park Business Association (HPBA). Despite the pandemic, Kim’s received a grant from Esperanza and the Commerce Department of Philadelphia City and carried out a storefront improvement project, recently finished, making a significant physical external beautification of the business. This investment signaled the determination of Mr. and Mrs. Kim to weather the storm of the pandemic and come out even stronger and more resilient on the other side, contributing to the recovery of the neighborhood. Mr. and Mrs. Kim understand that the neighborhood needs businesses that can not only survive, but keep growing, even in times of great difficulty.
Kim’s Grocery experienced the same challenges, and loss of revenue and income, during the worst of the Covid-19 shutdown. But Mr. and Mrs. Kim love their diverse, vibrant community, where many cultures and languages coexist together. The past year and a half of struggle could not take down nearly three decades of life they have built amongst their neighbors, and their commitment to continue serving will remain steady for decades more to come.
