Charlotte’s Asian supermarkets feel tariff pressure
Tariff changes lead to price hikes, product limits and uncertainty at Charlotte-area international grocery stores
The following article appeared in the April 30, 2025, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
Asian grocery owners grapple with rising costs and uncertainty from Trump administration tariffs; panic buying, supplier price hikes
Ysuing Nie, owner of S&W Asian Grocery Store in west Charlotte, looks over the new displays of smaller, more profit-heavy products he installed after the Trump administration announced new tariffs earlier this month. (Photo by Rachel Black)
by Rachel Black
The colorful aisles of S&W Asian Grocery Store on Tuckaseegee Road offer a taste of home for many in Charlotte’s immigrant community. But in the last month, a confusing chaos has descended there due to the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs, with customers panic-buying pantry staples and owner Ysuing Nie trying to prepare for what is to come.
When the first tariff announcements came, Nie started ordering products in bulk to get ahead of price hikes. He built new displays to hold small items like miniature sauces, seasoning packs and snacks that can command higher profit margins.
But in the last few weeks, he says he has been forced to raise prices and set limits on how many of a particular item shoppers can buy at a time, and he worries some items will simply become too expensive for some of his customers to afford.
“Right now we have a lot of headaches about what’s going on,” said Nie as he stood behind the register on a recent morning after ringing up a customer’s order. “When you build clientele with people, they are like your family. Sometimes they come in and say, ‘I don’t have enough,’ and I say, ‘You can come back and pay later.’”
Across Charlotte and nationwide, international grocery stores whose inventories consist almost entirely of imported goods are already feeling the weight of the new administration’s tariffs, which currently include a 10% duty on all imports and up to 145% on Chinese goods. President Donald Trump has said he could re-impose previously-announced “reciprocal” tariffs on some countries in as soon as two or three weeks.
The Trump administration says tariffs are necessary to make trading fairer and encourage American manufacturing. Economists have said they will raise prices of goods and services and could tip the economy into a recession.
Many international supermarkets are small and family owned, but they represent a steadily growing sector of the grocery market that analysts say speaks to the rising Asian and Hispanic populations and the tastes of young consumers who increasingly like to experience new foods and flavors.
International supermarkets and small grocery stores have seen an annual growth rate of 3% since 2019, and generated $55.8B in revenue last year, according to research firm IBISWorld.
Last week, Trump said the White House was considering a partial rollback on Chinese tariffs, and his on-again, off-again tariff talks have created confusion for retailers and consumers alike.
Buying limits, price hikes for store owners: For many business owners, the uncertainty of what lies ahead is unnerving. Nie, a former medical professional who is originally from Vietnam, bought his store two years ago and is its only employee, although he occasionally gets help from family members.
The bulk of the store’s inventory is goods from Thailand, which would see a 36% tariff if the reciprocal levies go into effect. But the shelves also contain goods from other countries that would face high tariffs, including Vietnam (46%), Taiwan (32%) and Japan (24%).
Although the timeline and extent of the tariffs is still unclear, Nie said some of his distributors are placing stricter limits on how many cases of products store owners can buy. There are some items Nie can no longer order, especially Chinese goods. Some distributors have raised their prices dramatically — even non-Chinese distributors who are not currently facing the steep tariffs, which leads to even more confusion, he said.
Nie has already had to raise some of his prices, and he expects more increases are coming. The price of fish sauce, for example, which is largely produced outside the U.S. and is in high demand at S&W, recently rose by 40%. Prices on other items have increased even more: large bags of white rice have risen from $39 to $48. A can of minced crab in spices from Thailand that used to be $2.99 is now $4.55.
“When the president was elected, I was kind of prepared for it. I didn’t know it was going to be this bad, but I prepared a lot,” Nie said. “But no matter how much you prepare, it’s not gonna be enough. We don’t know how we’re going to survive, but we’ll try to.”
Taking a hopeful approach: Eight miles south of S&W, the feeling is a little calmer at Anh Dao Sakura Oriental Market, which the Tran family has owned since 1981.
Paul and Koshiko Tran (originally from Vietnam and Japan, respectively) and their son, Thai Tran, say despite the tariff confusion, they’re hopeful their store will adapt.
The South Boulevard market specializes in Vietnamese items but also sells products from other Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, China, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea. The Trans say they believe Anh Dao will remain competitive — but not without some sacrifice.
Some prices will inevitably increase within the next two months, Thai Tran said, and Chinese products will likely see the biggest price jumps, including noodles, candy, and fish sauce. Anh Dao’s array of products from various countries allow for less-expensive alternatives; for example, expensive Chinese noodles could be replaced with noodles from other countries.
Still, they may no longer be able to stock certain items, and like at S&W, some of their customers are on food stamps.
“We can eat the 10%. But for China, it’s over 100%–that’s too much,” Thai Tran said, referring to the blanket 10% tariff that was proposed for all countries besides China, and the 145% tariff for Chinese imported goods.
Thai Tran restocks items at his family’s business, Anh Dao Sakura Oriental Market. Tran says customers have already started to cut back on snacks and other dry goods. “They try to get fresh stuff, like meat, fish, fresh vegetables, but not too much dry items,” he said. “Before, they would buy everything.” (Photo by Rachel Black)
The Trans say they expect they’ll succeed in finding alternative products to avoid raising prices and remain competitive with bigger grocers like Super G Mart, an international supermarket chain with locations in the Carolinas also offering imported Asian goods. At the same time, Thai Tran thinks higher prices will drive customers to consume less.
Shopping with restraint: One shopper, Michelle Tran, who lives in Charlotte and is a nail tech and the mother of one child, says she’s already cutting back what she puts in her cart. Before the tariffs, she would purchase some items in bulk at Asian grocery stores, but now she says she can no longer afford to do so and instead focuses on immediate needs.
“I used to go most Wednesdays and Sundays to a few stores, but now, maybe once a week. Now, everything I buy just a little bit, but the money is double the price,” she said. “It’s so pricey, no one can afford it.”
The prices of some items have already grown over the last few years due to inflation — sriracha, white rice and fish sauce, for example. But many of these items are too much of a staple of the Southeast Asian diet to go without.
“The fish sauce over the years has increased a lot,” Tran said. “We eat that every single day, so we have to have that in every Asian house.”
Rachel Black is a freelance writer based in the Charlotte area. Reach her at racheltblack123@gmail.com.
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