Chinatown Food Market

Chinatown Food Market is a family-run international grocery in Kansas City’s River Market, in operation since the mid-1990s and known for live and fresh seafood, exotic produce, and a stock that has widened from Chinese and Vietnamese staples to African, Caribbean and Latino goods.

Description

Chinatown Food Market occupies a red brick building at 202 Grand Boulevard on the eastern edge of Kansas City’s River Market, a block from Columbus Park. The market began in the City Market and moved to the Grand Boulevard building in 2005.¹

The store describes itself as an ethnic grocery rather than strictly an Asian one, “with products from around the globe especially Asia.”² Its stated specialties are live and fresh seafood, exotic fruits and vegetables, and meats, restocked on weekly shipments.² The River Market Community Association member listing describes dry groceries, fresh produce, and seafood spanning Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Filipino, African and Mexican cuisines.³

That widening is deliberate. Teresa Lo told the Kansas City Star that although the shop started as a predominantly Chinese and Vietnamese market, it now carries African, Caribbean and Latino groceries, and that the market is “constantly accommodating visitors looking for ingredients from their home countries.”¹ “We kind of became like a melting pot,” she said.¹

Visit KC’s River Market and Columbus Park business directory lists the market under Grocery/Produce, describing it as carrying “Asian, Caribbean and Latino groceries.”⁴

Ownership and history

Karen Lo runs the market. Her daughter Teresa Lo, who grew up in Los Angeles and spent childhood summers helping her mother at the store, moved to Kansas City in 2022 to help run it full time.¹

The business’s own account, published on its business listings, is that the market was “previously known as Oriental Market” and was established in 1994.² The Kansas City Star, reporting in 2022-2023, dates the market’s service to Kansas City residents to 1995.¹ The one-year discrepancy is unresolved; the earlier date is the business’s own claim and the later is the Star’s.

The move from the City Market proper into the standalone brick building at 202 Grand Blvd. occurred in 2005.¹

Links

• Website: https://www.facebook.com/chinatownfoodmarketkc/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chinatown_kc/

Services

Confirmed offerings, from the business’s own description and the River Market Community Association listing:

• Live and fresh seafood, restocked weekly²
• Fresh and exotic fruits and vegetables²
• Meats²
• Dry groceries spanning Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Filipino, African and Mexican cuisines³
• Specialty snacks, spices and hard-to-find ingredients³
• Caribbean and Latino groceries¹⁴

Sources

Footnotes

1. “A guide to the best things to do in the River Market,” The Kansas City Star, updated June 28, 2023. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. “China Town Food Market — History and Specialties” (business-provided description), MapQuest business listing, accessed August 26, 2026. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. “Chinatown Food Market,” River Market Community Association member directory, accessed August 26, 2026. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. “Map and Directory of River Market and Columbus Park Businesses,” Visit KC, accessed August 26, 2026. URL ↩ ↩²