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Shopping at Giant Foods : Chinese American Supermarkets in Northern California by Alfred Yee (2013, Trade Paperback)

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From the 1930s through the 1970s, Chinese American owned supermarkets located outside of Chinatown, catering to a non-Chinese clientele, and featuring mainstream American foods and other products and services rose to prominence and phenomenal success in Northern California, only to decline as union regulations and competition from national chains made their operation unprofitable. Alfred Yee's study of this trajectory is an insider's view of a fascinating era in Asian American immigration and entrepreneurship. Drawing on oral interviews with individuals who worked in the business during its peak and decline, he presents an accessible history that illustrates how this once-thriving business fostered the social and economic integration of Chinese Americans into life in the United States. Yee demonstrates how Chinese American supermarkets were able to sell American groceries at reduced prices by using the cheap labor of family members and Chinese immigrants whose entry to the United States had been sponsored by their employers. This type of symbiotic relationship was eventually undermined by labor unions' demands that employees be covered by labor laws and fully compensated for all hours worked. Also contributing to the ultimate demise of Chinese American supermarkets were increasing costs of capitalization and operation, the dominance of national chain stores, and difficulties arising from traditional Chinese methods of business management.

Author
Alfred Yee
Publication Name
Shopping at Giant Foods : Chinese American Supermarkets in Northern California
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Publication Year
2013
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
208 Pages

Lc Classification Number
Oki
Grade from
College Graduate Student
Reviews
"The unlikely venue of the modern supermarket enables readers to catch glimpses of how Chinese Americans carved out an economic niche for themselves amidst overt and covert discrimination." Journal of American HistoryY ee's ability to bring to the fore differing and often competing perspectives about the supermarket industry makes this work rich and engaging."Amerasia Journal, "The unlikely venue of the modern supermarket enables readers to catch glimpses of how Chinese Americans carved out an economic niche for themselves amidst overt and covert discrimination." Journal of American History Yee's ability to bring to the fore differing and often competing perspectives about the supermarket industry makes this work rich and engaging." Amerasia Journal
Table of Content
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Supermarkets Community, Employment, and Enterprise Beginnings Golden Times Decline and Passing Employees and Salesmen Chinese Management and Labor Unions Stop-N-Shop Conclusion Appendix Notes Bibliography Index
Topic
Industries / Retailing, Ethnic Studies / Asian American Studies, United States / State & Local / West (Ak, CA, Co, Hi, Id, Mt, Nv, Ut, WY)
Lccn
2003-040288
Dewey Decimal
381/.148/0899510794
Intended Audience
Scholarly & Professional
Dewey Edition
21
Illustrated
Yes
Genre
Business & Economics, History, Social Science