MC Mart is well known for selling inexpensive Asian name brands rice cookers and thermo water boilers. I heard about MC Mart from an old Chinese couple who heard about it from another in a senior activities center. So yeah, it is a word of mouth place.
MC Mart is located on Passmore, east of Kennedy, where there is absolutely no reason for a retail store to exist. The store is no frills. The sign says it is a wholesaler, which it is, but it also sells to walk-in retail customers. Upon entrance, it is a mess of junks that attract no one. The goodies are in the big warehouse in the back. There you shop for all the well known Japanese, Korean and Chinese name brands rice cookers and hot water thermo boiler. The list prices are artificial, as there is a perpetual 20% discount. Last I shopped a few years ago, the prices were either the same or 5% cheap than the prices anywhere in Scarborough, Markham and Richmond Hills areas.
Other than electronics, there are arrays of kitchenware, flatware, and dinnerware. They supply Asian restaurants, so there are shelves of woks, special uses pots, pans and containers, cutting boards, streamers, kitchen scissors, you name it. I don't see name brands for these, but I do see accessories and equipment for Chinese cooking that are seldom sold in grocery stores and other general merchandise stores. There are household cleaning and laundry supplies as well.
The mess I can deal with, and there is a logic behind the maze. I am however disappointed that the selection of dinnerware is not good. Where do I go uptown to find nice dinnerware for Chinese food? Maybe this is why I have to travel to Tap Phong still.
This is no Tap Phong, but it might be as good as it gets in North Toronto for retail customers. read more