Asian groceries in Ames have been a hit or miss (but mostly miss) affair. In the past, we went to a couple other Asian groceries in Ames when we visited at Christmas time, and the stock seemed dated and they had almost no Korean food, which is what we were looking for. We recently returned to Ames to live for a few months, and when I drove by the Uni-Mart, it looked a lot more promising than the other Asian markets in town.
Imagine our delight when we went in and found that the vast majority of their stock was Korean. They had all our favorite brands and foods. To be sure, the selection didn't match that of the huge Korean supermarket we shopped at in California, but we were thrilled to find a clean, well-organized, fully stocked Korean market in Ames. Because our dog was in the car, we only had a couple minutes to run in and grab a few things, but we will definitely go back when we have more time.
They also carry other Asian foods (I specifically noticed Chinese), but the emphasis seems to be on Korean, and that's all we really looked at.
If this shop were in the San Francisco bay area, where we used to live, I would have given it four stars. But because it is such a VAST improvement over the other Asian markets in Ames, they deserve that fifth star. There was a small Korean Market of comparable size to Uni-Mart near where we lived in San Jose, and the Uni-Mart is much nicer than that (now defunct) market. So for its size, I'd say this is an excellent Korean market.
Since I just moved back to Ames (my hometown), I don't know when Uni-Mart opened, but I think they have been around since at least 2007. I hope they thrive, because it's great to have a nice Asian market in Ames. read more