Saint Paul, Minnesota is one half of the Twin Cities, both growing metropolises with diverse groups in the land of 10,000 lakes. Nestled in Saint Paul is one such store that is a source for community connection and delicious foods. Golden Harvest Foods is a hidden treasure in the Twin Cities thriving after they upgrade their retail equipment.
In 1988, Shua Xiong saw a gap in the niche market of Asian grocery stores and knew he and his family could make a change. Shua and his family opened Golden Harvest Foods with a mission to create a better Hmong grocery store that would serve families and generations to come. But they were building more than a grocery store; they were helping build their community.
For 20 years, Golden Harvest Foods was a community staple, serving many families as they built their lives together. In early 2018, however, a fire closed Golden Harvest foods. Shua sadly recalled they were closed for “one year, one month and three weeks” before they could reopen in March 2019.
While the fire was devastating, it gave Shua the opportunity to remodel and outfit Golden Harvest with completely new equipment. He knew the Golden Harvest team would be weighing and wrapping meat and produce as well as weighing prepared food at their deli counter. The new equipment needed to help them boost efficiency in product packaging, making automatic wrappers a necessity. When it was time to choose new equipment, Shua said “we went with the most up-to-date technology and equipment we could find so we could prepare for the next generation.”
He wanted equipment that would be easy for all of his employees to use and products that would stand the test of time as they prepared to welcome their third generation of customers. Customers they knew as children are now bringing their own children into Golden Harvest. Shua is starting to see the grandchildren of his customers, and with the right equipment, his store is set to last their lifetime as well. The scales Golden Harvest had been using before the fire were from a manufacturer who wasn’t locally based and Shua wanted to work with a company closer to Saint Paul, which is why he chose Rice Lake Retail Solutions.
Shua knew Golden Harvest also needed to work with a supplier who could offer local service if something went wrong with their equipment. Working with DM&P Equipment & Supplies, Inc. gave them exactly the support they needed. Anne and Domingo Contreras opened DM&P in 2004 after having worked with a similar retail equipment company for over 30 years. Their son, Domingo Jr., joined them in 2015 to help provide local sales and service to the Saint Paul area for butcher shops, delis and many ethnic food stores.
