Pacific Asian Market opened its second location in Longview earlier this month at 2305 Gilmer Road.
The first Longview store, 1432 McCann Road in Brookwood Village Shopping Center, remains open.
Romel Igaya and his wife, Esusana, own the stores. Alongside business partners, they also own a similar grocery store in Tyler.
The stores are open 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Mall adds new stores
The holiday shopping season kicked off at Longview Mall this past week with the opening of two new stores: EntertainMART and Red Barn Farms.
EntertainMART, near JC Penny, buys and sells vintage items, as well as some new merchandise: Blu-rays; DVDs; retro and new video games; consoles and accessories; comic books; sports and collectible game cards; books; knives and swords; and more.
“We kind of try to take the spot of Hastings,” said EntertainMart Assistant Manager Garrett Hopkins, referring to a now closed chain of stores that featured, among other things, new and used books, CDs, Blu-rays and DVDs as well as collectible items.
EntertainMART also offers a service to repair CDs and DVDs with scratches, for instance, which people previously might have thought had to be trashed.
“We’ve never had a store like this in the mall,” Longview Mall General Manager Kelly Overby said.
Red Barn Farms, near Center Court, features gifts such as signature foods and candles that the store manufactures in Jacksonville, as well as hand-sewn stuffed animals, goat milk soaps and purses. Owner Brad Juneau said many of the items in the store are crafted in the Amish community in Nappanee, Indiana.
His merchandise spills out into two kiosks just outside the store, with Juneau describing his merchandise as “unique” items that can’t be found on Amazon.
Downtown grand opening
The new Visit Longview Marketplace will celebrate its grand opening starting at 4:30 p.m. Monday.
Visit Longview, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, previously was at City Hall but moved downtown to increase visibility and foot traffic. In addition to housing the convention and visitors bureau, the new location at 109 W. Tyler St. also is home to the Main Street program and a retail shop featuring Longview and Texas merchandise, including T-shirts; postcards; mugs; shot glasses; a small selection of pet supplies; playing cards; jewelry; buttons; tote bags; ornaments; Texas-shaped cookie cutters; snacks from Heartisans Marketplace; local honey from Piney Woods Bee Company; and spices and barbecue sauce from Bodacious.
Perfect Catering will serve appetizers, beer and wine from 5 to 7 p.m.
