New Asian Market Opens in Downtown Scranton
By Leandria Hercules – Staff Writer
The Spice Asian Market is now a part of the downtown Scranton business community.
In the mood for noodles or snacks? Looking to spice up your sauce pantry? The market has different options for everyone, including art lovers. Not only do they sell food, but they also sell paintings.
Spice Asian Market is an Asian-inspired convenience store run by co-owners Jarrett and Sumalee Schnessel, located at 343 Adams Ave. At the store, you can find a large selection of international Asian items that you would find in Japan, Korea, China and other countries.
“I mean, you can probably find a product in store from every country. … If you tried enough, there’s Vietnamese, there’s Laotian, there’s Thai, Chinese, Japanese. …I know, I looked at the origin of all of them, but I know, I’ve seen some that I’m like, ‘Oh wow, this is from this place,’” Jarrett Schnessel said Tuesday at the market.
Also in the Spice Asian Market are paintings created by Sumalee, a Scranton artist who is featured at festivals and First Friday. The paintings hanging in the shop range from anime-inspired to animals and are available for purchase.
“So it’s something that I like to do like I’m bored, I start painting a lot,” said Sumalee.
Sumalee also sells paintings and painted rocks at downtown store Analog Culture and at Scranton’s Punk Rock Festival.
“Last year, we attended. She sold, we went there, 200 plus pounds of rock and all these paintings that she did, and we left with hardly anything,” said Jarrett.
At the market, you can find a variety of fresh vegetables, kimchi, pantry items meant for stocks and sauces, curries, and frozen food items such as duck, prawns, and fish cake. There’s even a selection of household items in the back of the store, consisting of soaps, cleaning supplies and chopsticks.
The store is decorated with art created by Sumalee along with other decorations such as typed signs and large, hanging lanterns. There’s a seating area in the front of the store where customers are welcomed to make their own instant ramen and eat at the counter-top bar that overlooks the busy Adams Avenue.
The Asian Market recently started hosting an event called, “Spice’s Spicy Ramen Night” every Sunday from 4 to 8 p.m. Guests can create a “do-it-yourself” bowl of instant ramen with whatever ingredients are set out for the night. The ingredients vary from dumplings such as shumai to fish cakes.
Each Sunday night is different but stays open for the entire community. The Schnessels’ plan was to create an open place for the public since most of the local restaurants are closed Sundays.
“… Most American people, when they eat ramen, we just put hot water and that’s it. In Asia, they have a topping. They have a big ramen shop that you just pick the ramen and you open it, you pick the topping here, sauces and meatball and eggs… a lot of stuff,” said Sumalee in reference to the ramen in Asia.
“So we want to get that idea. … And now we’re working on trying to get more weekend fun for weekend people,” she said.
The Spice Asian Market is located on 343 Adams Ave. and the store hours are seven days a week, Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 to 7:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.- to 3 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 to 7:30 p.m.
The Asian Market consistently posts about what products they have in stock and what they have sold out of. For updates, follow @spiceasianmarket on Instagram.