Shanghai Wholesale

This is the ‘store’ that I recommend to my homesick Chinese students and where I shop myself for the brands I trust tastewise. This is really a minor storefront for a wholesale business to some of the restaurants/​groceries around here. The import markup is small, but remember, this is mostly an import business. Most of the cost is the transport across the sea. This storefront has a specialty in selling items that are known-​mainland brand sourced (the analogy is if you went to China and bought Kraft, Nestle, and CocaCola from an expat American import store). The décor does remind one of a Chinese grocery in the mainland: utilitarian, dark, and crowded. As others mentioned, unless you know on a map where to find this place, you will miss the location. Trust the GPS on this one.
Shopping Experience Note: If you are going to shop here, you need to either have a decent command of Putonghua, have a friend who speaks Putonghua with you, or you know exactly what products you intend to buy. The clerks’ Putonghua is fluent and their English is broken basic if that. The signage is mostly in Simplified Hanzi, the only deference to English are the Arabic numerals for prices but the products are mostly marked in Hanzi (except fresh meat which is an MDoH regulation, so you won’t accidentally buy pork for lamb). The food quality is trustworthy, though most fresh meat and vegetables are North American sourced though butchered to Chinese cuisine preparation standard.
If you don’t have/can’t borrow the language experience or don’t know precisely what you want, you ought to stick with United Noodle or Shang-​Hur for a better shopping and selection experience; both stores are fine for standard fare. The markups are not that high, and the product selections and prices are good. Shop Shanghai Wholesale if you know exactly what brands you want, know the produce you want, or specific meat cuts for dishes as this store exceptionally serves clientele with the familiar taste of a mainland Chinese home.

Shanghai Wholesale! Don’t get it confused with Shanghai Market. Wholesale is better and cheaper than shanghai market!
Shanghai wholesale is located in a dinky warehouse on industrial blvd. It might be a little hard to find if you’re not familiar with the area, but there should be plenty of signs pointing you to the right location! It’s conveniently located right off the 280 freeway.
This place is pretty spacious. There’s a lot of good things about this place and I’ll slowly go through them.
Vegetables:
Very good selection of different vegetables. There’s so much more options here than Shanghai Market or United Noodles. They are also cheaper than those 2 locations. They sell Enoki mushroom for really cheap here. I love enoki and I always pick up 2 – 3 packets a week when I come. The large enoki package is only $ 1.69 or so. Other places like United Noodles is like $ 3.00 for the same size! Big difference in the long run. Bok choy is comparable to what they have at United as well.
Meat:
I don’t eat much meat, but their meat is very nicely packaged. More specifically the sliced beef and sliced pork. I don’t buy the beef because it’s expensive, but sliced pork is pretty cheap @ about $ 4.99 a pound. They are nicely sliced and rolled and placed in a plastic box. I’ll attach a picture for you to see. They are perfect for soup and hot pot! The beef is done the same way, but cost like $ 10+ dollars per pound. too expensive for me right now.
Hot Pot Materials:
This is the go to place if you want to have hot pot with a group of friends. It is much more affordable and cheaper than United Noodles. The Enoki, the fish balls, meat balls, fish cuddle, etc… are all cheaper here and have greater selection than the other Asian markets around the cities.
Asian pastries:
They sell Asian pastries that are imported from San Gabriel, California! Close to my hometown! The pastries are legit, not 85 degrees level, but good for Minnesota nonetheless. They have plain white toast, shredded pork on bread, green onion bread, coconut bread, and more! They’re not too expensive either! They are fresh! I’m so glad they serve it here.
Rice:
Rice is very cheap here as well. I’m never buying my rice at United Noodles again. it’s $ 5 – 10 dollars cheaper here than United, depending on how large the rice you are purchasing.
Other goodies:
This place has almost everything… snacks, ramen, frozen buns, dim sum meat, etc…
Check this place out if you can! Great Asian supermarket. The only downside is they don’t sell the soft tofu I use for soondooboo. There is also a $ 7 minimum for credit card.

The first rule of Shanghai Wholesale, if there ever was one, should sound something like what comes out from Fight Club: You don’t talk about it.
As for the second rule: You can’t be directionally challenged.
Why?
Perhaps the best way to illustrate is for one to try to find the place on their own. I’ve only frequented this joint twice, but both times had me question myself of whether «wholesale» meant black market or if the address on Unilocal was wrong. You think I’m kidding? Try circling around a lot filled with trucks and warehouses to look for a grocery store. Without the conspicuous «Open» neon light sign and the small red awning that displayed the name «Shanghai Wholesaler,» I would never spot this place.
Since it’s so hidden, maybe it’s for the best since this place has some awesome deals that you can’t find at a lot of other places. For me, hot pot is a must when it’s cold. This place has that and all things I needed and more.
For the «love» list, here’s what makes this place awesome
1) Cheap little sheep hot pot soup base. Even cheaper than on Amazon!
2) Reasonable pricing for frozen meat slices
3) Wide selection of all things asian food
Here’s the un-​love list (coz hate is a strong word)
1) Price of 99% of the items there far exceeds the price range one’d expect from a wholesaler. Don’t come thinking this is Costco coz your wallet will cry
2) Location
Overall, I’d go there again but mainly for the hot pot affairs. For the curious folks who plan to venture out to find this place, make sure you look out for the red awning and the «Open» sign. You’ve been warned.

I recently moved to Minnesota and was surprised to find this supermarket. The Chinese supermarkets in west coast I previously visited have more stuff from Taiwan instead of the mainland of China.
What I love about this one is the huge selections of food, seasoning, and snacks from mainland of China. I even found 上好佳 and 空心菜. Also, the well sliced frozen lamb, beef and pork is great for hotpot!
Would recommend anyone likes authentic Chinese food to check this place out.

I go here to pick up ingredients for my garlic cream cheese wontons because it’s a one stop shop for everything I need in bulk. They’ve always supplied for my business and I swear when I am in a bind for product they swoop in to save the day. I’ll come in and make an order on the spot and they will have someone carry it out to my car for me. They are rarely out of the products I need so they keep their warehouse well stocked. If for some strange reason they can’t fill an order, they will find the next best thing for you or do some research on when they expect to get the next shipment.
The retail store connected right next to the wholesale office carries food from every asian country including thinly sliced pork for Korean BBQ. I like their snack selections and huge array of dried squid snacks. They also sell boba pearls for bubble tea if you are ever in the mood to DIY. I would say it’s probably not the best place if you are looking for pantry staples but if you are looking to increase your snack street cred, go here to explore.
FYI. I’m pretty sure their business phone connects to the owner’s personal cell phone so don’t call them at 10pm to find out their hours of operation… I did that one time and it was very awkward.

Walking into Shanghai Wholesale ain’t pretty. The first time my boss took me there, I was all, «Are you sure this isn’t the door we walk in where we get killed?» It’s a little sketchy-​looking; a plain warehouse door in the middle of an empty building.
Frankly, it looks a little abandoned… a little beat-up…a little not-​legit.
But once inside…
…well, it’s still very warehouse-​looking. HOWEVER, oh, the magical things you can find. Like sheep placenta pills! Fermented duck egg! Ginger candies! Quail eggs by the dozens! Seaweed soup and/​or candy!
It’s a great place to go in and look around and get cheap delights. For instance, my boss is nutzo about this particular kind of seaweed «candy». He can buy it for $ 7 a package at Byerlys. OR he can buy it at $ 1.49 a package at Shanghai Wholesale. I can buy sesame candy for .10 each at the co-op…or I can buy them here for ~$ 2 for a large package. They also sell lots of staples of Asian cooking – unique spices, noodles, etc. and other novelties (dessert aloe! dehydrated jellyfish!).
Shanghai *IS* open to the general public/​casual customer and they’re extraordinarily friendly and helpful about making recommendations. There can be a bit of a language barrier, but it’s not an uncomfortable experience (in case you’re spooked by that kind of thing). They were playing Christmas music in August last summer… which was actually really great.
Be sure to wander back into the refrigerated section to check out the produce and frozen treats as well. Avoid: Being directed to the back room where someone may try to sell you glassware and discarded kitchen equipment. (But hey, if you’re in the market, go for that too. It wasn’t a pushy thing, I was just kind of confused by it.)
Things I always get: Sesame candy, ginger candy, sugared ginger in a jar, dried dates/​fruit, some snack item that I’ve never had before (like shrimp crisps or Thanksgiving Day corn treats).