How a war impacted the way Salinas consumers shop by inspiring the launch of Star Market.

Once there were five Chinese teenagers from the same small village who were sponsored to come to America to learn the grocery business. They set to work, learning how to order, to stock, to deal with customers and suppliers. And then World War II came along. The boys were drafted and served and became U.S. citizens because of their service. When they finished their stints in the military in 1947, they had one thought: What now?

What now, as Star Market managing partner Victor Kong tells it, entailed going back to China – the “old country,” he calls it – finding wives, coming back to America and opening a store of their own.

The first Star Market opened in 1947 in Watsonville. About 10 years later, when a new shopping center was being developed in that city, Star’s owners were asked to become the anchor tenant. Not too long after that, when the Star Plaza was being developed on South Main Street in Salinas, the developers asked the Star Market team, which by then had grown to eight principal members, to become the anchor there.

“They were young and they were risk takers,” says Kong, whose father was one of those teenage soldiers-turned-entrepreneurs. And they made the move.

Competition in the grocery business is fierce and profit margins are small. Consider that a consumer can go to a chain like Safeway or Nob Hill, or a big box like Target, or order from Amazon to get most of their grocery needs met. Why step foot in a small independent when there are so many options?

It’s a matter of service, and selection. Star Market, where Victor Kong is also the wine director, is a repeat winner in the Weekly’s Best Of Readers’ Poll for its wine selection. The store added a well-curated cheese counter a few years ago, with a vast selection of domestic and imported cheeses. The meat counter is without parallel (and without a glass wall to separate meat cutters from the customers, who want to ask questions), and managing partner Art Kong can obtain anything from rabbit to bison to ostrich, if a customer wants it.

Managing partner Mark Rollins, who started at the market while in high school (28 years ago) says relationships with customers sets them apart the most. “If a customer requests something, we have the ability to make that decision right there. We can make it happen, because when you’re here you have access to the people who make the decisions,” Rollins says. “There’s no, ‘I have to talk to corporate.’ If you want it done, it’s done.”