Empire Foods — Attraction in Brooklyn Center

We live about 4.5 hrs away and thought to check out this place when we were visiting. We really like the variety of groceries and merchandise, especially the kitchen and dish ware.

Unfortunately upon getting home, we realized we were charged $21 for items we had not purchase. We did not buy any fresh meats or beef ribs as we cannot safely get it back home.

There was nothing else on the belt but our order.

We spent a total of $275 on our items which is not small.

Either this was intentionally added or their upc/barcodes are wrong and need to be closely audited as $21 is not a small amount. Especially weird that we were charged for a quantity of 2.

I did go through and am pretty confident everything else was accounted for so do not know how this additional charge came to be.

Not expecting much since I know we cannot simply return with our receipt but I called anyway in hopes of them investigating or maybe additional training? The lady I spoke with just said without the receipt they cannot do anything. Well, there goes $21 to a phantom item that simply did not exist.

Lesson for everyone is, please check your receipts when leaving this store.

*Also, I did read the other review of them being charged for additional qty of items. Disappointing. Again, not sure if intentional or if they need to have better training. How many others have been charged...

Empire Foods – Brooklyn Center’s Best Bet for Asian Groceries!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (for now, but 5 stars soon—I’m calling it!)

Empire Foods has quickly become our go-to spot for Asian groceries at great prices. We were shocked (and impressed) that they leased the entire old Super Walmart—what a brilliant move to combine retail with wholesale.

The selection? Easily the widest range of Asian groceries around. Fresh produce, solid pantry staples, and a great variety of products you won’t find at mainstream stores. Meat quality is a bit hit-or-miss—midweek is the best time to shop before the weekend rush. And if you're looking for American staples, just hit up Aldi instead.

The space itself? Clean, organized, and well-stocked. But here’s the real potential: I’d love to see them take inspiration from Asia Mall in Eden Prairie and bring in subleasers like a restaurant or food stalls. Imagine an indoor Asian street food market—plastic tables, stools, a Costco-style food court vibe? That would be amazing.

Bottom line: support this place! The more business they get, the fresher the selection will be, and the more they can expand. The era of mega corporate superstores is fading, and places like Empire Foods are the future. Can’t wait to see what...

An excellent grocery store that exceeds the variety of ingredients you would need find at your local grocery stores. This place has fresh meats, frozen meats and products, veggies and so much more. Then, you go to another aisle and there are 3-4 aisles full of pots and pans in a variety of sizes. Then, you walk to another aisle full of Ramen. Then, you go to an aisle where you will find different types of ethnic ingredients from different countries and backgrounds.

Really astonished that there is a place like this in Minnesota. It replaced an ENTIRE Walmart store. That's how big this place is. The aisles were clean and very easy to navigate through.

Prices of the groceries are typical but the prices for certain kitchen items and kitchenware is where this place really shines. If you're a local and you haven't been here yet, would 100% recommend. If you're visiting, make some space in your vehicle or bag because you will find some amazing...