International market and food hall coming to Germantown Parkway

A new international market and food hall is being planned for Cordova.

Grand Super Market, being led by N&L Holdings, is planned for the former 55,000-square-foot Life Church at 1800 N. Germantown Parkway at the Cordova Shopping Center.

“We have two markets, one is an Asian supermarket, the other is a Hispanic supermarket. We were looking to open a bigger one — a combined Asian and Hispanic international market,” said Tommy Fan, a principal with N&L Holdings, along with his wife Monica Truong.

Fan said they were drawn to the Cordova/Germantown area due to the high volume of traffic on Germantown Parkway and its potential to drive in customers.

The sale of the building was handled by The Shopping Center Group. John Isbell represented N&L Holdings; John Reed and Hurston Reed represented the sellers. The church is moving its congregation to other nearby campuses.

Grand Super Market will also include a food hall, featuring Szechuan, Vietnamese, and Thai cuisine. It will serve Chinese barbecue, roast pork, sushi, and more.

The couple is working with He Chen on the food hall. Chen is an experienced restaurateur. He owns some 30 establishments around town, including the Grand Pacific Buffet and Grand Fusion.

Fan said that they have been looking for the perfect spot since 2016.

“We’re trying to build an Asian town,” he said. “We’ve spent a couple of years trying to find a good location to put in a high-scale restaurant and a high-scale supermarket.”

Fan said it will take up to two years to complete the facility. The market will employ 50, with the project, from beginning to end, creating some 200 jobs.

Truong’s family founded Viet Hoa Market. Her family came from Vietnam in 1978, starting one of the area’s first Asian markets by selling items out of a van.

“[Viet Hoa] was taken over by myself and my husband in ’98,” she said. “That was when we decided that we wanted to grow because we believe Memphis has so much potential. The population has grown so much. This is what we want for Memphis. We want a full size international upscale food market that’s combined with international restaurants.”

Fan agreed.

“This is our dream,” he said. “Memphis is growing. There is diversity, too. We think there’s a very big opportunity to do this, and it’s time.”