Popular Asian supermarket chain closing SoCal store with dozens of layoffs

An Asian grocery store giant has pulled the plug on one of their Inland Empire storefronts just weeks before the holiday season.

A Chino location of the largest Asian supermarket chain in the United States is scheduled to close November 15.

Though Chino has another 99 Ranch Market location and an H Mart, another Asian grocery chain, the announcement comes amid other grocery chains calling it quits in California.

The company filed a WARN notice October 26. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires employers to provide written notice at least 60 days before any mass layoff, plant closure or relocation.

The closure and layoffs will affect 49 employees at the store, according to the notice.

Tawa Supermarket, Inc., the supermarket giant’s parent company, had their notice filed and processed on the same day earlier this week. However, its scheduled closure falls just 20 days after the filing date.

If a company is unable to provide 60 days’ notice, they still must file a WARN notice and include an explanation, according to the Employment Developmental Department.

The company is headquartered in Buena Park, just 30 miles from the soon-to-be-closed Chino storefront. The Asian supermarket chain has 66 stores across 11 states, with 43 of those stores residing in California, according to its website.

The California-based market was at the center of a major federal lawsuit this summer, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The company allegedly scheduled non-Chinese workers for fewer hours than employees of Chinese origin and did not promote deserving employees simply because they were not Chinese.

Though the market has Asian origins, founded by Taiwanese immigrant Roger Chen in 1984, the company cannot discriminate against workers simply because it is a “Chinese supermarket,” Catherine Eschbach, acting general counsel for the EEOC, said in a press release.

The 49-employee layoff also falls within the same time frame as others in San Bernardino County and California. Myers Power Products, Inc., based in Ontario, filed a WARN notice earlier this month that will affect 206 employees.

Bay Area-based commerce corporation eBay has also filed 4 layoffs this year which will affect almost 700 employees.

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