Wing Wa Oriental Market

This store for Salem has a nice selection items, fresh and frozen– fruits, vegetables, entrees, noodle’s, spice’s, and more. So many items you wouldn’t know what to do with. Go explore and see where it goes. Fun place to look around

Of the three Asian markets I know if here in Salem, this store has more hard to get items than the other two, such as shelled opihi (limpets), manju, linguica and lup cheong.
They have very quick service at check out and even place your bagged groceries on the counter near the door so you can high tail it out of there when you are done.
My daughter chose some pop rocks candy which I loved because it comes in tiny individually wrapped packages inside of a big colorful enticing package. It’s so much fun to eat pop rocks!
Great selection of premium packaged ramen and an endless aisle of pickled jarred vegetables, frozen fish is up near the front of the store along with packets of sauce mixes for Indian, Japanese, and Korean sauce mixes.

I wanted to buy prepared food to eat on the go, but flies swarmed around the foods. Customer service could be improved… thought the cashier/​owner was mad at me. I wondered why they had two different prices for their cigarettes, though.

Stopped in to grab some soup broth. Looks like it is in a horrible area. The back windows were bashed in and the place looked like it needed round up sprayed out on the sidewalk. With that being said, the inside looks nothing like the outside. Lots of aisles of goodies to browse through. I got here after closing so I did not have time to shop but the next time I visit I’ll come much earlier when it’s hopefully safer and do some shopping.
NOTE: It’s VERY hard to find. You can get here off of Lancaster but it is hidden behind a Chinese food restaurant and not visible from the street. If you come in on Harold Drive, you can’t tell it’s a market. Turn into the left driveway behind the building and it will take you up to the front side of the place.

I disagree with Melisander on the crime part. CRIMES are more down on lancaster.
DO not get:
— BBQ items, roasted pork and duck are sometimes overnight, the ones that didnt sell. There is no guarantee fresh quality. and not yummy either
— sauces, I find that the sauce here is a bit over priced.
CON:
check expiration date, I swear, I have gone through their stuff to check expiration and most of it is close to it or has pass. This includes snacks to can foods. (kind of bad business ethics)
PRO:
random stuff are sold like piggy banks, flip flops, fake purses, jewelry and much more.
Snacks are in the normal price range.
Nothing special about here.

For a small grocery store in a hard-​to-​find location that caters to a minuscule segment of Salem’s population, it’s a wonder that Wing Wa can stay in business at all, much less do what it does so well. This is the largest and best-​stocked out of a handful of small Asian markets around Salem, and the only one that has a substantial selection of fresh produce, baked goods, and gift items. The surprises to be found on the shelves of Wing Wa are legion, and I could easily spend an afternoon simply reading labels.
Unfortunately, the roast duck and skewers that Alex S. has mentioned are long gone. Given that much of the deli counter has been dismantled, I doubt fresh cooked Cantonese food will ever return to Wing Wa. It wasn’t the greatest or most authentic Chinese out there (their skunky wontons were a particular lowlight), but considering the relative dearth of quality Asian food in Salem it’s sad to see it go. They filled a niche.

From all of the little Vietnamese owned and operated Asian grocery stores spawns new life in Wing Wa, a predominantly Cantonese /​Teochew operation selling essentially the same products at reasonably similar prices. One thing that I like about this place is that they also serve food here, being that they’re located right behind a restaurant. They have roasted duck and bbq pork in skewers and while its often gone by the end of the day, its not the most fantastic quality given the relatively low demand in the area. Best time would be to come get it around the late morning, early afternoon.
The owners /​staff here are pleasant to deal with. Last I heard they were going to implement a credit card machine so that they can handle more mass purchases. If that goes through, they may be one of the first and only to have such a service. I know this is a hot spot for a lot Chinese folks who can’t seem to find the time to drive to Portland to get their groceries, may just be better to come here instead.