Mona Mahadevan photos
Market 360 was lined with fresh produce, trail mix, and salad dressing.
State St. entrance of the store.
A new full-service grocery store has opened up on the ground floor of 360 State St. in the commercial space that long housed Elm City Market.
The newly opened grocery store is called Market 360. It opened its doors on Saturday and now occupies the same 20,000-square foot space that Elm City Market filled for over a decade. The operators, Kim and Chris Choe, have run a grocery store in Sharon for 15 years and are in the process of opening another in Millerton.
“I would come here often for a treat or pick-me-up,” City Hall employee Lorena Mitchell said as she browsed the shelves at Market 360. “It feels like it’s really full, and there’s a lot of variety.”
Elm City Market left 360 State last fall amid plans to move to a new, smaller space a few blocks away. Market 360 announced plans to move into the vacant 360 State space in February.
The store’s offerings range from Buldak ramen to butterscotch lattes. In addition to packaged items, the store has a plant section near the checkout counters and a coffee station in the back. It also has all the other foods one would expect at a grocery store, from watermelons and green onions to ice cream and pita crackers.
Once they receive approval from the Health Department, said manager Young Mol, they will start selling prepared foods like salad, sushi, and sandwiches. They will also have a bakery that will offer both French and Korean pastries, as well as a deli with meat and cheese.
“We have farm-fresh items at good prices,” said Chris Choe on Tuesday. They have contracts with 20 farms throughout Connecticut and New York, he added, and will also sell items directly from his home farm, which has “pigs, rams, egg-laying chickens, and flowers.”
“It’s very convenient, and it’s nice to live in an urban environment, where I can walk and get lunch,” said a customer named Austin. He works across the street at Make Haven and journeyed to Market 360 to acquire items for his lunch on Tuesday.
“Something I appreciated about Elm City Market, even though I thought it was overpriced, was the healthy food options,” he said. As long as Market 360 offers healthy vegan and vegetarian options, he would be willing to try their prepared items.
Around a dozen customers walked into Market 360 during lunchtime on Tuesday. Choe says that business has been good so far. He plans to increase advertising and hire more employees after a grand opening on June 4 with Mayor Justin Elicker.
The store is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closes one hour earlier on Sundays.
Meanwhile, Elm City Market, the previous occupant of the retail space on 777 Orange St., is still constructing its new, smaller space on the ground floor of The Anthem at Square 10 Apartments just a few blocks away. According to its answering machine message, the location on 275 Orange St. was supposed to open in January 2025. The owners of Elm City Market and The Anthem at Square 10 did not respond to requests for comment.
The store has aisles filled with specialty Asian food items.
Hannah Endri, a Yale IT employee, purchased two Guittard chocolate bars on Tuesday to make chocolate-covered strawberries.
The prepared foods section is empty for now.
The plant section at the front of the store will be expanded after the June 4 grand opening.
The facade of Elm City Market is complete, but the interior is still being constructed.
The interior of Elm City Market is mostly empty, but there are shopping carts and signs.