Hometown Grocery has become my go-to when in Birmingham. The more I shop there, the more it feels like a hidden gem that deserves far more recognition. What sets it apart isn't just one standout feature--it's the rare combination of variety, quality, and fair pricing all in one place. Start with the produce section. The vegetable selection is genuinely impressive, with enough variety to build vibrant, fiber-rich salads that never feel repetitive. Whether I'm in the mood for something earthy and hearty or light and crisp, there's always a fresh option ready to go. It's the kind of produce aisle that makes eating well feel effortless rather than like a chore. Then there's the meat counter, which might be my favorite part of the store. Hometown doesn't just stock the basics--they carry cuts that most grocery stores overlook entirely. Fish backs, pork riblets, braised ribs--these are ingredients that serious home cooks know are gold for stocks, slow braises, and deeply flavorful one-pot meals. Finding them fresh and well-priced, rather than having to hunt through specialty butchers, is a genuine luxury. And that's really the heart of it: the prices. Everything here feels fair, even generous, given the quality you're getting. In a landscape where "fresh" and "affordable" rarely show up together, Hometown manages to deliver both without compromise. Shopping here feels like being let in on something the rest of the world hasn't caught onto yet. It's not flashy or over-marketed--it just consistently delivers. Honestly, more grocery stores should be built this way: thoughtful variety, real freshness, and prices that don't punish you for wanting to eat well. read more

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I love the Hometown Supermarket! I've been a bunch of times over the years and I'm always blown away by the selection of items they have from around the world! The produce department always yields something I've never heard of. The seafood department contains everything from live fish and crab to jellyfish! They have sections for different areas of the world, From Asia to Africa. I took the kids one year for a festival I think for the Chinese new year, but I'm not positive because it's been so long. It was a lot of fun and we got to learn how different dishes were made. They also have a tea bar where you can get Boba made, and there is a restaurant called Mr. Chen's attached to the store. That is also really good. If you're looking for something different, definitely go check them out! read more

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I love visiting this market. We got some fresh whole snapper and blue crabs. I loved that they customized the cleaning of my fish for no extra charge. They have so many fresh fish options. I love this place! read more

Hometown Supermarket - Whole Red Snapper - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

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Amazing! Fresh seafood cleaned in front of me. Yes! They have everything; however, they were out of soursop, which was the reason I found the place. I will be back. read more

Hometown Supermarket - Live crabs, fish, jack fruit, noodles several kinda( Autumn's pick) Bardock root, coconut water. Etc - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

Love this super market! Nice staff. Always clean. Fresh food daily! Great pricing on everything! read more

Hometown Supermarket - Fresh seafood daily - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

Great choices and several options for all kinds of Asian food. Great location and lots of parking.

Great Asian grocery store for Birmingham. Will definitely be a good culinary resource.

My go to supermarket for international items while in the area! They have everything that I need and a lot of things I never knew I needed! Fruits that main stream grocery stores don't have they have (Rambutan, Soursop, persimmons just to name a few) also they have these plantain chips that I can only find here along with coconut hibiscus Malta! read more

Hometown Supermarket - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

The employees were very friendly 2day. I went in Mr. Chen's to enquire about their NEW bubble teas and then I saw a sign stating they had Soju! If you have ever watched a Kdrama you know it's popular in Korea . I asked questions about it . He tried his best. Taste is personal I know. He showed me where the various Soju was. I picked a plain and peach. My hubbie got some pork belly and saw some Skate. We have never seen this anywhere. We asked some questions . She was friendly and also told us they had Mahi mahi. We got some of that too. They had spotted shrimp in the tank. We also got some lotus root, Chinese eggplant, and Bok Choy. We promptly went home and hubbie whipped a meal up with the lovely ingred. Skate is very delicate. We had no clue! The eggplant was very delicious and the lotus root too. The eggplant is not like the common eggplant most know. Mahi mahi was also good . We also got some Black vinegar . Hopefully it's as good as the kind we tried in a little restaurant in New Orleans. We are always looking for different foods to try and we have always liked the variety. I'm so glad we were able to talk to employees today. Because we really are adventurous in trying different things Oh they did skin the skate for us which was very nice! Thank you so much! read more

I love this super market and am delighted every time I visit. I depend on this store to keep me well stocked in my spices, sauces, oils, kimchi, noodles, ramen, roasted seaweed snacks, and fresh produce. I also find the best deal on butchered meats, frozen scallops, fatty ground pork (for dumplings!), phyllo dough (of all things!), and bubble tea. My kids love trying new things from this store and I love that they are inspired to do so! I highly recommend that you take some time and browse the selection of delicious offerings at this store. It's also connected to Mr. Chen's restaurant that is still doing pick-up for ready made food. Always smells so good in there! Check it out, you won't be disappointed! read more

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I absolutely love this place. Could I get my normal grocery shopping done here every week? Probably not. Could I get great prices with a large selection on a lot of things I want? Oh yeah. Could I get lost here looking at all of the things I CAN'T find on my normal weekly shopping trip? Absolutely! The amount of obscure inventory that they have in this store is mind boggling. I have been wanting a good wok for a while. Where am I going to go when I actually pull the trigger? Hometown Supermarket. Why? Because they have an entire aisle dedicated to woks alone! Any type of seafood you are looking for can be found here. Feeling like making whole fish? Stop in an pick what you are feeling. Escargot on the menu? Snails all day. Crawfish? Prawns? Get them fresh or frozen. I have yet to get one of their roast ducks. But I don't think I can walk past one more time when they are fresh and pass it up. Recently I was in this neck of the woods to pick up crawfish (didn't get it from here because they were out). And I needed very small new potatoes. I thought it was a gamble to try. But I never should have doubted their produce selection. They had exactly and plenty of what I needed. I will never come in here and not want to explore all of the options. Thank you for being you Hometown Supermarket. PS - Get a bubble tea on your way out of the door. Well worth the extra stop. read more

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Great variety of different groceries from other continents. It's definitely a place to buy groceries when you are trying to cook multicultural meals. read more

Hometown Supermarket - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

Disappointed! We had to throw a lot of things in Trash after we got Home we found Prop 65 CA Cancer warning labels on food & dishes you eat with! Are you kidding me! We live 50 minutes away and couldn't just drive 100 miles round trip to return so we threw all the big bags of figs & all the dishes away! Such a waste of money & time! read more

This is by far the best Asian market in Bham. I think there is one other Asian market but it hardly has the selection as this one here does. I give it 4 star as it isn't as amazing as the ones you find in Atlanta plus there really isn't any other local Asian markets to compare it to in this location. They do carry most of the items I am usually looking for. I do wish there were more Japanese brand items vs Chinese or Korean as I prefer Japanese brands more so due to quality. However I'm thankful to have this Asian market because it is better than no Asian market. If you're looking for items to cook Asian dishes, this is the place to go! read more

Hometown Supermarket - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

A great Asian supermarket with many options plus they have a great Szechuan restaurant located within the business. I would strongly recommend this establishment and while you are there, try the restaurant Mr. Chen's. read more

Amazing selection of meats, seafood and produce. So many shelf stable products as well as a cozy restaurant with great service right inside the store! Will be back read more

If you are looking for any type of international food, check here! They offer the widest variety of food I've seen in a supermarket, and the staff is very friendly. The diversity of the products are organized, and they are reasonably priced. There is a small restaurant as well as a Boba Tea place located in this location as well. The have several types of fish and meats, including live fish. If you choose a fish, they will scale it, cut it, everything for you. Very handy place to go! read more

Price gauging is happening here. Everyone was wearing a mask because it is East Asian culture to do so. That was good. Produce was stocked but mostly East Asian products. Not much of international grocery store anymore. No Indian foods. Also prices have drastically increased. Prices are not marked clearly. Some are marked wrong. When you get to register to pay you end up paying $2 more than the price you saw listed. They're not updating and it makes for an embarrassing situation because you need the product, searched for the product waited in line and now have to buy it. Clearly taking advantage of people during the pandemic. read more

If you're looking for unique fresh produce look no further! They seem to have almost every part of Asia covered! I was so impressed at the wide variety of options they had. My mom bought persimmons and raved about them for days. Just going through the fresh fish market part of the store was such a neat experience. It's so clean and well organized. Check it out! read more

Hometown Supermarket - Roasted Duck - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

I'm not really sure what my parents and I did before this place opened up. Go to Atlanta? There just really wasn't a large Asian supermarket nearby! My family and I had been waiting for this place to open in Birmingham for over 20 years. They sell almost any kind of food you can think of here. A HUGE produce section, meats, fish, and all kinds of snacks you can't find in regular grocery stores. There is also a restaurant in the front that I've never tried, but have always heard great things about. They sell some kitchen utensils too as well as what I think were lottery tickets in the front. Not something you usually see in Alabama....yet. read more

Hometown Supermarket - Lottery tickets? - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

The best Asian grocery store in town. I could even find the very rare gogura/sour roselle leaves from back home here in this grocery store. Prices are usually cheaper than the ones listed on Amazon for standard tea/coffee packets. read more

This is the worse establishment I have visited since moving to AL. I bought 11.5 lbs of "live" crawfish on 3/16/19. I got home and found over 3/4 dead. Literally about 7 lbs of crawfish were dead. I attempted to resolve the issue by calling the store manager to no avail. I understand that some crawfish die. But, not 3/4 of the order. A reputable, honest business would have refunded my money and took the product back or exchanged the product. Albeit, the store has refused to return my call, and they removed my unfavorable post from their Face Book page with pictures. Their actions show disloyalty and unprofessionalism. There should be signs posted that note: Buy "fresh" seafood from this store at your own risk. read more

Hometown Supermarket - This is what was salvageable from about 11.5 lbs of crawfish. - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

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Only been here a handful of times and their products are very diverse and neatly located in heart of Homewood. The prices are reasonable, and they have a cozy restaurant attached to this store. Shall we try a meal? read more

I used to travel to Atlanta to the International Market for hard to find products. Now all I have to do it drive to Homewood to get many of those items. It's a huge Asian Market with items I find interesting and some I'm not interested in trying. I'm not Andrew Zimmerman but it's nice to know others can find ingredients from home in The Magic City. Prices are reasonable on items I've purchased at specialty stores. For instance there was a display on various sauces needed to make a good meal that included about 9-14 Asian stock items. The store is clean, organized, quiet, and has a huge selection. read more

Hometown Supermarket - Chinese Near Me - Homewood, Alabama

I am so thankful to have an Asian grocery store in town. This place has such a variety of produce and grocery items. The best part is that Mr. Chen's is connected to the grocery store so if you're waiting on your to go order, it's worth exploring all the variety of produce and ingredients. As part of #ThankYouThursday, I want to thank this business for catering to the community, especially those who desire a taste of home. Even during this time, the workers in the store are just as helpful and taking safety measures to serve their customers. Just yesterday I had trouble with getting an item off a shelf and a worker saw a need and stopped what their doing and helped me with it. That is the kind of customer service that wins loyalty. read more

This place has almost everything you could need Asian grocery. For Birmingham, it is impressive.. truly. I just moved here in the summer and first visited super oriental market for my Asian grocery needs and was hugely disappointed. There is a much better selection here... and it just feels cleaner here as well. Inside the supermarket is the Chinese restaurant "Mr. Chen's". We haven't dined there yet, but will definitely be giving it a try soon! Great produce selection, huge meat counter, large refrigerated foods section, and the biggest Asian snack selection you could imagine. Almost TOO many... it's a bit overwhelming. A few things... many produce items are prepackaged and not weighed. They will weigh if for you at the counter, of course but I find it inconvenient. Need two chili peppers? You're out of lucky, you can only get a package of 200. Just want a little bit of basil? Nope! It is packaged on styrofoam then wrapped in cling wrap. I could do without the styrofoam and the ability to just get what I need would be nice. They get extra points for looking very clean. They try with the samples they have available but I don't dare try anything. It looks like it's been left out a while and a pile of crackers on a plate? I can imagine a dirty hand sifting through it. No thanks. They also have "freshly" prepared goods such as bread and meat but it didn't look very appetizing. Still tried a sesame ball and to my expectations, it was not good. Couldn't even be salvaged in the toaster oven. Dry inside and out. I will come back here for Asian groceries and pantry staples.. definitely the go to over other options in the area. read more

I love Hometown Supermarket! Friendly staff and many of my favorite items all in one super store. So happy to have this store available close to me. read more

I literally live 2 minutes away and I am so happy that this place is here! When I lived in Atlanta, one of my favorite places to for grocery shopping etc was H Mart. They always had great deals on fresh meats and seafood. Well, Hometown is just that way, but smaller with more of a local neighborhood feel that I really really like. I went in the other day and bought chicken and sauces for a nice romantic dinner and I was definitely not disappointed. From fresh produce, to fresh meat, to even having an authentic restaurant right in the building! Its great and I'll be here so often. They'll get to know my name lol read more

This place is amazing!! It really is similar to the large Asian markets in Atlanta. Everything is super clean. There are a ton of vegetarian/vegan stuff as well! Highly recommend. Knock this review down to 4 stars for the customer service. I don't expect a lot because I know how Asian supermarkets are. It depends on your luck because some days the cashiers are great, other days not so much. read more

I initially gave an excited 5 star review, but changed it due to horrible customer service. When I got my purchases home, I discovered all the chicken I bought was 3 days past expiration! Guess what? No refunds no exchanges. No sympathy. DO NOT BUY MEAT! The rest of their offerings is still awesome though. read more

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I went there for the first time. It does have a really wide variety of Asian food, produce, sauce, herbs....etc. The supermarket is pretty big, probably a little too big. I thought as a bigger grocery store, the price would be competitive. Apparently not so as compared to the other Asian market in Hoover. Nevertheless I would still visit this supermarket once in awhile. read more

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This is my go-to store for exotic/imported produce. They have items that are native to all ethnicities. I would just advise you to know what you want because it's very hard to get assistance in this store read more

I love this grocery store! The produce is incredible and the variety is amazing! We spend most of our time in the produce section but they have a variety of packaged goods and fresh meats as well. It's so fun to walk around and get inspired to cook something new! read more

There were plenty of selections from all regions. They had the cool squid games candy as well.

great selection and very friendly and helpful. store was very clean. staff was very knowledgeable about where items were located.

I like this place! Prices are reasonable....I wish I can find H mart here in Birmingham. Still, awesome store that I will return to without hesitation. read more

this Asian market is pretty big. it's a little older in style and layout, but they have pretty much everything for every Asian culture. the prices weren't ridiculous either. good inventory to include Asian dishware, alcohol, and houseware. sauces, snacks, and exotics fruit, too. they have live seafood tanks. when I went, they only had a handful of tanks full, but that handful included lobster and Canadian crab, so it wasn't too bad. (they also had frogs in those tanks..... but to each their own!) they have a Chinese restaurant, mr. chen's, within the store, to the side. it looked very well organized and clean. and, there were quite a number of people inside it, too. I'll have to try it out next time. definitely a good place to stop by to find those Asian necessities and that American markets don't have! read more

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Finally. A decent Asian market! Not quite on the level of Hmart or Great Wall, but it will do for the 3 years I have to spend in Birmingham. They carry a lot of staple Asian products. Much more than Red Pearl. I have yet to try produce and meats, but it looks pretty solid. Now I can finally make soondofu without having to drive 2 hours to Atlanta!!! :) read more

Huge store... tons of Asian grocery products of all kinds. From fresh meats/seafood to plenty of candy and other snacks sure to suit your fancy. My guess is that it's mostly Chinese, but I did see one aisle in the back specific to Indian foods. Alcohol (wine, sake, beer [local and a few international selections]). Oh and btw... there's a Mr. Chen's restaurant inside the store as well... how cool is that. Seemed to be quite a few people dining there too. The staff we did interact with were friendly, though we didn't ask anyone for assistance of any kind. Aisle signs are marked in English so you know where to look for whatever item's you're there to shop for. Clean, organized... no complaints here! read more

Place is amazing! It's like Hmart in Birmingham! Must go!! Prices are not too expensive compared to asian markets in small cities. I definitely recommend you to visit here. read more

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