Upon walking into the red brick building, customers are cheerily greeted by Owner Fina Rudianti. At the front end, Rudianti’s partner James Duffey helps answer questions patrons have about item locations and descriptions.
It’s been just one month since Fina Asian Market opened, yet the new store is already a lovely third space for the community to rely on.
“A lot of stuff in stock right now is from customer requests, like Filipino food,” Rudianti said.
For years, Rudianti and Duffey have worked to bring this store to life. Duffey expressed how the whole place is Rudianti’s idea, and she has worked tirelessly to make it happen.
The market space is next to Copy Copy in the brick building that was once home to the Army & Factory Surplus (also called Factory Outdoors). It is walkable from the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority parking lot and has great parking for patrons. Already, the market has regular customers.
“There’s some people that are here almost every single day,” Duffey said. “And a regular set of businesses come by here too.”
Fina regulars are seeking products that were previously unavailable in the Roaring Fork Valley. The store has regular items in demand, and Rudianti talked about the products that are constantly sold.
“The soy sauce and a lot of the fish,” Rudianti said. “I think in this valley we don’t have much fish. And also the dumpling wrappers. We have sushi grade fish.”
Rudianti shared how this is an exciting product to have for the general public throughout the Valley as there are limited options for accessing quality sea food for personal cooking.
“We have a wide selection of enoki mushrooms that people constantly come in for,” Duffey added.
Not only does Fina provide quality goods for the public, they are also taking order requests. When asked about how many order requests the public has made, Rudianti and Duffey looked at each other and chuckled.
“Too many, too many,” Duffey said while laughing. “She’s going through it [the request list] now, and it’s a lot of different people asking for a lot of different things.”
They explained that the list has been growing since opening day, some of which Fina has been able to source and some she is still working to find vendors for.
Along with the order requests, Duffey is working on creating QR codes for answering questions about ingredients and to help direct people throughout the store.
“It is on the way!” Duffey said. They want to include print outs for the aisles that will not only explain what ingredients are, but also include recipes.
“Caroline is our chef, she’s been with us for many years, and she gave us a few recipes,” Duffey added.
There are many different kinds of products throughout the space, such as ramen, candy, frozen fish and fresh produce, all of which range from Chinese, Japanese, Korean and more Asian cuisines. From seasoning to quick snacks, there is something for everyone to try. Rudianti smiled when asked what her favorite items in the store are.
“Fresh produce, that’s my favorite,”
Rudianti said. “Fresh fruit I can’t get anywhere else. Right now, a lot of them are sold out, but more are coming like mangosteen, rambutan, and even bean sprouts.”
Keeping up with the public and providing for a market niche that had been missing from the Valley has been tough work. Rudianti and Duffey have been overwhelmed by the positive public feedback.
“The process has been difficult,” Rudianti added. “But we are here and that has made us happy that we are open.”
Fina Asian Market is located at 2828 S. Glen Ave., Unit B, Glenwood Springs, and is open everyday from 9am to 8pm.