Overview
- Hundreds of customers queued before opening, with some camping overnight and the first shoppers greeted at the door when staff opened the store for a ceremonial launch.
- The Chandler store includes a food hall of Filipino restaurants led by Grill City, which began serving customers immediately and drew long lines through the afternoon heat.
- Seafood City said the store brings more than 100 local jobs and that staff had been prepping early on opening day to meet customer demand.
- A planned in-store crab market has not yet opened and company leadership said it will arrive in a few months as part of a phased rollout.
- Local shoppers described the store as long-awaited access to hard-to-find Filipino ingredients and dishes, a change that could broaden cultural food options and prompt Seafood City to fine-tune staffing and product selection for the Chandler market.