SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) – May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and NewsChannel 9 is paying tribute to members of the AAPI community making a difference here in Central New York.
This week on “Asian Americans Standing Strong,” NewsChannel 9 is featuring Loni Truong, owner of Far East & Asian Groceries in Syracuse.
When you walk in Far East & Asian Groceries on the north side of Syracuse, the first thing you’ll see is a small Buddha statue.
“Every morning when we come in, we pray.”
LONI TRUONG, OWNER, FAR EAST & ASIAN GROCERIES
On July 23, 1987, Loni and her husband, Sinh, opened up their Asian grocery store after coming to the United States from Vietnam.
The couple met and married in Syracuse. The idea to start their business came to be after having little access to Vietnamese products to make authentic dishes at home.
“When I first came, I missed my home food a lot.”
LONI TRUONG, OWNER, FAR EAST & ASIAN GROCERIES
Loni was only 15-years-old when she resettled in America.
“I was born into a poor family,” Loni explained. “At 9-years-old, I went to school and to another family to babysit their children. I worked for them for a couple of years until I was 14-years-old. The government took over my boss’ business and they decided to leave the country.”
The family asked Loni to join them. At first, she was hesitant to leave her own family, but then made the decision to tag along.
They asked me to come with them because they loved me like a member of their family. They asked me to come with them to America to start a new life, so in the future, I could help my family and bring my family to America to have a good life, not a poor life in Vietnam.
LONI TRUONG, OWNER, FAR EAST & ASIAN GROCERIES
Because Loni was under the age of 18 when she came to America, she was placed with a foster family.
I am very lucky. They found a family for me to live with. Their last name is Villanova. I lived with them and continued my high school and college education. Then after college, I went to work, saved money and sponsored my family to come over about 10 years later.
LONI TRUONG, OWNER, FAR EAST & ASIAN GROCERIES
However, Loni’s early days in the United States weren’t always easy, especially starting her family business from the ground up.
“The big challenge was we didn’t have money to open the grocery store,” Loni said. “When you open the store, you have to have good money to stock up all the shelves and everything…a lot of different variety of products and food. That was the big challenge because we didn’t have much money.”
After years of hard work, business at Far East & Asian Groceries is booming! Shelves aren’t only stocked with Vietnamese staples, but products from Burma, Africa, Nepal, Korea, China and the Philippines. This wide variety gives every shopper a taste of their home.
They can come to purchase and eat their home food so they don’t miss out. We tried to close on Mondays so we could have one day off but then our customers, they love us so much, said, ‘we need to go to the store so open the store again. We love to come to your store.’ So, that’s why my husband decided to open again, seven days a week. I’m so happy that they love us and they want to come to our store. Even though we work harder, we’re making our customers happy.
LONI TRUONG, OWNER, FAR EAST & ASIAN GROCERIES
Loni is making the most of her American dream, all while giving back to the Central New York community.
“Like American people say, you walk up from the bottom of the ladder. Back then, we were from the bottom of the ladder and we stepped up. Now I don’t know if we’ve gone up all the way yet, but we are very happy where we are right now.”
LONI TRUONG, OWNER, FAR EAST & ASIAN GROCERIES
Far East & Asian Groceries is open seven days a week from 10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The address is 924 North Townsend Street in Syracuse.