Hmongtown Marketplace#Pan Asian Center

Two buildings in north Frogtown at 217 Como Ave{{cite news|author-last1=Tillotson |author-first1=Kristin |date=July 21, 2012 |title=Afternoon idyll, Hmong-style |work=Star Tribune | issn=0895-2825 |id={{Gale|A297325092}}. {{ProQuest|1027442728}} |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T004&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&retrievalId=2386a1b4-5f60-4f64-9728-0215c1b83fb5&hitCount=42&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=8&docId=GALE%7CA297325092&docType=Brief+article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZGPN-Exclude-FT&prodId=GPS&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA297325092&searchId=R1&userGroupName=wikipedia&inPS=true |url-access=subscription}} contain more than 200 vendors who sell traditional food, clothing, and home goods especially from Hmong and Hmong American culture, including from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.{{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/finding-minnesota-hmongtown-marketplace/ |title=Finding Minnesota: Hmongtown Marketplace |date=June 5, 2016 |website=CBS News Minnesota |publisher=WCCO News |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221422/https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/finding-minnesota-hmongtown-marketplace/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web | title=Hmongtown Marketplace | website=Twin Cities Daily Planet | date=June 29, 2010 | url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/1635/20100630030954/http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/attractions/hmongtown-marketplace | access-date=March 22, 2025 | via=Archive-It Wayback Machine}} The market is designed to simulate open-air markets in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Vientiane, Laos. Produce vendors sell culturally specific fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other edible plants.{{cite web |url=https://www.mnopedia.org/hmong-and-hmong-americans-minnesota |title=Hmong and Hmong Americans in Minnesota |last=Lee |first=Mai Na M. |author-link=Mai Na Lee |date=December 7, 2021 |website=MNopedia |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006025521/https://www.mnopedia.org/hmong-and-hmong-americans-minnesota |url-status=live }} Hot and ready-made food vendors sell a variety of dishes such as roast meats, boba tea, papaya salad, and bánh mì. Home goods include green market, electronics, religious supplies, and garden tools.{{cite web |url=https://twincities.eater.com/maps/best-cafes-restaurants-in-grocery-stores-delis-markets-minneapolis-st-paul/hmongtown-marketplace |title=These 16 Twin Cities Grocery Stores Have Really Great Cafes Inside Them |last=Johnson |first=Cecilia |date=November 8, 2022 |website=Eater |publisher= |access-date=October 18, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020054732/https://twincities.eater.com/maps/best-cafes-restaurants-in-grocery-stores-delis-markets-minneapolis-st-paul/hmongtown-marketplace |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://startribune.com/10-must-eat-foods-at-st-paul-s-two-massive-hmong-markets/481515751/ |title=10 must-eat foods at St. Paul's two massive Hmong markets |last=Rayno |first=Amelia |date=May 2, 2018 |website=Star Tribune |publisher= |access-date=October 18, 2023 |issn=0895-2825 |id={{ProQuest|2033979140}} |archive-date=June 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609154137/https://www.startribune.com/10-must-eat-foods-at-st-paul-s-two-massive-hmong-markets/481515751/ |url-status=live }} A bank branch staffed by Hmong-speaking employees was added in 2024.{{cite web | last=Niepow | first=Dan | title=HmongTown Marketplace Gets a Stearns Bank Office | website=Twin Cities Business | date=September 27, 2024 | url=https://tcbmag.com/hmongtown-marketplace-gets-a-stearns-bank-office/ | access-date=October 16, 2024 | archive-date=September 27, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240927192937/https://tcbmag.com/hmongtown-marketplace-gets-a-stearns-bank-office/ | url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Thamer | first=Sarah | title=New office brings much-needed banking resources to HmongTown Marketplace | website=MPR News | date=October 18, 2024 | url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/10/18/new-office-brings-much-needed-banking-resources-to-hmongtown-marketplace | access-date=October 18, 2024}}

{{Quote|It's easy to forget, when you're walking past the crowded indoor stalls or outdoor vegetable stands in Hmongtown Marketplace that you're in the American Midwest. The sounds, smells, voices on TV and faces proclaim, "Southeast Asia!"|Why you should visit St. Paul|Washington Post{{cite news | author-last1=Kaplan | author-first1=Melanie D.G. | title=Why you should visit St. Paul | newspaper=Washington Post | date=October 9, 2019 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/lifestyle/vacation-ideas/things-to-do-in-st-paul/ | id={{EBSCOhost|dbcode=bwh|wapo.a9126bb0-da3f-11e9-ac63-3016711543fe}} | access-date=September 13, 2024 | archive-date=May 31, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531032131/https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/lifestyle/vacation-ideas/things-to-do-in-st-paul/ | url-status=live }}}}

File:Outdoor market at Hmongtown Marketplace Saint Paul Minnesota.pngIn the summer the market nearly doubles in size with an outdoor market in the surrounding paved lot that brings the number of vendors up to 300 or more.{{cite web |url=https://mspmag.com/eat-and-drink/king-of-stpaul-hmongtown/ |title=Meet the King of St. Paul's HmongTown |last=Moskowitz Grumdahl |first=Dara |author-link=Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl |date=November 30, 2018 |website=Mpls.St.Paul Magazine |publisher=Key Enterprises LLC |access-date=October 18, 2023 |issn=0162-6655 |id={{ProQuest|2130281108}} |archive-date=November 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221125121958/https://mspmag.com/eat-and-drink/king-of-stpaul-hmongtown/ |url-status=live }} Also available in The Essential Dear Dara: Writings on Local Characters and Memorable Places {{ISBN|9781681342757}}. The outdoor market is sometimes referred to as the Hmongtown Farmers Market and sells produce as well as meat, clothing and textiles, herbal medicine, live potted plants, and home products.{{cite web |url=https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/food-drink/a-chefs-guide-to-shopping-the-hmongtown-marketplace/ |title=A Chef's Guide to Shopping the Hmongtown Marketplace |last=Ross |first=Jason |date=June 11, 2012 |website=Minnesota Monthly |publisher=Greenspring Media, LLC |access-date=October 18, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330142050/https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/food-drink/a-chefs-guide-to-shopping-the-hmongtown-marketplace/ |url-status=live }}{{cite book | title=Staring Down the Tiger: Stories of Hmong American Women | editor-last1=Vang | editor-first1=Pa Der | publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press | publication-place=Saint Paul, Minnesota | date=February 25, 2020 | isbn=978-1-68134-150-7 | page=58 |id={{Project MUSE|89648}} |oclc=1142813312 }}

The large size and foot traffic have led to the nickname "Hmong Mall of America". 600 people work inside, as many as 20,000 customers have been noted during events, and there is capacity for more than 300 stalls.{{cite news |last=Burger |first=Kevyn |date=September 2017 |title=Immigrant Success Stories: Tales of Four Minnesota Entrepreneurs from India, Nicaragua, Laos and Nigeria – and a Visit with the Head of Global Minnesota |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=125122002&site=eds-live&scope=site |work=MinnesotaBusiness |publisher=Tiger Oak Media |volume=27 |issue=9 |pages=18–24 |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |access-date=November 11, 2024 |issn=1539-6452 |id={{EBSCOhost|dbcode=f6h|125122002}} |archive-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020054747/https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=125122002&site=eds-live&scope=site |url-status=dead }}. The interior footpath complexity due to the many stalls has been described as "labyrinthine" and "byzantine".{{cite magazine |last=Halpern |first=Ashlea |date=June–July 2019 |title=The Twin Cities...Where You Can Take a World Food Tour without Leaving Minnesota |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=136476278&site=eds-live&scope=site |magazine=Bon Appetit |volume=64 |issue=5 |pages=43–46 |location= |publisher=Conde Nast Publications |access-date=November 11, 2024 |id={{EBSCOhost|dbcode=f6h|136476278}} |issn=0006-6990 |archive-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020054742/https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=136476278&site=eds-live&scope=site |url-status=dead }}. Because of the wide variety of products and services offered at Hmongtown, it is referred to as many different kinds of markets, such as a mall, a supermarket, a flea market, a farmers market, a marketplace, and a food hall.{{cite web |url=https://heavytable.com/a-day-in-the-kitchen-of-a-hmong-family/ |title=A Day In the Kitchen of a Hmong Family |last=Writer |first=Lori |date=May 19, 2009 |website=The Heavy Table |publisher= |access-date=November 19, 2023 |quote=}}{{cite web |url=https://wassupminnesota.com/hmong-town-marketplace/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130225105/https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://wassupminnesota.com/hmong-town-marketplace/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |title=Explore the Vibrant Hmong Culture at Hmong Town Marketplace in Saint Paul, Minnesota |last= |first= |date=September 17, 2023 |website=Wassup Minnesota |publisher= |access-date=November 27, 2023 |quote=}} Locally it is variously referred to as the Hmong Farmers Market or Hmong Flea Market, or simply "Hmongtown" to emphasize its role as a cultural hub like a Chinatown, not just a retail location.{{Cite web |title=Hmong Food and Culture in Saint Paul MN |url=https://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=24955&p=267223 |access-date=October 22, 2023 |website=LTH Forum}}{{cite web | last=Bodenner | first=Zachary Jay | title="Knowing Who You Are": The Role of Ethnic Spaces in the Construction of Hmong Identities in the Twin Cities | website=OhioLINK Electronic Theses & Dissertations (ETD) Center | date=2014 | url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/etd/r/1501/10?clear=10&p10_accession_num=ohiou1395242088 | access-date=2024-09-10 | archive-date=September 10, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910232859/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/etd/r/1501/10?clear=10&p10_accession_num=ohiou1395242088 | url-status=live }}

The idea of a "Hmongtown", so named as a Chinatown, has been documented in the Hmong American community for some time. In the 1997 book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which documents one Hmong refugee family's difficulty with the United States' healthcare system in the decade after Hmong began seeking refuge in the United States, author Anne Fadiman details a Hmong community leader in Merced, California named Blia Yao Moua who at one point pursued a Hmong American-oriented housing complex he called "Hmongtown" which would be designed to remind demoralized refugees of Laos.{{cite web |url=https://agrobuti.it/foto/hmongcina/libro_hmong-miao-spirit.pdf |title=PinkMonkey Literature Notes on... The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down |last=Clapsaddle |first=Diane |date=2008 |website= |publisher=PinkMonkey |access-date=October 30, 2024 |page=32 |quote=Two of these included Blia Yao Moua and Jonas Vangay. Both had studied in France and had been offered jobs there. However, they believed if they stayed there, they would feel guilty, because of their obligation to the Hmong community. They had earned leadership roles in Merced, but little money and little peace of mind. They helped the community negotiate the public assistance labyrinth and were part of a group of four or five people who had no private life whatsoever. Blia had an ambitious housing scheme – called Hmongtown – that involved the purchase of land and the building of houses that would remind the people of Laos. He thought it would boost their morale, and they would take good care of it. But when the author returned to Merced a year later, no one had heard of Hmongtown and Blia had left. He had burned out and stopped working for the community.}} Hmong American poet Bryan Thao Worra describes Fresno as a Hmong American city alongside other ethnicities, and entitles the poem (and Fresno) Hmongtown.{{cite book | title=The Poetry of Us: With Favorites from Maya Angelou, Walt Whitman, Gwendolyn Brooks, and More: More Than 200 Poems that Celebrate the People, Places, and Passions of the United States | editor-last1=Lewis | editor-first1=J. Patrick | editor-link=J. Patrick Lewis |publisher=National Geographic | publication-place=Washington, D.C | date=2018 | isbn=978-1-4263-3185-5 | page=160 |chapter=Hmongtown |author-last1=Thao Worra |author-first1=Bryan |author-link=Bryan Thao Worra}}

Hmongtown founder Toua Xiong said in 2000, four years before Hmongtown was realized, that the goal of his neighborhood business ventures were to "turn Frogtown into Hmongtown". His marketplace concept was opened as International Marketplace in 2004, and renamed Hmongtown Marketplace in 2009. Xiong has since encouraged leaving "Marketplace" out of the name to emphasize Hmongtown as "[n]ot just a bazaar but a community unto itself."

{{See also|History of the Hmong in Minneapolis–Saint Paul}}

Soliel Ho for the upper Midwestern food magazine Heavy Table connects Hmongtown to wider Hmong American history and calls the marketplace "a manifestation of the Hmong community’s resilience in the face of persecution and displacement". Hmongtown was the first Hmong-owned and operated marketplace in the United States. The market was founded as International Marketplace{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Phyllis Louise |date=November 22, 2007 |title=The elusive Hmong cuisine |url=https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/elusive-hmong-cuisine/ |access-date=October 25, 2023 |website=Twin Cities Daily Planet |language=en-US |archive-date=October 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025233030/https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/elusive-hmong-cuisine/ |url-status=live }} in 2004 by Saint Paul, Minnesota entrepreneurs and real estate developers Toua Xiong and Nou (Vang) Xiong.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/462594294 |title=Hmong business leaders tour UND on Friday |last=Marks |first=Joseph |date=January 26, 2008 |work=McClatchy – Tribune Business News |publisher=Tribune Content Agency LLC |access-date=November 24, 2024 |id={{ProQuest|462594294}} |archive-date=December 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204063813/https://www.proquest.com/docview/462594294 |url-status=live }} Hmong people were persecuted in their homelands following the Laotian Civil War known as the Secret War and the Xiongs wanted a place for first generation immigrants such as themselves to gather as though they were at home. The marketplace originally had many video stores that sold footage of and movies set in Laos and Thailand as part of that nostalgia.{{cite web |url=https://religionsmn.carleton.edu/exhibits/show/hmong-religiosity/history-of-the-hmong-diaspora/hmong--in-st--paul/hmongtown-marketplace |title=Hmongtown Marketplace |website=Religions in Minnesota |publisher=Carleton University |access-date=October 18, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523232434/https://religionsmn.carleton.edu/exhibits/show/hmong-religiosity/history-of-the-hmong-diaspora/hmong--in-st--paul/hmongtown-marketplace |url-status=live }} Hmongtown serves a similar role to the Minnesota Hmong community as Hmong villages and ethnic Hmong marketplaces in countries of origin such as Vietnam and Laos, which are cultural and social hubs.{{cite web |url=https://learnuake.org/articles/hmong-culture/agriculture-land/ |title=Agriculture & Land Relations in Hmong Culture |last=Yangh |first=Saulkdi |date=August 11, 2023 |website=Learn Uake |publisher=Hmong Museum |access-date=May 10, 2024 |quote=Bustling Hmong farmers markets such as Hmong Village (MN), Hmong Town (MN), or those in Brooklyn Park, MN would become social hubs where family, friends, and Hmong kin connected. These spaces would quasi act as a mini-Hmong village at the heart of a foreign country. |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421203141/https://learnuake.org/articles/hmong-culture/agriculture-land/ |url-status=live }}

Toua Xiong spent his childhood in Laos before his family escaped to a refugee camp. He, a younger brother, and his parents joined his teenage brothers in an American-run refugee camp when he was twelve. In 1986 at seventeen years old, he and his wife Nou Vang immigrated to St. Paul, Minnesota and settled in Frogtown. In three years he gained college degrees in business and accounting. He has a master's degree in accounting.{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/464314000 |title=Southeast Asian Small-Business Owners Get Financing in St. Paul, Minn., Area |last=Jean |first=Sheryl |date=March 25, 2003 |work=Pioneer Press / Knight Ridder Tribune Business News |publisher=Tribune Content Agency LLC |access-date=November 24, 2024 |id={{ProQuest|464314000}}}}

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| image1 = [https://collections.artsmia.org/art/89603/49-cy-thao Painted depiction of Foodsmart on a Hmong American business corridor]

Hmong American politician and artist Cy Thao includes Hmong businesses like Foodsmart in the upswing of Hmong American history: "After 25 years of being in America, our communities are beginning to take root. The children are getting a first rate education. Opportunities are beginning to open up. Hmong businesses are popping up everywhere. It’s a sign that we will make it here too."{{cite web | title=#49, Cy Thao | date=1993–2001 | website=Minneapolis Institute of Art | url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/89603/49-cy-thao | access-date=October 28, 2024 | archive-date=June 3, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240603215826/https://collections.artsmia.org/art/89603/49-cy-thao | url-status=live }}

}}Prior to opening Hmongtown, the Xiongs owned and operated the Asian grocery store Foodsmart (now doing business as Sun Foods), part of the Unidale Mall strip mall on University Avenue in Frogtown, with a second location in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Opened around 1996 with business loans, the grocery hosted an 80 stall farmers market in its parking lot, a ready-made hot food Thai and Hmong restaurant and buffet,{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/427509549 |title=Small spaces that cover all bases: [METRO Edition] |last=Nelson |first=Rick |date=September 20, 2002 |work=Star Tribune |publisher= |access-date=November 24, 2024 |issn=0895-2825 |id={{ProQuest|427509549}} |archive-date=December 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203005602/https://www.proquest.com/docview/427509549 |url-status=live }} an event hall, and a Hmong sausage processing facility which sold 700 pounds of sausage daily.{{cite news |date=September 17, 2001 |title=Ethnic Consumers Propelling Category Growth |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&u=wikipedia&id=GALE%7CA79291243&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-ITOF&asid=eca4e6de |work=Supermarket News |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota |publisher=Penton Media, Inc., Penton Business Media, Inc. and their subsidiaries |access-date=November 7, 2024 |via=Gale General OneFile|id={{Gale|A79291243}}}}{{cite journal |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/212248803 |title=A picture of diversity |last=Martyka |first=Jim |date=June 28, 2002 |volume=20 |issue=4 |journal=Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal |access-date=November 24, 2024 |quote= |via=ProQuest |issn=1540-1847 |id={{ProQuest|212248803}} |pages=S38 |archive-date=December 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207221221/https://www.proquest.com/docview/212248803 |url-status=live }} Toua's goal was to "turn Frogtown into Hmongtown".{{cite web | last=Harris | first=Phyllis Louise | title=The elusive Hmong cuisine | website=Twin Cities Daily Planet | date=November 22, 2007 | url=https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/elusive-hmong-cuisine/ | access-date=October 15, 2024 | archive-date=October 25, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025233030/https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/elusive-hmong-cuisine/ | url-status=live }}{{cite news | title=Laos and the still mighty dollar | newspaper=The Economist | date=September 7, 2000 | url=https://www.economist.com/asia/2000/09/07/laos-and-the-still-mighty-dollar | access-date=October 15, 2024 | issn=0013-0613 | id={{ProQuest|224062429}} | archive-date=July 26, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230726212438/https://www.economist.com/asia/2000/09/07/laos-and-the-still-mighty-dollar | url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Melo | first=Frederick | title=Farmers markets: Not all follow same rules | website=Twin Cities | date=September 5, 2013 | url=https://www.twincities.com/2013/09/05/farmers-markets-not-all-follow-same-rules/ | access-date=October 15, 2024 | archive-date=June 28, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628220238/https://www.twincities.com/2013/09/05/farmers-markets-not-all-follow-same-rules/ | url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Share | first=John | title=Companies position for Hmong influx | website=Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal | date=April 4, 2004 | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2004/04/05/story2.html | access-date=October 15, 2024 | archive-date=June 9, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609182943/https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2004/04/05/story2.html | url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Baladad | first=Rita | title=Hmong Archives Is Making the East Side Freedom Library Its Permanent Home | website=Minitex | date=February 1, 2016 | url=https://minitex.umn.edu/news/e-resources-cooperative-purchasing/2022-05/hmong-archives-making-east-side-freedom-library-its | access-date=October 15, 2024 | archive-date=September 22, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922163545/https://minitex.umn.edu/news/e-resources-cooperative-purchasing/2022-05/hmong-archives-making-east-side-freedom-library-its | url-status=live }}{{cite web | title=How AURI Works Part II | website=AURI | date=January 21, 2020 | url=https://auri.org/ag-innovation-news/apr-jun-2002/how-auri-works-part-ii/ | access-date=October 15, 2024}} Also available as {{cite magazine |last=Green |first=Cindy |date=April 2002 |title=How AURI works |url=https://www.calameo.com/read/000046992109551349898 | volume=11 | number=2 | pages=8–10 |magazine=Ag Innovation News |location=Waseca, Minnesota |publisher=Agricultural Utilization Research Institute |access-date= |via=Calaméo}} (From 1981 to 2005, the number of Asian businesses on University Avenue in Frogtown grew from one business to more than sixty businesses.{{cite web | author-last1=Corrie | author-first1=Bruce P | display-authors=etal | title=The Transformation of University Avenue by Asian Immigrant Business 1981–2005 | url=https://www.stpaul.gov/DocumentCenter/Government/Human%20Rights%20%26%20Equal%20Economic%20Opportunity/Publications%20%26%20Resources/Economic%20Data%20on%20Communities%20of%20Color/Transformation%20of%20University%20Ave_.pdf | publisher=Department of Business, Concordia University | location=Saint Paul, Minnesota | access-date=October 15, 2024 | archive-date=February 2, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202010139/https://www.stpaul.gov/DocumentCenter/Government/Human%20Rights%20%26%20Equal%20Economic%20Opportunity/Publications%20%26%20Resources/Economic%20Data%20on%20Communities%20of%20Color/Transformation%20of%20University%20Ave_.pdf | url-status=live }})

Foodsmart was involved in community initiatives: hosting the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans get-out-the-vote events and community engagement about the Metro Transit light rail Central Corridor construction in 2007. Representatives from Foodsmart served on the Central Corridor Business Advisory Council.{{cite web | title=Sunset Review Report | author=Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotan | date=November 1, 2011 | url=https://www.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/inactive/sunset/reports/CouncilonAsianPacificReport_2011.pdf | access-date=October 15, 2024 | type=report | archive-date=November 18, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241118040142/https://www.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/inactive/sunset/reports/CouncilonAsianPacificReport_2011.pdf | url-status=live }}{{cite web | title=Washington Avenue bridge report expected in fall | url=https://metrocouncil.org/Transportation/Projects/Light-Rail-Projects/Central-Corridor/Publications-And-Resources/News/CC-MakingTracks/CC-MakingTracks-JulyAug07-pdf.aspx | date=July–August 2007 | access-date=October 15, 2024 | type=newsletter | work=Making Tracks | publisher=Metropolitan Council}}{{cite web | title=Loop proposal has serious drawbacks | url=https://metrocouncil.org/Transportation/Projects/Light-Rail-Projects/Central-Corridor/Publications-And-Resources/News/CC-MakingTracks/CC-MakingTracks-Feb07-pdf.aspx | date=February 2007 | access-date=October 15, 2024 | type=newsletter | work=Making Tracks | publisher=Metropolitan Council}} It hosted fundraisers for local Hmong institutions such as the Hmong Cultural Center Museum, which was founded during a meeting at Foodsmart.{{cite web | title=Hmong Cultural Center 2006 Annual Report | date=2006 | url=https://www.hmongcc.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/2006_annual_report.pdf | access-date=October 15, 2024 | archive-date=July 11, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240711224205/https://www.hmongcc.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/2006_annual_report.pdf | url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last1=Hartlep |first1=Nicholas D |last2=Xiong |first2=Brian V |date=Fall–Winter 2018 |title=The Hmong Archives as a Community Resource for Social Studies Educators in Saint Paul, Minnesota |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?q=source%3A%22Educational+Foundations%22&id=EJ1211797 |journal=The Journal of Educational Foundations | publisher=Caddo Gap Press |volume=31 |issue=3 & 4 |pages=118–149 |doi= |access-date=October 15, 2024 | issn=1047-8248 | id={{ERIC|EJ1211797|url-access=free}}}}

The New York Times recommended Foodsmart's daily Hmong food buffet in 2002.{{cite web | last=Mydans | first=Seth | title=JOURNEYS; A Fallen Saigon Rises Again In the West | website=The New York Times | date=April 5, 2002 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/05/travel/journeys-a-fallen-saigon-rises-again-in-the-west.html | access-date=October 15, 2024 |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|92240068}} | archive-date=April 11, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411001455/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/05/travel/journeys-a-fallen-saigon-rises-again-in-the-west.html | url-status=live }} Star Tribune recommended the Thai and Hmong food in 2001.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/427430004 |title=RESTAURANT REVIEW Thai, Hmong dishes shine at Foodsmart: [METRO Edition] |last=Iggers |first=Jeremy |date=August 30, 2001 |work=Star Tribune |publisher= |access-date=November 24, 2024 |issn=0895-2825 |id={{ProQuest|427430004}} |archive-date=December 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201164129/https://www.proquest.com/docview/427430004 |url-status=live }} Toua Xiong received a minority business leader award for Foodsmart from Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal in 2002.{{cite news |date=July 4–10, 2002 |title=Business Journal honors 16 local minority business owners |url=https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=f9f5cfc8-2d69-4218-9ce2-1854cb061e0b%2Fmnhi0031%2F0018RI5K%2F02070401 |work=Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder |page=1 |location= |access-date=15 October 2024 | volume=67 | number=48a}}

The Xiongs moved on to develop the multi-vendor International Marketplace with a goal to provide Hmong with more economic opportunity.

The 6-acre Hmongtown site was previously Shaw Stewart Lumber Co. on Como Avenue, north of the St. Paul Capitol building.{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1628724884 |title=Twin Cities see new link: New light rail line turns St. Paul and Minneapolis into much closer siblings |last=Bergin |first=Mary |date=November 30, 2014 |website=ProQuest |publisher=Chicago Tribune |access-date=November 20, 2024 |issn=1085-6706 |id={{ProQuest|1628724884}} |archive-date=December 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201143229/https://www.proquest.com/docview/1628724884 |url-status=live }} The two original buildings remain as the East Building and West Building. Toua Xiong didn't realize the obstacles to redeveloping the property for grocery and retail when he rented it from the lumber company, having only recently become a business owner and an English speaker. Renovations to meet regulations included a sprinkler system, more toilets, exhaust fans in restaurant spaces, and an upgraded larger sewer pipe to connect to the municipal system. Despite setbacks, he opened International Marketplace in 2004.{{cite book |editor-last=Nightingale |editor-first=Kimberly |last=Larson |first=Susan R |author-link= |date=September 7, 2007 |title=2008 Saint Paul Almanac |chapter=Abroad at Home: Report from a Southeast Asian Food Court |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780977265121/ |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota |publisher=Arcata Press |pages=182–183 |isbn=9780977265121}}{{cite web | last=Macur | first=Juliet | title=Sunisa Lee Seizes the Moment and Captures Gold | website=The New York Times | date=July 29, 2021 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/sports/olympics/sunisa-lee-gymnastics-olympics.html | access-date=November 20, 2024 | issn=0362-4331 | id={{ProQuest|2556194286}} | archive-date=November 21, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241121182031/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/sports/olympics/sunisa-lee-gymnastics-olympics.html | url-status=live }} It was one of the biggest Hmong-owned businesses in Minnesota.{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/427910696 |title=Immigrant groups on the way up: The census offers a look at the economic and educational fortunes of recent immigrants. Most indicators show progress. |last=Peterson |first=David |author-last2=Marquez Estrada |author-first2=Heron |date=September 27, 2007 |work=Star Tribune |publisher= |access-date=November 24, 2024 |issn=0895-2825 |id={{ProQuest|427910696}} |archive-date=December 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204092122/https://www.proquest.com/docview/427910696 |url-status=live }}

On March 13, 2009 the Xiongs bought the property from the lumber company and renamed it Hmongtown Marketplace.{{cite news |last1=Doeun |first1=Amy |last2= |first2= |date=July 1, 2009 |title=Toua Xiong Purchases Hmongtown Market |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/388960563/ |work=Hmong Times |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota |volume=12 |issue=13 |pages=1 |access-date=December 1, 2024 |id={{ProQuest|388960563}}}}{{cite web | last=Ronnan | first=Ken | title=Hmong market brings Southeast Asia cuisine and culture close to home year-round | website=City Pages | date=September 30, 2009 | url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/1635/20100825050731/http://www.minnpost.com/minnclips/2009/09/30/12007/hmong_market_brings_southeast_asia_cuisine_and_culture_close_to_home_year-round | access-date=March 22, 2025}}

File:Hmong people at a marketplace in the Ha Giang Province in 2014.jpg, Vietnam]]Hmongtown aimed to provide a social and economic hub to newly-immigrated Hmong. It has been credited with creating hundreds of jobs and other entrepreneurial opportunities for much of the Minnesota Hmong diaspora.{{sfn|Yang|2017|p=88}} Most of the vendors speak only a Hmong dialect and not English, which Toua Xiong says has allowed them to maintain employment and start a business while still acclimating to America.{{cite web |url=https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/mn-voices-toua-xiong-immigrant-year/ |title=Toua Xiong, Immigrant of the Year |last=Treacy |first=Mary |date=July 4, 2010 |website=Twin Cities Daily Planet |publisher=Twin Cities Enterprise |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221423/https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/mn-voices-toua-xiong-immigrant-year/ |url-status=live }}

In 2010 Toua Xiong was awarded the Immigrant of Distinction award for his work at Hmongtown from the Minnesota-Dakotas chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Hmongtown was featured in an Emmy Award-winning episode of CNN's United Shades of America with owner Toua Xiong and local Hmong American chef Yia Vang in 2019.{{cite web |url=https://startribune.com/cnn-show-features-minneapolis-hmong-chef-yia-vang/509691132/ |title=CNN show 'United Shades of America' goes inside the home of Minnesota's rising star Hmong chef |last=Jackson |first=Sharyn |date=May 19, 2019 |website=Star Tribune |publisher= |access-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029225503/https://www.startribune.com/cnn-show-features-minneapolis-hmong-chef-yia-vang/509691132/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Bell | first=W. Kamau | title=W. Kamau Bell: Hmong-Americans redefined patriotism before my eyes | website=CNN | date=May 10, 2019 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/opinions/kamau-bell-united-shades-america-hmong-laos/index.html |id={{ProQuest|2222795927}} | access-date=September 13, 2024 | archive-date=September 13, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240913043246/https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/opinions/kamau-bell-united-shades-america-hmong-laos/index.html | url-status=live }} Andrew Zimmern featured papaya salad, fried intestines, and bitter bamboo soup from Hmongtown on Bizarre Foods America in 2012, and the popular Hmong sausage with purple sticky rice meal on Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations in 2016.{{Cite episode |title=Twin Cities |series=Bizarre Foods America |url=https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/shows/bizarre-foods-america/episodes/twin-cities |access-date=May 2, 2024 |series-link=Bizarre Foods America |network=Cooking Channel |date=January 23, 2012 |season=1 |series-no= |number=1 |archive-date=June 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240617014834/https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/shows/bizarre-foods-america/episodes/twin-cities |url-status=live }}{{Cite episode |title=Twin Cities |url=https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/shows/bizarre-foods-delicious-destinations/episodes/twin-cities |access-date=May 2, 2024 |series=Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations |series-link=Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations |network=Cooking Channel |date=February 16, 2016 |season=3 |series-no= |number=7 |archive-date=April 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418195033/https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/shows/bizarre-foods-delicious-destinations/episodes/twin-cities |url-status=live }}

File:Tools for sale at Hmongtown Markertplace Saint Paul Minnesota.pngHmong are the largest Asian diaspora in Minnesota, and Minnesota has the second-largest Hmong population in the United States.{{cite web |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/03/01/10-things-hmong |title=10 things about Hmong culture, food and language you probably didn't know |last=Yang |first=Nancy |date=March 1, 2015 |website=MPR.org |publisher= |access-date=October 18, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=June 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604175917/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/03/01/10-things-hmong |url-status=live }} Hmongtown is a staple of local Hmong life and creates a sense of community and belonging.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/461699111 |title=Asian market is meeting place |last=Yuen |first=Laura |date=June 27, 2005 |work=Pioneer Press / Knight Ridder Tribune Business News |publisher=Tribune Content Agency LLC |access-date=November 24, 2024 |issn= |id={{ProQuest|461699111}}}} Less than four miles away is a similar Hmong American marketplace called Hmong Village. The markets and surrounding Asian businesses are in the Little Mekong Cultural District, a business district with a high concentration of Asian businesses and cultural sites.{{cite web |url=https://www.saveur.com/hmongtown-marketplace/ |title=Taste Stuffed Chicken Wings and Magical Herbs at St. Paul's Hmongtown Marketplace |last=Raposo |first=Jacqueline |date=December 11, 2015 |website=Saveur |publisher=Another Little Whisk LLC |access-date=October 18, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204130426/https://www.saveur.com/hmongtown-marketplace/ |url-status=live }}Frank Jossi. 2023. "Building Blocks: Hmong Village Shopping Center.” Finance & Commerce (Minneapolis, MN). Accessed October 19. [https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=L54904947FACO&site=eds-live&scope=site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020054739/https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=L54904947FACO&site=eds-live&scope=site|date=October 20, 2023}}.{{cite web |url=https://apiahip.org/everyday/day-39-hmongtown-market-saint-paul-minnesota |title=DAY 39: Hmongtown Marketplace, Saint Paul, Minnesota |last=Atoigua |first=Zeta |date=February 2, 2024 |website=Asian & Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation |publisher= |access-date=February 14, 2024 |quote= |archive-date=May 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240512045741/https://apiahip.org/everyday/day-39-hmongtown-market-saint-paul-minnesota |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/916029168 |title=Hmong Village: A success story on St. Paul's East Side (w/ VIDEO) |last=Webb |first=Tom |date=January 14, 2012 |website=ProQuest |publisher=St Paul Pioneer Press |access-date=November 20, 2024 |issn=2474-0721 |id={{ProQuest|916029168}} |archive-date=December 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201222552/https://www.proquest.com/docview/916029168 |url-status=live }} A University of Minnesota study reported that marketplaces are part of the Hmong community's cultural capital which provide a range of unique economic and social benefits: marketplaces "not only provide cultural, socially familiar, and communal spaces for Hmong, but also economic opportunities for small-scale Hmong entrepreneurs."{{cite book | last1=Schermann | first1=Michele | last2=Schneider | first2=Ingrid | last3=Moua | first3=Chou | last4=Lee | first4=Thai |date=2015 |title=Exploring Travel Interests and Constraints among Minnesota Hmong |url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/items/a30780be-180d-4e92-b159-888eab2f0206 | hdl=11299/170809 |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |publisher=University of Minnesota Tourism Center |page=3 |access-date=March 21, 2025 |via=University Digital Conservancy}}

While the focus is Hmong culture, the marketplace contains shops and stalls with proprietors and products from any of the cultures that can be found in the surrounding neighborhood Frogtown, which in the 20th century became the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in Saint Paul.{{cite web | last=Patronas | first=Ellie | title=History of Frogtown | website=ArcGIS StoryMaps | date=August 29, 2022 | url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1f1b06f791d043888971bffb39de53e6 | publisher=University of St. Thomas | access-date=October 20, 2024 | quote=According to St. Paul Historical, by the late 20th century Frogtown became the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in the city. | archive-date=September 28, 2023 | url-status=live | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230928155023/https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1f1b06f791d043888971bffb39de53e6 }}{{cite web | last=Boyd | first=Cynthia | title=Frogtown park and farm: An idea taking seed | website=MinnPost | date=June 13, 2011 | url=https://www.minnpost.com/community-sketchbook/2011/06/frogtown-park-and-farm-idea-taking-seed/ | access-date=October 20, 2024 | quote=Frogtown, also called the Thomas-Dale neighborhood, is profiled on the city's website as the 'most racially and economically diverse ward', with a 'rich tapestry of people and history'. | archive-date=March 2, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302192314/https://www.minnpost.com/community-sketchbook/2011/06/frogtown-park-and-farm-idea-taking-seed/ | url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/hmong-marketplace-lively-now-and-looking-expansion-2013/ |title=Hmong Marketplace: Lively now, and looking to expansion in 2013 |last=Naz |first=Sana |date=March 30, 2013 |website=Twin Cities Daily Planet |publisher=Twin Cities Enterprise |access-date=October 31, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101034755/https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/hmong-marketplace-lively-now-and-looking-expansion-2013/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web | title=St. Paul's Frogtown Neighborhood | author=KFAI | website=AMPERS | date=July 23, 2012 | url=https://ampers.org/st-pauls-frogtown-neighborhood/ | access-date=October 30, 2024 |quote=This is now the most diverse neighborhood in the most diverse county in the state of Minnesota.}} Nepali, African American, and Mexican vendors have been noted.{{cite web |url=https://myannoyingopinions.com/2018/09/11/lekali-pasal/ |title=Lekali Pasal: A Nepali Store in the Hmongtown Marketplace (St. Paul. MN) |date=September 11, 2018 |website=My Annoying Opinions |publisher= |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031235259/https://myannoyingopinions.com/2018/09/11/lekali-pasal/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/st-pauls-hmongtown-marketplace-vendors-earn-cultural-skills/ |title=St. Paul's Hmongtown Marketplace vendors use cultural skills to succeed |last=Vang |first=Diana |date=December 29, 2009 |website=Twin Cities Daily Planet |publisher= |access-date=February 15, 2024 |quote=}} More than half of Hmongtown's visitors are white. Owner Toua Xiong aims for the market to be welcoming to those new to Hmong culture.{{cite web |url=https://anchor.placer.ai/the-anchor/happy-lunar-new-year-asian-brands-to-keep-an-eye-on-for-cre |title=Happy Lunar New Year: Asian Brands to Keep an Eye on for CRE |last=Wu |first=Caroline |date=January 20, 2023 |website=Placer.ai |publisher=Placer Labs, Inc. |access-date=November 27, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130225107/https://anchor.placer.ai/the-anchor/happy-lunar-new-year-asian-brands-to-keep-an-eye-on-for-cre |url-status=live }}

File:Hmongtown Marketplace East Building weaving booth.jpgVendors at Hmongtown sell traditional Hmong textile art such as {{lang|hmn|kawm}} (woven baskets) and forms of {{lang|hmn|Paj Ntaub}} (flower cloth) such as batik dyed cloth ({{lang|hmn|Paj Ntaub nraj ciab/cab}}{{cite thesis |last=Peterson |first=Sally Nina |date=1990 |title=From the Heart and the Mind: Creating Paj Ntaub in the Context of Community |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/34623669ab74ab4a6f86e6b717a02933/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y |degree=Doctor of Philosphy |chapter= |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |docket= |oclc=25784967 |access-date= |id={{ProQuest|9026627}} Publication No. 9026627 |archive-date=November 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130094047/https://www.proquest.com/openview/34623669ab74ab4a6f86e6b717a02933/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y |url-status=live }}) and story cloth, which depicts scenes from Hmong life and history.{{cite conference |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/671 |title=Neeg Tawg Rog (War-torn People): Linguistic Consciousness in the Hmong diaspora |last1=Craig |first1=Geraldine |author-link1= |last2= |first2= |author-link2= |date=September 2012 |publisher=University of Nebraska – Lincoln |book-title=Textiles and Politics: Textile Society of America 13th Biennial Symposium Proceedings |pages= |location=Washington, D.C. |conference=Textile Society of America Symposium |id=671 |oclc=847843234 |via=DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska – Lincoln |access-date=October 19, 2023 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806222018/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/671/ |url-status=dead }} Basketry includes Blue Hmong baby carriers.{{cite thesis |last=Chaney |first=Mary Alice |date=July 2011 |title=Hmong Baby Carriers in Minnesota: A material culture study |url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/items/9fa80a44-faab-4a48-8e6d-30bc9e71153a |degree=Doctor of Philosophy |chapter= |publisher=University of Minnesota |docket= |hdl=11299/115678 |access-date=November 8, 2024 |pages=90}} Embroidery thread, coins, beads, metals, and other materials for making Hmong textiles are available from multiple vendors.{{cite web | title=The Scene: Twin Cities Places and Spaces | website=American Craft Council | date=May 23, 2024 | url=https://www.craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/scene-twin-cities-places-and-spaces | access-date=June 8, 2024}} Some textiles are made by relatives abroad in countries such as Laos where labor is cheaper, and are later sold by family at Hmongtown. As with the worldwide Hmong diaspora, cheaper traditional clothing using polyester is machine-made in China and imported for sale. More expensive handmade textile art includes hemp skirts, batik, story cloth, and {{lang|hmn|Paj Ntaub}}. There has been a decline in handmade textiles at Hmongtown, especially handwoven hemp and batik dyed cloth.{{cite thesis |last=Smalkoski |first=Kari Ann |date=August 2014 |title=Performing Masculinities: The Impact of Racialization, Space, and Cultural Practices on Hmong Immigrant Youth |url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/53a56df6-616f-4885-a050-c3eb96e822a6/content |degree=Doctor of Philosphy |chapter= |publisher=University of Minnesota |docket= |hdl=11299/182753 |access-date=November 8, 2024 |pages=124 |archive-date=July 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726220250/https://conservancy.umn.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/53a56df6-616f-4885-a050-c3eb96e822a6/content |url-status=live }}{{cite book |editor-last1=Vang |editor-first1=Chia Youyee |editor-link=Chia Youyee Vang |last=Craig |first=Geraldine |author-link= |date=2016 |title=Claiming Place: On the Agency of Hmong Women |chapter=Stitching Hmongness into Cloth: Pliable Identity and Cultural Agency |url=https://archive.org/details/claimingplaceona0000unse |location= |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |pages=207–208 |isbn=9781452950068 |oclc=944346999 |jstor=10.5749/j.ctt1b4cx58.11 |id={{Project MUSE|44989}}}} {{Google Books|id=1zB0DwAAQBAJ|title=Claiming Place: On the Agency of Hmong Women}}

Hmongtown provides a place to perpetuate Hmong culture such as textile art. A participant in a study on Hmong youth recalled how spending time at her mother's Hmongtown stall encouraged her to become a Hmong {{lang|hmn|Paj Ntaub}} embroiderer: "Over winter break, my mom had a stall at Hmongtown Market so I went with her to help her. I was tired of not doing anything so I started embroidering again. That’s when I realized that if I did not continue to embroider then I would not know how to embroider in the future. And if I had children, they would not know as well, and if my sisters did not know how to embroider, there would be no one who would know."{{refn|Quote originally in Hmong: "Over winter break, {{lang|hmn|kuv mom mus ua tshav puam tim Hmongtown Market ces kuv mus nrog nws zov taj laj. Ces kuv laj laj nyob ces kuv rov ua paj ntaub dua. Ces thaum kuv ua ces xav tias yog kuv tsis ua tiag ces ntawm ntej no mus kuv yuav tsis paub. Thiab yog kuv muaj me nyuam, lawv yuav tsis paub thiab kuv cov viv ncaus yuav tsis paub ces peb yuav tsis muaj leeg twg paub ua lawm.}}" Translated by the study's author.}}{{cite journal | last=Moua | first=Kao Nou | title=Sib Piav Neej Neeg: Co-Constructing Young Hmong American Women's Narratives with Young Hmong American Women Storytellers | website=University Digital Conservancy | publisher=University of Minnesota | date=February 26, 2020 | url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/items/489e5015-eaf8-4151-8d88-319adb3ffbaf | access-date=October 13, 2024 | page=56}}

Ten story cloths by Hmongtown textile artisans Sy Vang Lo and Khang Vang Yang were exhibited at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures{{cite web | title=Picturing Change, Seeing Continuity: Hmong Story Cloths | website=Shreds and Patches | date=January 13, 2019 | url=https://jasonbairdjackson.com/2019/01/13/picturing-change-seeing-continuity-hmong-story-cloths/ | access-date=September 13, 2024 | archive-date=September 13, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240913045400/https://jasonbairdjackson.com/2019/01/13/picturing-change-seeing-continuity-hmong-story-cloths/ | url-status=live }} and the Northern Illinois University Pick Museum.{{cite web | title=Highlighting New Paj Ntaub Acquisitions | website=Pick Museum of Anthropology Hmong Exhibit | url=https://www.pickmuseumhmongexhibit.org/exhibit-blog/highlighting-new-paj-ntaub-acquisitions | access-date=November 7, 2024}} Vang Lo led the Hmong Folk Art Center in Eagan, Minnesota{{cite book |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Frederick W |date=October 1993 |title=A Directory of Nonprofit Organizations of Color in Minnesota |edition=2nd |url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/items/9df7cd5f-c2a1-4bed-86e8-7d17ac8ec825 | hdl=11299/207919 |location=Minneapolis, MN |publisher=University of Minnesota |page=22 |id=Publication number CURA 93-6}} and the traditional work of her family is included in the Minneapolis Institute of Art collection.{{cite web |title=Pair of belts |url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/24051 |author=Maker: The Family of Sy Vang |year=1910–1920 |accessdate=28 Oct 2024 |publisher=Minneapolis Institute of Art}}

Light boxes of photography from Hmong American artist Pao Houa Her, whose work was selected for the Whitney Biennial, decorate the West Building food court seating area.{{cite web |url=https://mspmag.com/arts-and-culture/hmong-artist-pao-houa-her/ |title=Pao Houa Her's Photography Immortalizes Hmong Culture |last=Marsh |first=Steve |website=Mpls.St.Paul Magazine |date=May 15, 2022 |publisher=Key Enterprises LLC |access-date=October 29, 2023 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/what-to-do-in-minneapolis-art-food-1234666645/alternative-spaces/ |title=The Art (and Food) Lovers' Guide to Minneapolis |last=Fuller |first=Daniel |date=July 13, 2023 |website=ARTnews |publisher=Penske Media Corporation |access-date=November 19, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120004120/https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/what-to-do-in-minneapolis-art-food-1234666645/alternative-spaces/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Untitled, (real opium behind opium backdrop) |url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/140093 |author=Artist: Pao Houa Her |year=2020 |accessdate=28 Oct 2024 |publisher=Minneapolis Institute of Art}} The exhibit is accompanied by text from Hmong American poet and playwright May Lee-Yang.{{cite web |url=https://www.midwayart.org/event/off-site_her/ |title=Pao Houa Her Untitled |website=Midway Contemporary Art |publisher= |access-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029215808/https://www.midwayart.org/event/off-site_her/ |url-status=live }} Her's artwork being displayed simultaneously at the renowned Walker Art Center and Hmongtown was praised by Walker's curatorial fellow in visual arts Matthew Miranda as a "break in the art world decorum" that "subverts the white view in museums."{{cite web |url=https://sahanjournal.com/arts/pao-houa-her-photographer-artist-walker-art-center-show-minneapolis/ |title=Catch photographer Pao Houa Her's show at the Walker Art Center before it closes |last=Lee-Yang |first=May |date=January 9, 2023 |website=Sahan Journal |publisher= |access-date=November 19, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120002638/https://sahanjournal.com/arts/pao-houa-her-photographer-artist-walker-art-center-show-minneapolis/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2460167283 |title=Art center takes its shows on the road: Closed by pandemic, Midway Contemporary Art launches an ambitious "Off-Site" series |last=Eler |first=Alicia |date=November 13, 2020 |website=ProQuest |publisher=Star Tribune |access-date=November 20, 2024 |issn=0895-2825 |id={{ProQuest|2460167283}} |archive-date=December 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203211235/https://www.proquest.com/docview/2460167283 |url-status=live }}

Other featured artists have included Tetsuya Yamada, HOTTEA,{{cite web |url=https://www.contemporaryartlibrary.org/project/tetsuya-yamada-at-midway-contemporary-art-26517 |title=Tetsuya Yamada Waiting |last= |first= |date=2020 |website=Midway Contemporary Art |publisher= |access-date=November 27, 2023 |quote=}}{{cite web |url=https://publicartstpaul.org/wakpa/#Wakpa-Local |title=Wakpa Trienniel Art Festival |last= |first= |date=2023 |website=Public Art Saint Paul |publisher= |access-date=November 27, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130225106/https://publicartstpaul.org/wakpa/#Wakpa-Local |url-status=live }} and Ka Oskar Ly.{{cite book |author-link= |date=2023 |title=Annual Report FY22 |url=https://issuu.com/textilecentermn/docs/fy22_annual_report_final_file_single_page_for_issu/5 |location= |publisher=Textile Center |page=4}}

{{See also|Hmong cuisine}}

File:Produce stalls at Hmongtown Marketplace Saint Paul Minnesota.pngHmongtown is noted for its prepared food and quality produce, with the Star Tribune calling it "one of the state's top culinary gems" and Saveur enthusing it is a "destination" for cooks. Soliel Ho for the upper Midwestern food magazine Heavy Table describes Hmongtown as "cavernous warehouses and outdoor stalls [...] filled to bursting with the material objects of Hmong-American culture, from traditional dress to buffalo-fighting DVDs to — inevitably — the food court". Italian travel outlet Latitudes dubbed Hmongtown {{lang|it|imperdibili}}: "unmissable".{{cite web | last=Laganà | first=Gabriele | title=Sorprese nel piatto in Minnesota | trans-title=Surprises on the Plate in Minnesota |website=Latitudes | date=February 15, 2025 | url=https://www.latitudeslife.com/2025/02/viaggio-in-minnesota-cosa-mangiare/ | access-date=March 24, 2025 | lang=it}} Five-time James Beard Award-nominee Diane Moua recommends the prepared food.{{cite magazine |last=Halpern |first=Ashlea |date=Summer 2023 |title=AFAR Summer 2023 Culture Issue |url=https://issuu.com/afarmag/docs/afar_summer_culture |page=91 |magazine=AFAR |location=San Francisco, California |publisher= |access-date=October 16, 2024 |volume=15 |number=3 |issn=1947-4377 |archive-date=September 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240924065109/https://issuu.com/afarmag/docs/afar_summer_culture |url-status=live }} Food critic Andrew Zimmern says it is "the country’s best little-known ethnic market."{{cite web |url=https://andrewzimmern.com/only-in-minnesota/ |title=Only in Minnesota #OnlyinMN |last=Zimmern |first=Andrew |website=Andrew Zimmern |date=April 23, 2014 |publisher= |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031235258/https://andrewzimmern.com/only-in-minnesota/ |url-status=live }} Minnesota Monthly included Hmongtown in their "'culinary canon' of essential local eats"{{cite web |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/02/25/appetites-foodie-40 |title=Appetites: A foodie's 40 best local eats |date=February 25, 2015 |website=MPR News |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031235259/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/02/25/appetites-foodie-40 |url-status=live }} list the "Foodie 40", saying Hmongtown is "one of the great, affordable flavor adventures in the Twin Cities" and calling it "ground zero" for good chicken wings.{{cite web |url=https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/food-drink/foodie-40-the-ultimate-checklist-of-minnesotas-best-food/ |title=Foodie 40: The Ultimate Checklist of Minnesota's Best Food |last=Hutton |first=Rachel |date=April 23, 2015 |website=Minnesota Monthly |publisher=Greenspring Media, LLC |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031235258/https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/food-drink/foodie-40-the-ultimate-checklist-of-minnesotas-best-food/ |url-status=live }}

The average price of a meal is less than $15 and restaurants are open all day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.{{cite web |url=https://www.exploreminnesota.com/profile/hmongtown-marketplace/6637 |title=Hmongtown Marketplace |website=Explore Minnesota |publisher= |access-date=October 20, 2023 }} Individual restaurant stalls and a food court serve traditional Hmong and Southeast Asian meals, snacks, and street food.{{cite web |url=https://www.exploreminnesota.com/article/international-flavors-spice-twin-cities |title=International Flavors Spice Up the Twin Cities |last=Green |first=Loren |website=Explore Minnesota |publisher= |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021224429/https://www.exploreminnesota.com/article/international-flavors-spice-twin-cities |url-status=live }} Because Hmong are a diaspora, Hmong cuisine is a fusion, so dishes at Hmongtown come from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and even China, Japan, South Korea, and Mexico. Difficult to find outside of Minnesota, Hmong-style barbecue is prominent, including traditionally prepared and cold Hmong sausage ({{Lang|hmn|nyhuv ntxwm hmoob}}), which is a pork sausage flavored with Thai chili and herbs like lemongrass, and {{lang|hmn|sai krok}}, a traditional fermented pork sausage.{{cite web |url=https://bringmethenews.com/life/5-barbecue-dishes-you-can-only-get-in-minnesota |title=5 barbecue dishes you can (mostly) only get in Minnesota |last=Bos |first=Mecca |date=March 8, 2018 |website=Bring Me the News |publisher=The Arena Group |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221424/https://bringmethenews.com/life/5-barbecue-dishes-you-can-only-get-in-minnesota |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/04/13/hmong-cooking |title=Celebrating spring with a trip to the Hmong market |last=Dunbar |first=Elizabeth |date=April 14, 2010 |website=MPR News |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031235258/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/04/13/hmong-cooking |url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Grumdahl | first=Dara Moskowitz | title=Best Barbecue | website=Minnesota Monthly | date=June 15, 2010 | url=https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/food-drink/best-barbecue/ | access-date=September 13, 2024 | archive-date=September 13, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240913043247/https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/food-drink/best-barbecue/ | url-status=live }} Dishes popular among Hmong such as {{lang|vi|pho}} (or the Hmong version of pho called {{lang|hmn|fawm}}{{cite web | last=Grumdahl | first=Dara Moskowitz | title=Foods of Home | website=Saveur | date=May 25, 2010 | url=https://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/Foods-of-Home/ | access-date=September 13, 2024}}{{Cite book |first1=Sami |last1=Scripter |first2=Sheng |last2=Yang |year=2009 |title=Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tSYa32W5iUC |url-access=limited |location=Minneapolis |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=9781452914510 |oclc=286478281 | page=168}} {{Google books|8tSYa32W5iUC|Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America}}), {{lang|hmn|khaub poob}} (red curry noodle soup),{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tSYa32W5iUC&dq=Khaub+poob&pg=PA255 | title=Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America | isbn=978-1-4529-1451-0 | last1=Scripter | first1=Sami | last2=Yang | first2=Sheng | publisher=U of Minnesota Press }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NbJkCgAAQBAJ&dq=Khaub+poob&pg=PA58 | title=Picturing Milwaukee: Washington Park 2015 | isbn=978-1-329-39898-6 | last1=Sen | first1=Arijit | date=July 20, 2015 | publisher=Lulu.com }} {{lang|hmn|larb}} (minced meat salad), {{lang|hmn|nab vam}} (tapioca dessert), purple rice,{{cite web |url=https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/blog/where-to-eat-hmong-village-hmongtown-marketplace/ |title=The First Five Dishes to Try Inside Saint Paul's Hmong Food Halls |last=Summers |first=Joy |website=Visit Saint Paul |publisher= |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221426/https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/blog/where-to-eat-hmong-village-hmongtown-marketplace/ |url-status=live }} boba tea, mangonada,{{cite web |url=https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/blog/in-their-own-words-oskar-lys-favorite-restaurants/ |title=In Their Own Words: Oskar Ly's Favorite Restaurants |website=Visit Saint Paul |publisher=Visit Saint Paul Official Convention & Visitors Bureau |access-date=October 20, 2023 }} and papaya salad are widely available from multiple restaurants.{{cite web |url=https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/blog/hmong-history-and-saint-paul/ |title=Hmong History and Saint Paul |website=Visit Saint Paul |publisher= |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221424/https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/blog/hmong-history-and-saint-paul/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://streets.mn/2014/09/09/charles-churches-and-culture-part-2/ |title=Charles, Churches, and Culture – Part 2 |last=Browender |first=Wolfie |date=September 9, 2014 |website=Streets.mn |publisher= |access-date=November 19, 2023 |quote=}}{{cite web | title=Spice, spice baby | website=The Minnesota Daily | date=February 2, 2014 | url=https://mndaily.com/251685/uncategorized/spice-spice-baby/ | ref={{sfnref|The Minnesota Daily|2014}} | access-date=October 16, 2024}}

File:Hmong sausage meal at Hmongtown Marketplace.jpgNotable vendors and dishes include:

• 5-Star Deli: fried chicken wings with egg roll stuffing ({{Lang|hmn|kooj tis qaib nitim}}{{Cite web |date=May 20, 2023 |title=Prix Fixe Hmong Dinner |url=https://www.rosecitybookpub.com/events-1/2023/5/20/prix-fixe-hmong-dinner |access-date=October 24, 2023 |website=Rose City Book Pub |language=en-US |archive-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030185653/https://www.rosecitybookpub.com/events-1/2023/5/20/prix-fixe-hmong-dinner |url-status=live }}); chicken meatball skewer; nab vam (colorful jelly and fruit dessert){{Cite web |last=Ho | first=Soliel | title=Five Tastes from Hmongtown in Saint Paul |url=https://heavytable.com/five-tastes-from-hmongtown/ |access-date=October 22, 2023 |website=Heavy Table |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031235258/https://heavytable.com/five-tastes-from-hmongtown/ |url-status=live }}
• Golden Cuisine: whole roast chicken larbDerusha, Jason, and Joy Summers. 2018. "Hmongtown Marketplace: Sample Authentic Asian Flavors in St. Paul.” Minnesota Monthly 52 (4): 60. [https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=128625096&site=eds-live&scope=site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020054809/https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=128625096&site=eds-live&scope=site|date=October 20, 2023}}.
• Her Kitchen: beef pho
• Hmong Express Cuisine: papaya salad
• Hmobb Kitchen: mok pa (banana leaf steamed catfish)
• Hmoob Cafe: shellacked beef ribs; mustard greens with pork; mok pa; papaya salad
• Kad's Deli: jian dui (filled Chinese donut)
• Mr. Papaya: crispy pork belly, spiced green mango
• Mai's Kitchen: sai krok (fermented pork sausage){{cite web |url=https://www.afar.com/magazine/minnesotas-10-essential-dishes-and-where-to-try-them |title=Required Eating: 10 Foods Not to Miss in Minnesota |last=Spratte Joyce |first=Katy |date=October 6, 2021 |website=Afar |publisher=Afar Media |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221424/https://www.afar.com/magazine/minnesotas-10-essential-dishes-and-where-to-try-them |url-status=live }}
• Sida Kitchen: foot-long Thai or Lao style Hmong sausage
• Twin Tropic Cafe: chocolate and blackberry smooth bubble teas; meatball soup ({{lang|hmn|fawm}})
• Xieng Khoung Kitchen: spring rolls

Hmongtown is recommended for its cuisine in many travel guides such as Lonely Planet and Condé Nast Traveler.{{cite book |first1=Benedict |last1=Walker |first2=Kate |last2=Armstrong |first3=Carolyn |last3=Bain |first4=Amy C |last4=Balfour |first5=Ray |last5=Bartlett |first6=Gregor |last6=Clark |first7=Michael |last7=Grosberg |first8=Adam |last8=Karlin |first9=Brian |last9=Kluepfel |date=2018 |title=Lonely Planet Eastern USA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qb1TDwAAQBAJ&dq=hmongtown&pg=PT1157 |location= |publisher=Lonely Planet |page= |isbn=978-1787019584 |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020054740/https://books.google.com/books?id=Qb1TDwAAQBAJ&dq=hmongtown&pg=PT1157#v=onepage&q=hmongtown&f=false |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://finance-commerce.com/2012/12/twin-cites-makes-lonely-planets-list/ |title=Twin Cites makes Lonely Planet's list |last=Anderson |first=Mark |date=December 10, 2012 |website=Finance & Commerce |publisher=BridgeTower Media |access-date=November 29, 2023 |issn=8750-6149 |id={{ProQuest|1494081799}} |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130225106/https://finance-commerce.com/2012/12/twin-cites-makes-lonely-planets-list/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-to-do-in-minneapolis |title=Where to Eat, Stay, and Play in Minneapolis |last=Halpern |first=Ashlea |date=April 27, 2021 |website=Condé Nast Traveler |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221433/https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-to-do-in-minneapolis |url-status=live }}{{cite book |date=December 2015 |title=The Chicago Tribune Guide to Midwest Travel |url=https://www.agatepublishing.com/9781572845015/the-chicago-tribune-guide-to-midwest-travel/ |location=Chicago, Illinois |publisher=Agate Publishing |pages=130–131 |isbn=9781572845015 |access-date=May 11, 2024 |archive-date=May 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240511201213/https://www.agatepublishing.com/9781572845015/the-chicago-tribune-guide-to-midwest-travel/ |url-status=live }}

An outdoor market that sells much of the same merchandise as the indoor market operates from May to October. It has an emphasis on fresh produce and starter plants for gardening vegetables.{{cite web |url=https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/blog/your-guide-to-farmers-markets-in-saint-paul/ |title=Your Guide to Farmers' Markets in Saint Paul |website=Visit St. Paul |publisher=Visit Saint Paul Official Convention & Visitors Bureau |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221423/https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/blog/your-guide-to-farmers-markets-in-saint-paul/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.midwestliving.com/travel/around-region/best-midwest-farmers-markets/ |title=10 Must-Visit Farmers Markets Across the Midwest |last=Crystal |first=Jen |date=July 24, 2023 |website=MidwestLiving |publisher=Dotdash Meredith |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221423/https://www.midwestliving.com/travel/around-region/best-midwest-farmers-markets/ |url-status=live }}

File:Longan fruit flesh & skin.jpgProduce commonly available at Hmongtown has Southeast Asian origins and is difficult to find in mainstream groceries. A large portion of the produce is locally grown by Hmong farmers.

Produce includes rambutan,{{cite web |url=https://myannoyingopinions.com/2022/12/06/eating-at-hmongtown-marketplace-november-2022/ |title=Eating at Hmongtown Marketplace, November 2022 (St. Paul, MN) |date=November 2022 |website=My Annoying Opinions |publisher= |access-date=October 20, 2023 }} Hmong yellow and red cucumbers, bitter melon, purple lemongrass, sugar cane, Thai chili, pea eggplant, dried imported bamboo, winter melon, radish greens, bok choy varieties such as Shanghai bok choy,{{cite web |url=https://sahanjournal.com/democracy-politics/governor-tim-walz-proposed-rebates-tax-increases-minnesota-legislature/ |title=Governor Tim Walz's proposed rebates and tax increases evoke relief, anxiety among Minnesotans |last=Peters |first=Joey |date=February 1, 2023 |website=Sahan Journal |publisher= |access-date=November 19, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120003342/https://sahanjournal.com/democracy-politics/governor-tim-walz-proposed-rebates-tax-increases-minnesota-legislature/ |url-status=live }} Chinese broccoli, Thai basil, longan, lychee, pomelo, mangosteen, persimmon, okra,{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2284828206 |title=The 'new' vegetable on the plate: Okra makes a northern migration and has become a darling of local chefs. |last=Ward |first=Bill |date=September 5, 2019 |website=ProQuest |publisher=Star Tribune |access-date=November 20, 2024 |issn=0895-2825 |id={{ProQuest|2284828206}} |archive-date=December 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241202044339/https://www.proquest.com/docview/2284828206 |url-status=live }} and jackfruit.

In June 2016 Hmongtown held the first Hmongtown Festival, a two-day music and cultural festival focusing on Hmong history and culture. The festival is held annually. Owner Toua Xiong who learned to sing and play guitar in a refugee camp played at the first festival. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan took part in the festival in 2019.{{cite web | title=Governor Tim Walz visited Hmongtown Marketplace celebration in 2019 | website=3HMONGTV | date=August 28, 2024 | url=https://hbctv.net/08/28/2024/xav-paub-xav-pom-hmongtown-marketplace-celebration/ | access-date=September 10, 2024 | lang=hmn | archive-date=September 10, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910010346/https://hbctv.net/08/28/2024/xav-paub-xav-pom-hmongtown-marketplace-celebration/ | url-status=live }}

Hmongtown vendors sell traditional Hmong and Southeast Asian medicine such as herbs and imported over the counter drugs. Traditional Hmong herbal medicine is difficult to find, so vendors at Hmongtown attract customers from all over the world and play a role in preserving Hmong culture.{{cite web |url=https://startribune.com/hmong-medicinal-plant-business-st-paul-hmontown-marketplace-farmers-market-online/600290557/ |title=For this Minnesota family, medicinal plant business preserves Hmong history |last=Williams |first=Nick |date=July 18, 2023 |website=Star Tribune |publisher= |access-date=October 29, 2023 |issn=0895-2825 |id={{ProQuest|2839533448}} |archive-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029223221/https://www.startribune.com/hmong-medicinal-plant-business-st-paul-hmontown-marketplace-farmers-market-online/600290557/ |url-status=live }} Local hospitals such as M Health Fairview and Regions Hospital purchase post-partum Hmong herbs from Hmongtown as part of an effort to improve birth outcomes with culturally competent care.{{cite thesis |last=Crum |first=Alexandra Hazel |date=2024 |title=Medicines, Metabolites, and Pigments in Caryophyllales and Beyond |url=https://www.yangya.org/publications.html |degree=Doctor of Philosophy |chapter= |publisher=University of Minnesota |docket= |oclc= |id={{ProQuest|31327584}} |access-date=October 30, 2024 |archive-date=June 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240624003554/https://www.yangya.org/publications.html |url-status=live }}

Because of its reputation as a Hmong community hub, Hmongtown is often targeted for public health initiatives. Hmongtown participates in outreach around testing for breast cancer and reducing consumption of heavy metals from skin lightening products and fish.{{cite web |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/02/11/minnesota-advocates-work-to-make-skin-lightening-public-health-issue |title=Redefining beauty: Advocates work to make skin lightening a public health issue |last=Zehn |first=Tarkor |date=February 11, 2020 |website=MPR News |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |access-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112142711/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/02/11/minnesota-advocates-work-to-make-skin-lightening-public-health-issue |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/fish/docs/guideseasians2020.pdf |title=Fish Consumption Guidance for Southeast Asians: A Historical Summary of Fish Consumption Outreach to Southeast Asians in Minnesota |date=October 2020 |website= |publisher=Minnesota Department of Health |access-date=September 14, 2024 |archive-date=September 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240914182019/https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/fish/docs/guideseasians2020.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite journal | last=Friedenberg | first=Laura Michelle | title=Promoting a cancer screening program to Hmong women in Minnesota:the role of source matching and acculturation | website=University Digital Conservancy | date=2016-04-22 | url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/items/cc582230-b8d4-49ac-b003-2105f1618ce9 | access-date=2024-09-10 | archive-date=September 11, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911000619/https://conservancy.umn.edu/items/cc582230-b8d4-49ac-b003-2105f1618ce9 | url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Frasier | first=Krystal | title=Mammogram bus makes breast cancer screenings more accessible across metro area | website=KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News | date=October 12, 2022 | url=https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/mammogram-bus-makes-breast-cancer-screenings-more-accessible-across-metro-area/ | access-date=September 13, 2024 | archive-date=September 13, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240913011756/https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/mammogram-bus-makes-breast-cancer-screenings-more-accessible-across-metro-area/ | url-status=live }} The market also held vaccine clinics during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.{{cite web |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/05/03/hmong-leaders-stepped-up-as-covid-ravaged-community |title=Hmong health leaders stepped up as COVID ravaged community |last=Cox |first=Peter |date=May 3, 2022 |website=MPR News |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221424/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/05/03/hmong-leaders-stepped-up-as-covid-ravaged-community |url-status=live }}

In June 2013, law enforcement raided Hmongtown and confiscated hundreds of pounds of illegal medication, including penicillin, opiates, and mislabeled over the counter medication. Vendors were subjected to full body searches. Cultural differences and language barriers were blamed, although Ramsey County Sheriff's office spokesperson Randy Gustafson said that vendors had been previously warned against selling the products confiscated. Fourteen vendors were ultimately charged with "selling misbranded drugs, possessing and selling drugs that require a license, selling syringes, and unlawfully possessing poison."

Local Hmong commentators criticized how the raid was executed by authorities and disagreed about the speculated causes. Tiffany Vang in an op-ed for Twin Cities Daily Planet claimed that Hmongtown vendors knew the products were illegal and that modern pharmaceuticals can't be excused as traditional medicine. Instead, vendors continued to sell the illegal products because they made money off the Hmong customers who were unable to afford mainstream medical care and were wary of it besides. "It's not cultural, and it’s not a communication problem; this is an issue of unethical business practices, lack of strict enforcement of regulation and guidelines, and poverty."{{cite web | title=COMMUNITY VOICES - Hmongtown Market drug raid: Not an issue of culture | website=Twin Cities Daily Planet | date=June 27, 2013 | url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/1635/20131129040429/http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2013/06/27/flea-market-drug-raid-not-issue-culture | access-date=March 22, 2025}} Sia Her, then-executive director of the Minnesota state Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, concurred that many Hmong lack the income for health expenses, but said that vendors were selling drugs the way they were used by elder Hmong when they lived in Laos or Thailand, as part of traditional medicine.

The Minnesota Department of Health started an educational series with Hmongtown vendors to explain drug safety and American regulations in response.{{cite web |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/07/05/hmongtown-marketplace-raid-leaves-businesses-patrons-off-balance |title=Hmongtown Marketplace raid leaves businesses, patrons off balance |last=Shenoy |first=Rupa |date=July 5, 2013 |website=MPR News |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221425/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/07/05/hmongtown-marketplace-raid-leaves-businesses-patrons-off-balance |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/08/14/young-reporters-hmong-vendors-learn-the-law-on-legal-drug-sales |title=Hmong vendors learn the law on legal drug sales |last=Yang |first=Mai Tong |date=August 14, 2014 |website=MPR News |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221422/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/08/14/young-reporters-hmong-vendors-learn-the-law-on-legal-drug-sales |url-status=live }} A similar incident occurred at the nearby Hmong Village shopping center in 2018.{{cite web |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/10/10/authorities-investigate-medications-sold-at-st-paul-hmong-village |title=Authorities investigate medications sold at St. Paul's Hmong Villiage |last=Yuen |first=Laura |date=October 10, 2018 |website=MPR News |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |access-date=October 21, 2023 }}

File:Hmong Cultural Center Museum-11.jpgHmongtown plans to expand to Hmong senior daycare and senior housing, and include more Hmong cultural activities such as an art gallery, music performance, and permanent history exhibits. Underground parking and an office building are also planned. In 2018 a joint state grant was issued to Hmongtown and the Saint Paul Port Authority to investigate the rehabilitation potential of a contaminated lot for future residential and commercial mixed use."GOVERNOR DAYTON, METROPOLITAN COUNCIL ANNOUNCE MORE THAN $10 MILLION IN GRANTS TO STIMULATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, EXPAND AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES AND LEVERAGE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN OUTSIDE INVESTMENT." States News Service, January 11, 2018. Gale General OneFile Accessed October 20, 2024. https://link-gale-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/A522486572/ITOF?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=33fa22da.

Off-site expansion includes nonprofits and museums. Through Hi Hi LLC, Toua Xiong and his wife Nou Xiong founded a Hmong and Karen cultural center and museum a few blocks from Hmongtown. He also runs Hmongtown Connections, a cultural exchange program that runs Hmongtown Festival.{{cite web |url=https://www.twincities.com/2020/10/14/hmongtown-marketplace-founder-plans-cultural-center-at-klub-haus-on-rice-street/ |title=Hmongtown Marketplace founder plans cultural center at Klub Haus on Rice Street |last=Melo |first=Frederick |date=October 14, 2020 |website=Twin Cities.com/Pioneer Press |publisher=Media News Group |access-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021221424/https://www.twincities.com/2020/10/14/hmongtown-marketplace-founder-plans-cultural-center-at-klub-haus-on-rice-street/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2248792225 |title=What to know about HmongTown Festival 2019 |last=Chaudhry |first=Zekriah |date=June 28, 2019 |website=ProQuest |publisher=St Paul Pioneer Press |access-date=November 20, 2024 |quote= |issn=2474-0721 |id={{ProQuest|2248792225}} |archive-date=December 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201230035/https://www.proquest.com/docview/2248792225 |url-status=live }}

In 2025, Xiong plans to open a second Hmongtown location in the former Sears space at the Maplewood Mall.{{cite web |url=https://www.hmoob.tv/videos/3hmongtv-special-coverage-11-12-2023-toua-xiongs-vision-for-another-hmongtown-marketplace/ |title=3HMONGTV Special Coverage (11/12/2023): Toua Xiong's vision for another HmongTown Marketplace. |last= |first= |date=November 12, 2023 |website=HMOOB.TV |publisher= |access-date=November 19, 2023 |language=hmn |quote= |archive-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119233320/https://www.hmoob.tv/videos/3hmongtv-special-coverage-11-12-2023-toua-xiongs-vision-for-another-hmongtown-marketplace/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://finance-commerce.com/2023/11/hmongtown-marketplace-buys-former-sears-store-at-maplewood-mall/ |title=Hmongtown Marketplace buys former Sears store at Maplewood Mall |last=Netter |first=Dan |date=November 21, 2023 |website=Finance & Commerce |publisher=BridgeTower Media |access-date=November 23, 2023 |quote= |archive-date=November 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123235100/https://finance-commerce.com/2023/11/hmongtown-marketplace-buys-former-sears-store-at-maplewood-mall/ |url-status=live }} The 14 acre space would be developed into a marketplace and additional services aimed at younger customers than the original Hmongtown targets.{{cite web |url=https://finance-commerce.com/2023/12/second-hmongtown-marketplace-to-open-early-2025/ |title=Second Hmongtown Marketplace to open early 2025 |last=Netter |first=Dan |date=December 6, 2023 |website=Finance & Commerce |publisher=BridgeTower Media |access-date=December 6, 2023 |quote=}} The sale of the Sears site was finalized December 2024.{{cite web | title=Blog • February 7, 2025 | website=Maplewood, Minnesota | date=February 7, 2025 | url=https://maplewoodmn.gov/Blog.aspx?IID=356 | access-date=February 11, 2025}} According to a February 2025 interview with Ben Hamd, who is the managing director of Brookwood Capital Advisors, which owns the center parcel of Maplewood Mall, the opening is delayed by "financial hurdles".{{cite web | last=Nguyen | first=Tina | title=What Will Replace Macy's in Maplewood and Burnsville? | website=Twin Cities Business | date=February 7, 2025 | url=https://tcbmag.com/what-will-replace-macys-in-maplewood-and-burnsville/ | access-date=February 10, 2025 | archive-date=February 11, 2025 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211000040/https://tcbmag.com/what-will-replace-macys-in-maplewood-and-burnsville/ | url-status=live }}

Originally branded "Hmongtown 2", developers presented a revised concept called Pan Asian Center to the City of Maplewood and proposed a phased approach to development in February 2025.{{cite web | title=City Manager Blog • February 28, 2025 | website=Maplewood, MN | date=February 28, 2025 | url=https://maplewoodmn.gov/Blog.aspx?IID=358 | access-date=March 8, 2025}} The mall's Macy's, which closed earlier in the year, was purchased by a joint group including Hmongtown on March 21, 2025.{{cite web |author-last=Duggan |author-first=J.D. | title=Maplewood Macy's is sold; new owners plan Pan Asian Center | website=Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal | date=March 26, 2025 | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2025/03/26/pan-asian-center-planned-at-maplewood-macys.html | access-date=March 31, 2025}}

The announcement for the second Hmongtown location was one of 2024's top stories in the Hmong community newspaper Hmong Times.{{cite web | last=Yang | first=Kim | title=2024 – The Year In Review | website=Hmong Times | date=January 12, 2025 | url=https://hmongtimes.com/2024-the-year-in-review/40334/ | access-date=January 16, 2025 | archive-date=January 15, 2025 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250115042214/https://hmongtimes.com/2024-the-year-in-review/40334/ | url-status=live }}

Large marketplace-style businesses catering to Hmong vendors exist in the three major hubs of Hmong American population in the US: Saint Paul, Fresno, and Milwaukee. Hmong Village Shopping Center opened four miles from Hmongtown in Saint Paul in 2009. With more than 200 permanent vendor stalls, it became the largest Hmong marketplace in the US. A group of Hmong American entrepreneurs designed it to offer a similar experience, with a large warehouse renting individual stalls to vendors to sell goods and services. It is also known for its food and produce.{{cite book |last=Morrone |first=Theresa |author-link= |date=June 28, 2016 |title=Dishing Up® Minnesota: 150 Recipes from the Land of 10,000 Lakes |url= |location= |publisher=Storey Publishing, LLC |page=223 |isbn=9781612125855}} {{Google Books|title=Dishing Up® Minnesota: 150 Recipes from the Land of 10,000 Lakes|id=vpqfCgAAQBAJ}}

Milwaukee Hmong entrepreneurs founded Asian Market Phongsavan (also known as 5XEN Super Asian Market) in 2009, which hosts 70{{cite web | last=Bolich | first=Sophie | title=Hmong Restaurant Joining Phongsavan Asian Market | website=Urban Milwaukee | date=January 20, 2025 | url=https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2025/01/20/hmong-restaurant-joining-phongsavan-asian-market/ | access-date=February 13, 2025}} vendor stalls and restaurants.{{sfn|Yang|2017|p=188–189}}{{cite web | last=Daykin | first=Tom | title='It's all gone,' Asian market owner says about her ruined business. | website=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | date=February 10, 2023 | url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/real-estate/commercial/2023/02/10/its-all-gone-asian-market-owner-says-about-her-ruined-business/69890555007/ | access-date=2025-02-03 | archive-date=June 29, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629165324/https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/real-estate/commercial/2023/02/10/its-all-gone-asian-market-owner-says-about-her-ruined-business/69890555007/ | url-status=live }} In 2014 the Pacific Produce grocery store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin renovated part of their warehouse store into Hmong Town Market, which hosted ready-made food stands run by Wisconsin Hmong American entrepreneurs.{{cite web | title=Food truck Bubble Tea Fusion opening permanent site as part of new Hmong Town Market | website=archive.jsonline.com | date=November 25, 2014 | url=https://archive.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/283846121.html | ref={{sfnref|archive.jsonline.com|2014}} | access-date=October 30, 2024 | archive-date=June 14, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614101200/http://archive.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/283846121.html | url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Fahnrich | first=Helena Marie | title=Now Serving: More Asian Food for Milwaukee | website=Urban Milwaukee | date=December 1, 2014 | url=https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2014/12/01/now-serving-more-asian-food-for-milwaukee/ | access-date=October 30, 2024}}{{cite web | last=Silver | first=Maayan | title='A double whammy:' Wisconsin's AAPI entrepreneurs emerge from pandemic, anti-Asian hate | website=WUWM 89.7 FM – Milwaukee's NPR | date=May 27, 2023 | url=https://www.wuwm.com/2023-05-27/a-double-whammy-wisconsins-aapi-entrepreneurs-emerge-from-pandemic-anti-asian-hate | access-date=October 30, 2024 | archive-date=July 4, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240704201827/https://www.wuwm.com/2023-05-27/a-double-whammy-wisconsins-aapi-entrepreneurs-emerge-from-pandemic-anti-asian-hate | url-status=live }}

{{Commons category|Hmongtown Marketplace}}

{{portal|Supermarkets}}

• History of the Hmong in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
• Hmong customs and culture
• Hmong cuisine

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Yang |first=Kou |author-link=Kou Yang |date=2017 |title=The Making of Hmong America: Forty Years after the Secret War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8o0DwAAQBAJ&dq=hmongtown&pg=PA164 |location= |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-1498546461 |access-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020055239/https://books.google.com/books?id=O8o0DwAAQBAJ&dq=hmongtown&pg=PA164#v=onepage&q=hmongtown&f=false |url-status=live }}

• {{cite web |url=https://mspmag.com/eat-and-drink/king-of-stpaul-hmongtown/ |title=Meet the King of St. Paul's HmongTown |last=Moskowitz Grumdahl |first=Dara |author-link=Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl |date=November 30, 2018 |website=Mpls.St.Paul Magazine |publisher=Key Enterprises LLC |access-date=|quote= |archive-date=November 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221125121958/https://mspmag.com/eat-and-drink/king-of-stpaul-hmongtown/ |url-status=live }}
• {{cite web | last=Ross | first=Theodore | title=In Pursuit of Chicken Rice | website=Guernica | date=April 25, 2022 | url=https://www.guernicamag.com/in-pursuit-of-chicken-rice/ | access-date=October 17, 2024}}
• {{cite book |editor-first1=Reed |editor-last1=Ueda |date=2017 |title=Changing Neighborhoods: An Exploration of Diversity through Places |volume=3, Neighborhoods: M–Z |url=https://archive.org/details/americaschanging0003unse/ |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=Greenwood Publishing, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC |chapter=Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities Hmong Community (Minnesota) |pages=886–888 |isbn=9781440846274 |via=Internet Archive |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite magazine |last=Yang |first=Kevin |date=September 2013 |title=A Town Within A City, A World Within A Town |url=https://cdm17520.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/hamlineoracle/id/10600 |magazine=The Hamline Oracle |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota |publisher=Hamline University |access-date=October 14, 2023 | pages=7–10 | via=Hamline University Library and Archives}}

Audio/visual

• {{Cite episode |title=Hmong Americans and the Secret War |episode-link= |url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.598b4f46-0a28-4346-9bfd-43d4dfa1ba99 |access-date= |series=United Shades of America |series-link=United Shades of America |first= |last= |network=CNN |station= |date=May 12, 2019 |season=4 |series-no= |number=3 |minutes= |time= |transcript= |transcript-url= |quote= |language=}}
• {{cite episode | title=How TOUA XIONG built HmongTown | url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=IgLH3d7iE0I | access-date=October 27, 2024 | series=HmongLife | first=Qu |last=Kue | publisher= | date=July 1, 2019 | via=YouTube |language=hmn}}
• {{cite web | author-last1=Larson | author-first1=Karen | title=Frogtown Walking Tour Audio Story: Hmongtown Marketplace | website=WFNU-LP Frogtown Community Radio | date=November 9, 2019 | url=https://wfnu.org/hmongtown-marketplace | access-date=October 17, 2024}}
• {{Cite episode |title=XAV PAUB XAV POM: 2nd Annual Hmongtown Festival with Maikou Xiong |episode-link= |url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=P0moW8_kVSg |access-date=October 21, 2024 |series=3HMONGTV News |series-link= |first=Maikou |last=Xiong |network=HBCTV | publisher=Hmong Broadcasting Company |station= |date=June 26, 2017 | via=YouTube |language=hmn}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|1=

• {{official website|https://hmongtownmarketplace.com/}}
• [https://panasiancenter.com/ Pan Asian Center]
• [https://kstp.com/special-coverage/minnesota-live/mornings-at-the-market-hmongtown-marketplace-in-st-paul/ Mornings at the Market: HmongTown Marketplace in St. Paul], KSTP-TV segments about Hmongtown Marketplace's outdoor produce market and food court
• [https://youtube.com/watch?v=iP_I8zxR8Uw&feature=youtu.be 20 Years of Hmongtown Marketplace], retrospective and history with owner Toua Xiong

Art

• [https://www.midwayart.org/event/off-site_her/ Photography exhibit by Pao Houa Her at Hmongtown Marketplace]
• [https://www.instagram.com/p/CuFaamIuuhe/?img_index=1 HOTTEA art installation at Hmongtown Marketplace]
• [https://www.midwayart.org/event/off-site_yamada/ Tetsuya Yamada art installation at Hmongtown Marketplace]

Tours

• [https://youtube.com/watch?v=y8GmecquyBo Video tour of Hmongtown in 2025] (in Hmong)
• [https://myannoyingopinions.com/2014/10/28/hmongtown-marketplace/ Photo tour of Hmongtown in 2014]
• [https://youtube.com/watch?si=Ge0by1NW1Z-9OkvS&v=kFBqMEQHnBQ&feature=youtu.be Video tour of Hmongtown's hot foods by More Best Ever Food Review Show]
• [https://youtube.com/watch?si=opkzsRdHMBPofee8&v=cDlKqrBYsAY&feature=youtu.be Video tour of merchants and hot food by Ethnic Neighborhoods]

}}

{{Hmong topics in Minnesota}}

{{Twin Cities shopping malls}}

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Category:Ethnic shopping centers

Category:American companies established in 2004

Category:Food markets in the United States

Category:Hmong cuisine

Category:Hmong-American culture in Minneapolis–Saint Paul

Category:Festivals in Minnesota

Category:Cuisine of Minnesota

Category:Tourist attractions in Saint Paul, Minnesota