Within days of the occupancy permit being granted for the long-delayed second Beekman on Broadway apartment building, the Orange Market convenience store opened in its ground-floor retail space. Eventually, three structures will add a total of 736 apartments along Broadway and Maiden Lane.

Orange Market owners Esther Kim, Donghoon Jang, and Jane Kim are shuttling back and forth from Plate Sushi & Chicken across Broadway.
Jane Kim says they “make a great combination.” | Photo: J. Adrian Wylie

The 2,000-square-foot market caters to students, hospital-area employees, and small families, with a range of fresh produce, a mix of Asian and American groceries, daily necessities, grab-and-go food and beverages, and a selection of beer and wine.

“I want to customize,” says co-owner Jane Kim, who adds they plan to learn over time what stock will best resonate with their largely pedestrian customer base. “My goal is a reasonable price for students and my neighbors, but everything’s expensive, especially [since] we are a small market” without the economies of scale that drive more favorable pricing.

Her dream of offering neighborhood convenience dates back to her days on S. State, where she founded the Japanese restaurant Totoro in 2003, long before Target and 7-Eleven emerged to fill that niche. In her native South Korea, such small shops operate at all hours on virtually “every corner, every block,” she notes. Kim eventually sold Totoro to focus on raising kids, but in 2021 she returned to the restaurant and catering business, opening Plate Sushi & Chicken in the small plaza across Broadway from the Beekman complex.

Her partner there, Esther Kim (no relation) and head chef Donghoon Jang are the co-owners of Orange Market. “We make a great combination,” Jane Kim beams, eagerly showing photos of Plate’s bento box offerings on her phone. While continuing to shuttle back and forth across the street, they’ve also hired three staffers so far.

As the Beekman buildings started to rise, she reached out to the Chicago-based developer Morningside Group and sold them on the concept of a small Asian  American grocery store as a key amenity for the area’s growing population. Orange Market was first announced in January 2023, but despite many signed leases in place for the current academic year, construction and permitting issues delayed the opening until early March, when the first residents began moving in. They were ready to open earlier, Jane Kim explains, but had to wait until the entire seven-story, 286-unit building was complete.

Along with the shelving aisles and cases for refrigerated and frozen foods, their build-out includes a kitchen to provide future flexibility in their offerings and operations, though nothing is specific yet. Jane Kim says the store’s name is meant to evoke the fruit more than the color, in all its appealing qualities—freshness, beauty, brightness, and health. They believe their success will hinge on the atmosphere they create to cultivate regular customer relationships.

“We love the Lower Town family and all our restaurant friends,” she smiles of the connections they’ve already made at Plate. “They are all our good neighbors. They are really unbelievably friendly.”

Orange Market, 1118 Broadway. (734) 780–7006. Mon.–Sat. 9:30 a.m.–9 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.–8 p.m.