Oriental Food Mart

Oriental Food Mart has been trading at 4245 North State Road 7 in Lauderdale Lakes long enough that commercial directories list it with 43 years in business, which, if accurate, would place its opening in the early 1980s, years before most of its current neighbors on this stretch of State Road 7 opened their doors. It is categorized as a Chinese Grocery Store as well as a general Grocery Store, and it is currently listed as open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The store’s tenure does not line up exactly with its state corporate paperwork. Florida’s Division of Corporations shows the registered entity, Oriental Food Mart, Inc., filed in 1995 and currently marked inactive for lapsed annual filings. That gap between the reported 43 years of operation and the 1995 incorporation date is not unusual for a small, family-run grocery business, it likely traded for years as an informal or sole-proprietor operation before its owners incorporated, and the inactive status on the corporate filing today does not necessarily mean the store has closed, only that its state paperwork has lapsed. Two current business directories, Yellow Pages and SuperPages, both list the store as actively open at this address, which is the more direct evidence for a shopper deciding whether to make the trip.

As an Asian and Chinese grocery, Oriental Food Mart fills a specific gap on a corridor that is otherwise dominated by Caribbean grocers and markets. Lauderdale Lakes’ retail mix along North State Road 7 includes several independently owned Caribbean and West Indian food stores within a few blocks, and Oriental Food Mart is one of the few dedicated Asian grocery storefronts among them, giving residents access to Chinese and broader Asian pantry staples, produce, and packaged goods without having to travel out toward Oakland Park or Sunrise for a larger Asian supermarket.

No official business website or active social media account could be located for the store, which is common for a small, longstanding grocery that built its customer base over decades of foot traffic rather than digital marketing. That also means hours and inventory can only be confirmed through the storefront itself or through the two directory listings referenced above, so calling ahead at 954-485-9450 before a special trip is a reasonable precaution.

For anyone mapping out a grocery run along North State Road 7, Oriental Food Mart is worth knowing about specifically because of how long it has apparently held its spot on the corridor. Whether the real figure is closer to 43 years or closer to the corporation’s 1995 filing date, it is among the longer-tenured independent retail businesses operating in Lauderdale Lakes today, in a retail landscape where storefronts along this same stretch of road turn over regularly.