Meet Harold Shinn: Owner of Buford Highway Farmers Market

Born to Korean immigrants in the United States, Harold Shinn picked up where his father left off, infusing Atlanta with a vast array of international grocery options. In 1974, Harold’s father opened Atlanta’s first Asian food store.

After Harold’s freshman year at Emory, he helped his father lay the groundwork for what is now the Buford Highway Farmers Market.

Initially, they worked to lure mainstream customers, but when Atlanta’s Hispanic community began to grow, they saw an opportunity, and their international-style market was born.

Encompassing more than 100,000 square feet of retail space, the Buford Highway Farmers Market specializes in fresh produce, meat and seafood, as well as a wide variety of packaged food products, all neatly arranged in supermarket aisles by their country of origin.

Whether you’re looking for fresh kimchi or cow pizzle, you’ll find it at the Buford Highway Farmers Market.

"For us, the importance of having produce up front…it signifies the freshness. It’s probably the most important single category that we have because it’s also the one category that touches all ethnic groups." -Harold Shinn

"And regardless of what part of the world they’re from, it’s the one commonality that they always have."

"I think what a lot of people fail to understand is, like the interest in the whole part of the animal has always been there because in a long time ago you didn’t have a choice. You know you didn’t have refrigeration and at best you had salting, you know, and other methods of preservation."

"And now you have more of an enlightened sense, where head-to-tail eating and things like that where you’re actually, you know, appreciating everything."

"The difference between areas in and around Buford Highway and let’s say other older
cities, you know Chicago, New York, maybe even LA, there’s the distinct—this is the Korea
Town. This is Chinatown. This is the Polish area. This is East LA."

"And you really don’t have that here [on Buford Highway]. You have areas of concentration of businesses but you kind of—it’s almost like somebody took a handful of your ethnic groups and just did a little shake and just [laughs] threw it down and scattered it all over the place."

"There’s a very strong entrepreneurial value in many immigrant communities because that is how they feel they can actually get ahead in this country."

"So for us being located on Buford Highway... it’s kind of ideal because the food culture that we represent is also reflected in the people who live, work, own businesses in this area. So yeah—for us it’s a great fit."