If you haven’t yet been pointed to an article in the winter issue of City Journal on changes in Korean greengrocers over the past three decades, it’s worth a look. As in so many other niche industries in The City, reports Laura Vanderkam, new immigrants take on jobs in the fields their friends and family members who came before them are in — which for Koreans in the 1970s and 80s was 24-hour produce stands. While the Greeks passed on their diners first to their children and then to new immigrants like Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, who in turn have passed a those diners down to Mexicans; and the Italians passed on their pizza joints after two generations to Albanians, who have since passed them on to still newer immigrant groups, Vanderkam says that Koreans may just be moving out altogether, or in some cases (like the now national chain HMart) upping the ante and making their markets even more upscale.
