Kyo-Po Market

Closed!
I know that this place is not charming to foreigners. By this, I generally mean non Koreans who have never been to this place.
I’ve been coming here for years from when I was a very young child, and since then I have been to quite a few Korean markets in Korea, LA, NYC, and in Santa Clara. This place is PACKED with stuff, and my mom usually comes here for produce because it’s cheaper than Galleria and Hankook market. They also seemed to have more sales than the other two Korean markets. Overall though, this feels a lot like the Korean market in NYC’s Koreatown.
The main point of this place: grocery shopping.

Kyo-​Po is closed. :(
We used to go here every couple of weeks to stock up on Korean seaweed and pick up awesome Korean beef. Sadly, we will have to go somewhere else.

I am so sad, Kyo-​Po is under new management now! This was THE place to get humungous pears and good quality Korean short ribs. I came by the other day to pick up some Korean short ribs and there wasn’t any. Right when I walked into the market, I realized that all of their shelves were gone. I thought to myself, «Oh, they are remodeling!» But nope, I walked over to the meat department and there was literally nothing there! I walked out to the front of the parking lot and then I noticed the huge, «Under New Management» banner. Saaad.
P.S.
Super Kyo-​Po on Homestead is still open!

Bibimbap so daymn good. You can have them make it hot or cold dish. I perfer cold because the first time I had this dish it was hot and I almost burned tongue. Overall friendly service and great korean food.

i cant believe theyre closing down! although i havent gone here since the homestead one opened, but still, this is the OG market that came shortly after Hankook Market! i always felt their pre-​made food selection was better than the Homestead one too.

lowest price for ice cream bars!!! usually cheaper than han kook market
fresh vegetables!!!
my mom comes here to buy vegetables for making kimchi
good place to buy fresh vegetables I dont know about other groceries.

The deli selections here are scant and the grocery store felt dirty and rotten.
The saving grace of this place is the holy kimbap. It was actually good! It oddly had more flavor than any kimbaps I’ve had at actual restaurants.

Well sadly this market is like the least thing my mom and I go to get grocery and I don’t often come here, going into this store it very small and it does get crowded which I don’t really like because I have to move the cart instead of me standing while listening to K-​pop to kill time LOL.
This market is like the other version of Super kyo-​po market but obviously it much smaller is all I’ve to said about nothing special.

Pretty typical Korean market in a heavily populated Korean area. I’d say the Kyo-​Po on Lawrence and Homestead has more variety, but this one is great as well.
The main thing I come here for is the discounted snack specials. Every day at 7pm, they have various Korean side dishes on sale for 50% off. This ranges from things like japchae, fish cake, crab cake, rice cake, seaweed, etc. It’s a great deal for some tasty treats!
Aside from the snacks, they have a pretty typical selection of everything else. Dumplings, soup mixes, soju, and anything else you’ll ever need to fulfill your cravings for Korean goodies.

I went here for the first time only 2 days ago and it was only because I was tagging along with my brothers and friends: P To be fair, I’m only giving it 4 stars because:
1. I didn’t personally buy anything, but I did see and EAT what everyone else bought.
2. I don’t believe I’ve ever been to a Korean Market before so there’s nothing to compare it to.
The store was clean and it had a «fancy» gadgets area to peruse at the front. I like fancy gadgets… such as toilets that spray your butt…
Aaaaanyway… I’m not ReaLLy a picky eater (…sometimes) and all the food I chowed on was: nom: worthy. Individual sushi seaweed wrappers, fresh seaweed salad, stir-​fried dried squid strips, spicy dried squid, sweet & spicy squid legs — wow, they bought a lot of squid products — fish eggs and edamame…
The edamame is actually why I felt like I had to write this review… They were $ 0.99 a bag! That’s nuts! My daughter’s a big fan of «BaY-​Ns» so I will definitely be tagging along again next time to buy at least a week’s worth. Who knows, maybe I’ll have to update this review with an additional star and more great deals or I might take a star back… maybe a combination of the three.
Also… it’s next to a Green Foot massage place that I would like to try. It’s gotten pretty good reviews considering almost everyone that’s complained was expecting something fancy… it’s $ 20 for an hour — I’m not stupid.

I haven’t been to many Korean markets, but prices here are comparable to other Asian markets when it comes to fruits, veggies, and snacks.
You can get KBBQ here pre-​seasoned and spiced. Be careful, it does pack a punch. There’s also pre-​packaged seaweed salad at about ½ a pound for about $ 4 and containers and containers of kimchee for $ 5! The Kyo-​Po brand kimchee was just okay. The spicy sauce was too thick for my liking, but it was pretty crunchy.
Oh, and they have green onions, 4 for $ 1! That’s the cheapest I’ve ever seen it AND they are larger than average size. If you want something bigger, go with the GIANT GREEN ONIONS. Omg, I’ve never seen those before.
All in all, a cute little shop to go to the next time you feel like KBBQ at home.

I went here a cuple of times with my mom and the place doen’s get any better.
1. The parking lot is a hassle to get through
2. The inside of the market is pretty grimy and unorganized
3. The staff aren’t really that nice
4. Their selection of produce is not fresh
5. The aisles are small to walk through the store
6. They don’t have a large range of varities like veggies, meats, candies compare to the other markets in the area.
Overall, the place needs to be cleaned up a lot in order to bring in more customers.

After a one day downpour, today it’s 82 degrees. What in gooses is going on? So I went into the frozen section and they have a pretty good selection of Korean and Japanese ice creams. Strawberry pop bars and Green Tea Mochi hits the spot!

This place is a little grimy for me. I mean, aside from eating dogs, a short fuse, and having 3 livers, we Koreans, are known for our impeccable cleanliness and attention to detail. Kyo-​po comes a little short compared to the other Korean markets in the area. The store feels a little cramped and disorganized. The aisles are only wide enough for 1 cart to go through which could make for an awkward moment when you come face to face with a short tempered Korean. And honestly how long can the clerks gossip with their customers about Korean Dramas, current events and news. I just want to get my groceries and leave damnit, so I can go home and watch my Arirang TV Station and my K-​dramas/​movies ok?
Overall, this place is A-​OK when you need to get the essential Korean goodies at a good price. But if you’re a cleanliness Nazi like myself, it’s best to go to the other stores in the area.

Great pre-​marinated kalbi and bulgogi. The packs of bulgogi actually have quite a bit more meat in them than you expect. We got two packs of bulgogi and one pack of kalbi and ate it over 2 days (3 people). They also have a good selection of banchan (sp?). They did not have (or we couldn’t find) any chicken. Weird.
They also carry maeda-​en ice cream (the good stuff!).
The place is pretty basic, like a mini-​ranch 99 without the fishiness.
The cashier we had was really funny. She saw the ice cream tub and said softly, «i like this» in a cute korean accent.

You cannot go to Kyo-​Po without thinking that this is the store older Koreans go to.
Why?
Because it’s not too big, has the basics, and the ladies here love to gossip (especially at check out — whoa those cashiers are super chatty!).
I witnessed while waiting in line that the lady in front was talking up a storm with the cashier, only to laugh, while the cashier ran to the deli to grab more food to add on the customer’s order, and grabbed a bottle of soju as well! Hella funny and it’s nice that everyone is enjoying themselves.
Kimbap here is soooo good, way better compared to the cafeteria inside Hankook. The flavor here is spot on, and the filling is generous with pickled daikon, fishcake, imitation crab stick, carrots, and spinach. Two rolls all cut and packed for $ 3.00!!! SCORE! The kimbap tastes just as good as the one from Cherry Sushi in Daly City (see Kukje Market)…but the price is very affordable.
What’s awesome is that Tony & I were looking for a hanbok for our nephew’s 1^st birthday. We thought to go to Hankook, remembering that in the right corner there was a little kiosk, but when we went, it went out of business. No one @ the store knew where to get one, so we tried Kyo-​Po.
Not only did they tell us where to get it, but gave us the phone number as well!!! Hella hook up dude, I love it!
PS: Any one who needs the number, msg me!

I felt the prices here were a bit cheaper overall.
I got…
Cuties ($.99/​lb)
Bananas ($.59/​lb)
Mushrooms ($ 1.49)
Spinach ($.69 each)
Yellow onions ($.29/​lb)
I didn’t even spend $ 5 here! It was ridiculous! Not all of the produce looked so great/​fresh. Aisles were a bit narrow. It was a bit hard to look at both sides of the snack aisle all at once. haha Some of the snacks here are reasonably priced too. If you spend less than $ 5, you need to pay cash. boooo :(
Go green take: VTA bus #22 or #522

First time at Kyo-​Po Market. It’s only a block away from Galleria Market so I parked at Lawrence Plaza and walked over.
It’s a small Korean market with some really narrow aisles. There’s a meat counter & some pre-​packaged ready to eat food on the right side of the store.
I did buy a few things today:
Dry Shitake Mushrooms 3 oz bag for $ 2.99
2 boxes of Cacao Pepero chocolate crackers 2 for 99c
Nude Pepero = 2 x $.79
Kika’s Farms Strawberry 16 oz for $ 1.49
They sell of box of strawberries for $ 5.99
Pink Nail clipper for $ 1.99
My total $ 9.20. They take credit cards.

This place is a shadow of a Korean grocery store, what with HanKook just five minutes down El Camino. It is a much older grocery store and not as brightly lit. Some items do not seem as fresh either. Still, I love their bulgogi rolls (only $ 4 for about twenty pieces!!). Best snack ever!
Plus, they have a Morning Glory next door – a cheaper alternative to Sanrio… quite popular during my high school days, not so much anymore? Oh well, kudos to them for staying open this long.

My coworker bought me Ccholmyun noodles from this market this past weekend. I doubted it at first because the uncooked noodles look nothing like the finished product. However, they were every bit as chewy as I remembered.
I paid homage to Koko House tonight. I made my favorite dish, «Rice Pinkie with Chewy Noodle» (Ccholbokki), extra spicy of course!
The ccholbokki quest has ended. 5 stars for Kyo-​PO market. You can bet that I’ll remember the Korean symbol for Ccholmyun from now on!