Gateway

OK, just because I give it a 3 does not mean that it is not a good store. I have seen and shopped at A&M US Groceries and Q Club, which give me some comparison for this type of store is all. And by this type of store, I mean «Costco bulk want-​to-​be designed for the American shopper.»
Of the three (with the two mentioned above), this by far is the most organized, cleaniest and tied for largest compared to A&M.
Prices are indeed expensive as other reviews have said. Prices are exactly in line with the two other stores I am comparing it to, although Gateway did have a «Back to School Sale — 10% off the entire store» promotion going on when I dropped in.
Compared to A&M, there is a lot of staff floating around and organizing shelves, making sure things are lined up, labels out just so. There must have been six staff members there and I was the only person in the actual store at the time. Seemed a bit overkill and the owner could hazard to maybe cut some payroll.
I give it 3 star though, because despite shelves looking neat, I felt the product variety was not as good as A&M and some store aisles were just «fillers» (ie…there is a chip aisle and instead of 20 bags of Lays potato chips stocked five rows, four deep to stock a shelf, at Gateway there are 20 bags of Lays and they are stacked 20 rows, zero deep simply filling more space. I am not sure if this makes sense, but it was apparent throughout the store. So in lue of variety, many products are «fillers.» (taking up space, but no variety). It was apparent enough with more items than just chips that I dont think it is a result of me being witness to a shipment that has not come in, I think it just might be the store.
If I was in the area and needed something that I know I can get there, I would pop in because I know the prices are the same compared to others. But given a choice, this would not be my first selection in the «Costco bulk want-​to-​be for the American shopper» options in Hong Kong.

I am happy Gateway exists in Hong Kong, frankly I’m addicted to Costco and literally visit locations in Japan and Taiwan while I’m traveling. That being said, Gateway has a mini selection of items I find useful like Kirkland (Costco’s brand) paper towels and toilet paper (I know, sounds a bit funny… but Asian paper towels are useless and you end up using more than necessary). The price is outrageous at over $ 200 per 8 rolls, but if used sparingly is a nice luxury to the cheap HK kitchen paper found at dispensaries. I wish they sold the KS Fruit and Nuts mix :/

This is my 10^th year in Hong Kong, which also means I miss good old American sized groceries and teeth numbingly sweet candies, American sized. Most if all, though, I miss American toilet paper, despite owning a Japanese shower toilet at home.
Enter Gateway, the non-​membership alternative to American groceries. The décor is like a mini Costco (a wholesale-​to-​consumer store very popular in North America), with a fair selection of most-​missed items from the US: giant boxes of cereals, Halloween candies, tetrapak wines, sauces and condiment, plus normal sized foods like Kraft macaroni and cheese, applesauce and granola bars, basically a selection of foodstuff not found elsewhere, plus American formula of shampoos and body washes.
However, my favorite items in the store are the cotton wool pads and quilted northern toilet paper. Granted the toilet paper costs around $ 10 a roll, but they are the stongest, softest thing that had ever grazed my butt. Heck, they are even stronger and softer than my tempo boxed tissues.
They are also the only place I know that carries Sriracha, the famous American-​produced Asian-​style chili sauce that caused neighbours of its Californian factory to beg it to move as the chili fumes emitted during production is too much to bear. It seriously is potent stuff.
Incidentally, my 2 favorite things from gateway go hand in hand like pb & j, but I assure you they are in no way correlated.

I discovered Gateway by chance. Walking along Des Voeux Road in Central, I saw the huge sign and went to check it out. There wasn’t anything in particular that I was looking for, but I just have this thing for supermarkets…
Located in the second floor of Unicorn Trade Center, it looks more like a tidy warehouse than a supermarket. Most products are American branded and imported, and the variety is huge. From home care products, to personal care, chocolates, nuts, cereals, drinks and coffees… the list is endless. Just note that most products come in big sizes (especially snacks like chips or nuts) so this may be more suitable for parties of buying in group, unless you know the brand and had already tried it.
Although most things are cheaper than in supermarkets, I’ve noticed that the bigger size doesn’t always equal better deal. I’ve found nuts at better prices in places like 360 or Prizemart.
However, Gateway is exclusive in that you can find stuff here that you won’t elsewhere: their pickles section is amazing, and I was pleased to find affordable beef jerky (even in different flavours!).
They have a delivery service (free for purchases of 850 HKD or above) but don’t offer online shopping yet. In the meantime, they have an updated website where you can have a look at their products with a new look that looks pretty good.

Gateway is a great place to go if you’re looking for hard-​to-​find American products. The supermarket is not huge, but it has a pretty large variety of things like chocolate, can food and cereals that you normally wouldn’t be able to find in ParknShop or Wellcome. I initially went there with some friends because we were feeling particularly nostalgic and were looking for those fruit rolls that we used to eat when we were younger. They’re no longer sold at ParknShop, but we managed to find them in Gateway, and in assorted flavors too! We bought a box of 26 to share among us, and we got some other stuff too like salsa sauce, chips and powdered drink mixes.
One thing about Gateway is that almost everything is sold in the largest sizes possible — think packs of 100 paper cups and cereal boxes twice the size of your head. Because everything is sold in bulk, when you break it down, prices are quite reasonable and you won’t be breaking the bank. Gateway definitely isn’t an everyday supermarket — since everything is upsized, it wouldn’t be in your interest to buy a huge pack of chips in a flavor you’ve never tried before and end up not liking it when you get home to try it. I would highly recommend going to Gateway if you’re planning a party and need huge quantities — if it’s a party for kids, I can almost guarantee that you’ll be able to find everything you need here because the selection of candy, chips and chocolate is just endless!