Filipino Mart to open in Charlotte Sept. 14

By Susan Palmes-Dennis

Charlotte, North Carolina—For Filipino-Americans wishing to prepare their favorite homegrown dish or those adventurous enough to try and cook Filipino dishes, a new Filipino-American owned store will open on Saturday this week, Sept. 14, here in the Charlotte area.

The Filipino Mart located at 11855 N Tryon St. Suite A, Charlotte 28262 is owned and operated by Suzanne Silva Horne whose name is synonymous to food catering in the greater Charlotte area because she takes orders from Pinoys there. 

She said she and her husband Drey Horne had long been planning to open a Filipino-American store. 

“The store is called Filipino Mart because it is simple and easily recognizable to the Filipino-American community. We sell a wide variety of products from the home country of the Philippines including food from recognizable brands like Goldilocks,” Suzanne said.

Old favorites like sardines, soy sauce, coconut vinegar, noodles, margarine, catsup, corned beef, Spam and so much more are sold in the store, Suzanne said. The store is open everyday and it accepts balikbayan boxes to be sent to loved ones in the Philippines.

Filipino dishes like dinuguan (pork blood stew) and bopis (spicy minced pork liver) will also be served by Suzanne who traces her roots to Dumaguete City in the Visayas, Philippines and loves to cook. 

She graduated from Siliman University with a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. “I cook a lot and I learned cooking from my mom Susana Sumalpong who taught me to cook a lot of dishes. My daughter who graduated in the Philippines also knows how to cook,” Suzanne said.

She said she previously had a hard time looking for Filipino ingredients in specialty stores and this convinced her to open a Filipino-American store that sells Filipino products. 

Suzanne said she has a natural inclination for businesses having sold coconut candy in her childhood.

Suzanne said she is both excited and nervous in opening a store to serve the Filipino-American community in the Charlotte area. 

“Sometimes we cannot please everyone but we are trying our best to provide their needs and we hope they reciprocate our commitment with their patronage of our store,” she said.