New Bend Asian market Tomi Mart holding grand opening event Saturday
Tomi Mart, Bend's new Asian market, opened its doors a month ago. On Saturday, co-owners Natasha Dempsey and Jesi Scott are holding a celebration with a grand opening.
"Last year, we did a huge crowd funding campaign and the community really showed up. They have shown up for us in countless ways before we even got close to opening our doors. This is just kind of our way to thank everybody," Scott said.
Tomi Mart had been in the works since 2022. With both owners coming from culturally diverse households, Scott and Dempsey saw an opportunity to bring a taste of their heritage to Bend.
"Bend didn't have an Asian market before this, so many folks like ourselves, we would be traveling to Portland or the valley to get staple ingredients to make our heritage foods. Tomi Mart is here to hopefully alleviate some of that," Dempsey said.
They also hope to create a space where some in our community can feel better represented.
"It's really rooted in that representation piece, not only for our families, but for a lot of community members who don't have somewhere that truly represents who they are and we're doing that through food," Scott said.
Customers seem to agree.
"My wife and I are from here, went to high school here. We moved in 2007 and just came back recently. We've been living in different parts of Oregon, other places that have a lot more diversity than Bend does and a lot more food options. We would hit up our neighborhood Asian grocery store frequently. So it's great to see this available in Bend," customer Patrick Byfield said.
Toni Mart is located at 1180 SE 3rd Street, in the same lot as Okawa, Verizon and O’Reilly Auto Parts at the corner of Reed Market Road and 3rd Street Saturday's grand opening event goes from 3-7 p.m. It will feature a ramen eating contest, music, food catered by Okawa and a tae-kwon-do demonstration. The public is invited to attend.