HANCOCK - When Chris Lin was looking for a place to open his Far East Grocery, he saw not only there was retail space available in downtown Hancock, but also an unfilled niche.
"It's not like any grocery in downtown Hancock," said Lin, who co-owns the business with Jo Zhou.
The store, which stocks food items from China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and India, is across Quincy Street from Superior National Bank. It opened March 16, and Lin said the response has been good so far.
"A lot of people have been coming in," he said.
Besides local people, Lin said many international students and professors are shopping at the store.
Getting the empty retail space in downtown Hancock filled, and getting the word out about what businesses are there is the goal of a marketing plan under development.
The plan, which was authorized by the Hancock City Council March 17, is being developed by The Marketing Department of Houghton, and co-owner Karyn Hanks said proposals will be presented to city officials soon.
"We're in the process of typing up three pretty solid concepts," she said.
Those concepts are highlighting the image of downtown Hancock, a "call to action" promotion and highlighting some of the businesses downtown.
Hanks said the Marketing Department did a similar marketing plan for downtown Houghton last year, and one of the things learned with that project is what is important to people is having restaurants and shopping, and those are priorities people want in Hancock, also.
The next step for the plan is to present the three proposals to the Hancock Downtown Development Authority.
"They will pick a direction they like, and we will define that direction," she said.
Hanks said it's hoped that by Memorial Day or soon after the city will be able to start running print and radio advertisements, and distribute posters throughout the city and put placemats in local restaurants.
A counting before the marketing plan process began showed there are more than 200 businesses in downtown Hancock, Hanks said.
"It's absolutely amazing how many businesses are downtown," she said.
One other soon-to-be-opened new business in downtown Hancock is Habanero's Restaurant on the first floor of the Scott Building on the corner of Reservation and Quincy streets, and owner Jim Cortright said he's excited about the location.
"We feel it is the best location for us for what we want to do in Houghton and Hancock," Cortright said.
Cortright, who has owned the Library Restaurant & Brew Pub in Houghton since 1989, said although that location has International Night on Thursdays, the demand is more than can be handled there.
"We don't have enough space in the kitchen to do that every night," he said.
Although the menu at Habanero's will have Mexican food, Cortright said it will probably eventually expand to feature other international dishes, such as Indian and Thai.
The plan now is to open the new restaurant in early summer, Cortright said.
Cortright said he thinks the location for his new restaurant is going to make it successful.
"We are so confident," he said. "We have the best parking. The pluses are unbelievable."
Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@ mininggazette.com.
