Manchester Superstore

The smells, the crazy items piled up on the shelves and the total lack of familiar brands — this is the joy of shopping in what they call «Manchester’s largest ethnic food store»
It all took me back to living in India and buying fresh ingredients to cook with from the market all day and just the general madness of people rushing around and the bountiful sunkissed offerings of huge fruit and vege, enough seafood to open an aquarium and loads of treats that you just say «let’s give this a try and see what I can add it to»
Basically this time I was in to pick up some paneer (loads of different selections), paratha, breads and some sweet treats. The aisles are brimming with giant sacks of everything from spices, chick peas, lentils etc and they have everything in terms of wanting to do a lot of home cooked Indian food or for the commercial shopper among you!
I just wish I had the storage to buy everything in such bulk, as it’s so cheap compared with the standard high street supermarket brands!
*Extra tip: They have a customers only car park around the back — an absolute Godsend on the curry mile*

Manchester Superstore is a mini-​chain of large ethnic grocers/​wholesalers in Manchester. In addition to the Longsight branch, I’ve visited their other outlets in Cheetham Hill, Firswood and there may be another branch in Bolton, not sure.
I mainly visit this type of store for speciality vegetables, pulses and spices. Based on one visit, there didn’t appear to be much to differentiate this place from Worldwide Foods on Rusholme, which is my usual stop. But that is not necessarily a bad thing, as where else on the high street am I going to find white poppy seed, or kala namak (black salt), decorticated cardamon and so on. Plus, veg and herbs which you can’t get anywhere else and all of it is market fresh, with the herbs blowing supermarkets away in terms of value for money.
Longsight is a bit of a special place due to the high Asian and Black population. I got into some banter with one of the managers here, which led to me trying something new to me, fresh chickpeas which are sold in a net bag still in the pod — I haven’t cooked them yet, as I need to consult the internet for a recipe!
Longsight as a whole is a destination for ethnic shopping and some categories of eating out. And Manchester Superstore is like one corner of a ‘golden triangle’ of ethnic produce vendors — the back entrance to Manchester Superstore opens out near to both the fresh produce stalls in Longsight Market and also Appna grocery/​wholesaler. So if you enjoy a bit of comparison shopping, this is a good spot.

I absolutely love these kinds of places. Manchester Superstore is a grocers slash wholesalers that remind you to try shopping for your groceries somewhere else than a massive supermarket for a change.
It looks stunning from outside, with stands and shelves bursting with fruit and vegetables outside on the street. They literally have almost every vegetable you could think of here! Everything is fresh and cheap too.
In the back there is a wholesale butchers, and the main part of the store is full of dried and tinned goods (pasta, rice, etc) that’s all in big packets but at really reasonable prices.
I just really like Manchester Superstore, it’s got a bit of soul and character that can add a bit of localness to your shopping whilst you also get to support a thriving local small business chain. So whether it’s shopping just for your house or if you’re a local restaurant, go and get what you need from this shop.