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Ervin Johnson, owner of One Way Market
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Fanta sodas are a popular item at One Way, with flavors that include white peach, watermelon and starfruit, and lemon.
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Bags of chips line the shelves at One Way. Johnson says one customer comes in each week to purchase a standing order of honey-chili Doritos.
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Johnson, who is in the store every day, stocks the shelves at the market.
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(From left) Ervin Johnson, his mother, Denise Johnson, and his girlfriend, Sade Rachal. "It really is a family market, 'cause all of us come in and work the store when he needs us to," Rachal says.
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The store also carries sauces, such as the popular Washington, D.C.-based Mambo Sauce, in addition to regular convenience store staples.
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Oreos, Pringles and cookies at One Way Market
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Flavors from Japanese cheesecake to chestnut Kit Kats can be found at One Way Market.
“You see those boxes?” asks Ervin Johnson, owner of One Way Market, as he points to a towering stack near the front register. “There’s more coming today.”
On an average day, drivers from DHL, FedEx and UPS will make multiple stops at the store at 404 N. First St. in Jackson Ward. At first glance, One Way Market appears to be a typical bodega, but inside, the selections are a far cry from standard convenience store items.
A multitude of international snacks lines the shelves, from salted lemon and matcha Kit Kats from Japan to shell-less Skittles from the United Kingdom, mango Sour Patch Kids from Canada and shrimp-flavored Doritos from Thailand.
Exotic sodas and juices in a rainbow of colors fill the cooler, tall bottles of Fanta in flavors such as jasmine-peach and alma-licsi (apple-lychee), Sunkist Lemon Lime, passionfruit and white grape Minute Maid, and collectible Perrier cans and bottles designed by world-renowned artist Takashi Murakami. On a back wall, bags of chips in varieties including seaweed salad, taro-lime and Esan hot pot are neatly stocked in rows like offerings in a shrine.
“I thought, 'How can I get people from Forest Hill and downtown to come get snacks?' ” the 28-year-old Richmond native says. Johnson's answer? Set the store’s inventory apart from the pack.
Having taken over the space in August, a few weeks after opening he introduced a limited-edition Mountain Dew soda. “From there I just started getting more,” he says. Six months later, there are now hundreds of out-of-the-ordinary products for sale.
Originally introduced to foreign snacks in Los Angeles, Johnson says it's common for smoke shops in California to sell them, but in Virginia it's more of a novelty. Sourcing inventory from five sellers based around the world, Johnson receives photos and messages about new snacks daily.
“They sent me these last night,” he says, pulling out his cellphone to share some of his exchanges with vendors. “They’re all based in other countries; we got connected just through knowing people and through doing research.”
The First Street store has quickly established a regular clientele, but it’s also attracting visitors from cities and states away.
“Customers travel from Baltimore, last weekend a lady came in with her two sons from North Carolina — it kind of shocked me,” Johnson says, adding that customers have also traveled from Washington, D.C., and across Virginia, some spending hundreds of dollars in a visit.
Recently, he says, a woman whose trip to Japan was delayed due to the pandemic came in seeking out snacks from the country, and a teacher from Highland Springs High School purchased treats to share with her students.
“Some people don't really get to travel or will never leave Virginia or go to the West Coast or out of the country," Johnson says. “It’s more so that [the teacher] wanted the kids to step outside the box.”
The three store staples: chips, candy and soda, with the majority of customers grabbing some of each. While imports from China, Japan and Thailand are most common, snacks have traveled from Malaysia, Korea, France, Canada, Hungary, Germany and more.
There is an underground culture in the exotic snack world, fueled by the exclusivity and get-it-while-you-can mentality as well as nostalgia, with snacks closely tied to memories of childhood. Customers frequently pull out their phones to capture images of treats from faraway places.
Johnson attempts to capture these moments as well. Each time he rings someone up at the register, he asks to snap a pic of their purchases and to tag them on Instagram. The stories on the One Way Market page are a catalog of customers' picks, and all part of the experience. Johnson says when someone spends over $200, he asks them to sign the wall in the back of the store — a lounge area with a flat-screen TV, a couch that he designed and a claw machine.
Since opening, he says, one of the most hard-to-find snacks the store has carried are Oreo Moon Cakes from Singapore, a limited-edition holiday item that sells for $50.
“Unlike here in America, the snacks in other countries change more often. Overseas they do a lot of seasonal stuff,” Johnson says, noting that this approach aids the store in offering fresh, constantly rotating options.
“We have to get new stuff in because people will get bored,” echoes his girlfriend, Sade Rachal.
Another face at the forefront of the business is Ervin’s mother, Denise Johnson, a lifetime Richmonder who works a full-time job but helps out at the store a few times a week.
“Right now, this is their baby, so when they decided they wanted to step in and do this, I said, ‘OK, I’m gonna step in with you,’ ” she says while sporting a One Way Market mask.
While the focus at One Way Market is on international snacks, the shop also sells limited-edition American products such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch seasoning blend, Mambo Sauce, Rap Snacks, Cotton Candy Cap’N Crunch,and household items such as paper towels and laundry detergent.
“We have a specialty that a regular convenience store wouldn't have, but also have something for everybody,” Rachal says.
One Way Market is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
