Island Joy Mart brings taste, cultural connections from the Pacific Islands 

A new Olympia grocery store is helping bridge the distance from home by offering familiar island staples, clothing and traditions from across the Pacific.  

A mix of American snacks and imported products — taro, cassava, canned and frozen fish, and specialty chips popular in Micronesia — are all available at Island Joy Mart, which is located at 2747 Pacific Ave. SE, Suite A6.  

Clothing racks display island dresses, skirts and shirts. The shop also carries cultural items, such as mwar mwar — a flower head garland traditionally given as a welcome gesture and worn during special occasions.  

Coolers are stocked with reef fish and other seafood that customers from Chuuk and other Pacific Island communities often request.  

Owner Joyleen Haser said the store is designed to bring the “islands to Olympia,” particularly for Chuukese, Micronesian and other Pacific Islanders residing in the area. 

Haser is from Chuuk, one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia, an independent Pacific Island nation in free association with the United States under the Compact of Free Association (COFA).

The agreement allows citizens of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau to live and work in the United States without a visa or green card.  

By Haser’s estimate, there are more than 500 Chuukese residents living in Thurston County, with more than 1,000 Pacific Islanders overall.  

The heart of the business is food. Customers frequently look for reef fish, taro and breadfruit, which are staples in many Pacific Island diets.

Some items are imported from Hawaii and the Philippines, where many of the same ingredients and food traditions are found.  

Haser said the idea for the store came from a desire to preserve those traditions for younger generations and ensure elders have access to foods they grew up eating.  

“When she eats our island food, she is happier. She feels stronger,” said Haser, who was referring to her 82-year-old mother.  

“Having a store has always been a dream for us, my husband and I. We always want to have our own food available, so that our community and our elders can have that."

The decision to open the business followed a major change in her husband’s employment when he lost his commercial driver’s license.  

What could have been a setback, Haser said, became an opportunity to make their dream a reality. Her husband, Nikoly Simina, now works at Harbor Wholesale, where Haser sources some of the beverages and snacks sold in the store.  

The store opened on April 6. It operates Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.  

According to Haser, she is awaiting approval to accept Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) for the store, which she hopes will make it easier for low-income customers to shop at her business.  

For Haser, the store is about more than commerce, it is about identity, continuity and connection.  

She hopes her children and future generations will remain connected to Chuukese and Pacific Island food traditions.

“I want our children to continue to eat what we also eat back home because when we go back home, they are familiar with it," Haser said.