"I love New World," the CJ Asian Supermarket co-owner said.
"All our stores’ condition looks like New World. Even the freezer, the shelving."
He also gets advice from a friend who manages a New World supermarket about how to lay out the store.
Mr Pang co-owns the CJ Asian Supermarket company with Joohyun Noh.
The pair have two other shops, in Napier and Nelson.
In Dunedin they had a grand opening last Friday and Mr Pang was surprised by the turnout. At one point, up to 70 people were crammed into the shop.
"It was crazy," he said.
They had planned to open the shop about March but the rising of the Covid-19 alert levels and lockdown put paid to that.
It was a stressful time for Mr Pang, who said he had questioned whether they would go through with the opening.
But matters improved after lockdown and Mr Pang said he was happy to be able to open last week.
There were not enough Asian supermarkets to serve Dunedin’s population, he said.
They liked the site at the corner of George and Frederick Sts because of the amount of foot traffic.
Mr Pang said the shop has products from about 15 Asian countries, including South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines and Thailand.
Some products were imported directly, but most were from a New Zealand company that imported them.
Mr Pang said he hoped to build a factory in the Philippines to start making products he knew New Zealanders liked.
