CAM International Market

Fantastic Chinese supermarket with great selection. Although they do have some other Asian products, like Japanese, this is predominantly Chinese.

The store is quite large and you have many choices for whatever you are buying. For example, for instant and dry noodles there is an entire aisle...and you might get confused trying to pick from the varieties of baked tofu in the refrigerated tofu section.

They also have a nice deli area with freshly baked Chinese pastries, and tons of frozen goods including bagged potstickers, whole bamboo shoots, Asian-flavored ice creams, etc.

I was impressed that their selection of produce today, particularly the choys (bok choy, baby bok choy, you choy, gai lan, etc) appeared very fresh, even though I often see not so fresh choys in other, larger grocery stores back in California.

If you like tea....this will be your mecca.

If you want a food adventure, this is your place

I'm really impressed by this place. It's located in the old Big Bear grocery store on Bethel Road.

It's very well organized and well stocked. Lighting is bright and the place looks really clean. Their prices seem pretty good. It's hard to say for sure as their stock is so different than most other stores. Of course, I haven't a clue what most of it is, but it's fun to explore and pick out something that looks interesting just to try it.

The store is probably 96.2% Asian with a few Russian, Ukrainian, Dutch, German, English and Scottish items on sale too. I guess that makes it an international market instead of an Asian market.

Their produce in particular is very good, prices were very competitive and the stock is always fresh. It's my go to place for bok choy, bean sprouts and sauce mixes.

Be aware! They sell food that is already passed "sell by" date!

I bought a half dozen of sauce eggs yesterday from Cam, it had a bad egg taste and made me feel sick last night, then I noticed they already passed the "sell by" date marked on the cover (please see the photo attached). I will never shop their food again.

Great market. Big selection. But I didn't find what I wanted...

I remember when this was in the corner of the same building. Years ago, pre-Yelp (at least for me.) I used to go a lot when I lived closer. This time, it happened to be along my way and I was looking for a wok. They only had one, a non-stick kind. I want an old-school one. I thought for sure they'd have plenty. Ah, well.

They do have lots of utensils, rice cookers, etc. The produce is great, and there's a meat counter in back that I didn't check out. There's a nice variety of snacks, ramen, frozen foods, and all the typical ingredients. A great store, very well organized, clean. There's a little tea shop up front.

As an Asian transplanted from my hometown in California, I was disappointed by the fact that I would no longer be surrounded by delicious boba shops or pho restaurants on almost every single block in town.

However, CAM is one of a few nice Asian places in Columbus that makes life a little bit better.

Over the past two months, I've been here 3 times. They have plenty of typical Chinese vegetables and meat, although this place is probably 10x smaller than the size of a typical Asian market in CA. Still, it's enough to suffice for me, as my recent visit was just some cilantro, onions, ramen, steamed rice, jasmine rice, and assorted pre-made Chinese dishes from their shop inside (pork egg rolls, pork and shrimp spring rolls, bbq pork, strawberry cake rolls, and jellyfish, yum).

Definitely try out some of those dishes, as well as their ramen (I have 10-12 pouches of Mi Goreng sitting in my kitchen cabinet). At least now I have some semi-authentic Chinese food to eat, amidst my frequent trips to Skillet, Northstar, and what not.

CAM's new location (still within the same shopping center) is really nice! It's a good-sized space, and the move was clearly used as an opportunity to set up nicely organized aisles and sections.

Despite it's name including the phrase "international market," as others have mentioned, the focus is definitely on Asian related goods. They have a nice produce section, meat counter, and plenty of packaged ingredients, spices, and more! There is also an aisle of cookingware, so if you need chopsticks or tea sets, you can also find them here.

Don't be limited by the "ethnic" aisles at the standard grocery stores... if you are really in the mood for making an Asian-style dish, take advantage of CAM to get access to more ingredients!

I was actually in search of some pre-boxed sushi and could have sworn that CAM carried that, but sadly, I didn't not come across it.

However--I still had a delightful shopping experience.

The produce and fruits here were astonishing. So many things I had never seen in person were before my eyes. Tempting, but I did not partake and tucked it away to the back of my mind for another day.

I'm no Asian cook, (but I might make you a mean fried rice if you ask nicely) so the experience was very overwhelming to my senses. Ah! noodles, ah! green tea kit-kats, ah! Chicken feet, Ah! Pork belly! All the staples for most part are here. The only place I have come across a more diverse meat selection is over at Westgate Food Imports... Now, they get some weird (to Americans) stuff.

There are rows of boxes containing snacks, or other weekly vitals and necessities.

I was also impressed with the frozen food section here, which is where I did most of my shopping, other than the snacks and delightfully unhealthy things one picks up unconsciously.

They also had a lot of home necessities here, like specific bowls, dishes, tea sets, etc, with its own aisle.

They have a vendor at the front of the store who serves up Bubble Teas, and also had a couple of cooked dishes, marked on a small menu. We passed, but maybe next time.

It's an overall well rounded market with plenty of goods.

Good quality, and didn't have to physically dust off any merchandise. Always a plus!

Best fresh shiitake mushrooms in town, and a decent selection of Asian ice creams and sakes.

There's decent bubble tea here, too, good in a pinch but nothing compared to Kung Fu tea on Henderson.

CAM International Market seems like one of the better Asian supermarkets in Columbus. Granted I haven't been to many, but CAM is definitely bigger than some of the other Asian markets i've seen on High Street in the Clintonville area.

Like other reviewers have mentioned, CAM's positives include cleanliness and organization. I can't really speak for their produce and meat selection, since I don't cook much (at all). However their frozen and prepackaged items seem fairly extensive.

I was able to find the Wei Chuan frozen dumplings that I love and also stock up on Vitasoy box drinks (they have all the flavors). An added bonus is that they have a little cute bubble tea shop. Unfortunately they were closed during my visit, so I"ll have to try it out next time.

There were a few things that threw me off. One was the ready made food and the BBQ. I felt it was limited at CAM's. I don't think CAM has enough volume to offer a full-time fresh Chinese BBQ stand. The pre-packaged BBQ pork still looked tantalizing though, but I just questioned the freshness.

It would be nice to see more prepackaged food a la H-Mart or big city Asian supermarkets. I also was sad to see that a lot of their baked pastries were shipped from Chicago. I guess i'm spoiled being from Toronto. CAM is definitely one of the better Asian supermarkets in Columbus though.

I still love all the variety of ethnic food CAM sells. It's just... They use to have a good selection of Kinder hazelnut chocolates lining the front-left shelves. But there has been no sign anywhere of the brand anywhere in the store. Besides World Market, and a few other ethnic groceries around central Ohio, CAM use to have a good selection. Kinder bars is one of my personal guilty pleasures, and reasons I stop at CAM. Perfect for family and friends' gifts, or a splurge every now and then. Oh well. Life gives you lemons, make some lemonade! I still love this store for its Japanese, European and SE Asian offerings!