Photos give first look at Mellow Market Lubbock global snack shop - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

The shop stocks international snacks and beverages that are tough to track down at a standard grocery run. Bright green handbaskets wait near the door for customers, and samples of chips from earlier taste test videos are already set out on display.

For folks in Lubbock who have spent years ordering obscure snacks online or asking friends to haul them back from trips, a dedicated storefront on 50th Street is a different kind of option. The 50th Street corridor already pulls steady traffic from the surrounding neighborhoods, so foot traffic should not be a problem for a shop banking on curiosity and impulse.

The appeal here is pretty straightforward: you walk in not knowing exactly what you will find, and that is the point. Stores built around discovery tend to do well when the product is edible and the price point is low enough to take a chance on something from a country you have never visited.

Lubbock has seen a handful of specialty import shops come and go over the years, which makes staying power the question worth watching with Mellow Market.