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Two natives of China are planning to convert a former big box store near Madison’s East Towne Mall into a combined ethnic grocery and market with shelf and stall space for products reflecting what they see as an increasingly diverse East Side.

Global Market Property purchased the 45,000-square-foot former Babies R Us building at 2161 Zeier Road on May 20 for $3.25 million. Global Market is a partnership between longtime restaurateur James Min Jiang and Guanming Shi, a UW-Madison professor of agricultural and applied economics whose research interests include demand analysis and whose husband owns a grocery on the city’s Southwest Side.

Babies R Us closed a little more than a year ago along with 181 other Babies R Us and Toys R Us stores. It opened in 1991 as a Toys R Us and was converted in 2006 to the retailer’s baby-focused brand.

Shi said half the building’s space will become a grocery and about 20 vendor spaces will fill the other half, with both halves marketed under one yet-to-be-determined name. Vendors would mostly offer various ethnic foods, but she said she can also envision businesses such as a beauty salon or coffee shop. She said she and Jiang hope to have the space open by the end of the year to provide “one-stop shopping.”