Sun Goon Shing, New York City opened as a general Chinese merchandise store. The day began at Sun Goon Shing with the roasting of the pig, ducks, chickens, and sausages, and the stocking of fresh vegetables and fresh seafood. The store obtained fresh food products from local suppliers in New York and New Jersey. The store imported from China such items as water chestnuts, dried scallops, dried squid, salted fish, and soy sauces. The store also had a complete Chinese herb department with a full-time herbalist; a complete line of chinaware and Chinese utensils; and restaurant and laundry supplies.

When the store opened for business at about 8 a.m., the first customers were Chinese "peddlers" who would buy Chinese vegetables and roasted meats and resell them to the Chinese working in laundries outside of Chinatown. Sun Goon Shing was known in the community for having the best roast pig and cold vegetable salads.

During the late 1930s, the store began supplying non-Chinese restaurants and night clubs like the Copacabana with Chinese food products such as water chestnuts, soy sauce, and other items for their Chinese dishes. The store also carried gift items like silk scarves, porcelain chinaware, clay and porcelain figurines, boxed lychee, and candied ginger.

The store stayed open until past midnight so that the Chinese workers who normally finished work between 10 and 11 p.m. could come by on their way home. The store also served as a mail drop center and a meeting place for friends and relatives living outside of Chinatown.

Sun Goon Shing kept pace with modern technological advances. Store workers began using a compressed air gun, rather than the traditional hollow bamboo stick and human lung power, to plump up ducks before roasting. This practice is not done today because of its labor intensiveness. Workers hung pigs on overhead trolley rails that traveled into the oven for roasting.

The store used a custom built Diamond "T" truck to make deliveries. In about 1953, Chun Kong Chow renovated the store. He replaced the food handling area's wood fixtures with stainless steel fixtures custom made to his specifications. He also enlarged the store's front exterior, resulting in the elimination of the adjacent sidewalk candy stand. The store was the first in the area to have air conditioning and to provide health benefits for its workers.

In recent decades with the increase and change in the Chinese population in New York City, the Chinese stores have also changed. Much of Sun Goon Shing's artifacts are contained in the Tuck High Company store, a permanent exhibit at the New York State Museum in Albany, New York. Located for many years at 19 Mott Street before it closed, the Tuck High Company was one of the oldest Chinatown stores.