July 15, 2026, ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Water Tower Research (www.watertowerresearch.com) has published an Initiation of Coverage Report on Maison Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSS) titled, “Putting the “AI” in Maison: A Leaner Store Base Meets a Smarter Grocery Platform”. The report can be accessed here.
Maison Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSS) is a US-based specialty grocery retailer headquartered in Monterey Park, California, serving Asian American and other ethnic communities. Public since its October 2023 IPO, the company operates six supermarkets, three under the HK Good Fortune banner in Southern California and three under the Lee Lee International Supermarkets banner in Arizona. On July 3, 2026, MSS agreed to divest two loss-making California stores (San Gabriel and Monrovia), with closing expected by year-end 2026. The sale will leave one HK Good Fortune store alongside the three Arizona stores, which have performed materially better than the California locations and now contribute ~70% of sales, concentrating revenue in the healthier Arizona market and removing store-level losses from the divested California locations.
What distinguishes MSS is a deliberate effort to evolve beyond traditional grocery. Management frames the company around a “tech-driven transformation” built on AI and blockchain across four pillars: (1) store inventory; (2) sales and order operations; (3) customer privacy; and (4) customer loyalty. The company has acquired an AI/IoT-based merchandise display system and a supermarket supply chain management (SCM) system to modernize its own stores, with demand forecasting and replenishment tools operational today. In June 2026, it announced a non-binding collaboration framework with SupplyAi, an AI product company built for the food supply chain, and MiniMax, a global AI model developer, under which the partners build the products while MSS contributes operating experience, market access, and channel support for a fragmented North American food supply chain.
MSS is also building brand direct sourcing across Asia, highlighted by a September 2025 agreement to distribute 30 tons of Guizhou Moutai’s 53% Flying Fairy liquor, which management views as the foundation for private label development. Recent financials point to stronger-than-advertised adjusted EBITDA generation power: adding back the stock compensation, bad debt, and professional fee increases in 3QFY26 implies ~$1.9 million in adjusted EBITDA, or ~$7.6 million annualized, and the divestiture of the two California stores should further strengthen this earnings power.
Based on our estimates, MSS shares trade at 2.7x and 2.4x on a 2027E and 2028E EV/EBITDA basis, respectively, versus peer medians of 7.8x and 8.5x, respectively, based on consensus, a significant discount to other specialty grocers.
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