Every major city in America had what was called "Chinatown"... and now even Garland has one for locals and "round-eyes" visitors. But with the opening of the Sieu Thi Thuan Phat supermarket in June, the Asian-focused mall at Belt Line and Jupiter roads has found new life, and business owners like Liu — as well as Garland city officials — are thrilled. “People are shopping; they play, they eat, they talk,” Liu said. “Customers come buy groceries — and maybe they come over to my store.” The reinvented Cali Saigon Mall — at one end of Oakridge Plaza, fronted by a Black-eyed Pea — is a destination for Asians throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. ... “I’m African-American, and I would never try Vietnamese food,” Bates said. “Coming here has helped me understand the Vietnamese culture. It’s just a good experience to come in and see stuff I’ve never seen before.” But both were surprised by some of what they found at Thuan Phat along with typical staples like rice, noodles and green vegetables. “We saw chicken heads,” Bates said. “I’ve never seen live catfish swimming around. Or some of the vegetables we saw. But the chicken testicles took the cake.” Added Li: “I didn’t know chickens even had testicles.” ... news that an Asian grocery would open there in 2009 was greeted with much enthusiasm, both in the Asian community and among city leaders. The new operators had hoped to echo the success of Shun Fat (“prosperity” in Chinese), a Chinese-Vietnamese grocery empire owned by California entrepreneur Hieu Tran. “This place is about as close as it gets to being in a Vietnamese market as you will find on this side of California,” wrote one Yelp reviewer after the opening. But success didn’t come easily, and gradually the supermarket faltered, along with its inventory. So did the mall as customers stopped coming. The market closed in September 2010. Eventually, shop proprietors struggled to keep up with the rent, and many started to leave. “It was very slow,” said Liu, the gift-shop owner. “On the weekdays, it was really quiet inside.” READ HOW IT CAME BACK AFTER THE GREAT RECESSION
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 17:50:35 +0000
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