Asian mega-markets are redefining America's suburbia

T&T SUPERMARKET

The Canadian-based T&T Supermarket opened in San Jose earlier this month.

If you joined the massive crowds packing the grand opening of Canada’s cult-favorite T&T Supermarket at San Jose’s Westgate Center, you experienced firsthand a sound taking over the region: the hum of live seafood tanks and the sizzle of fresh scallion pancakes fillling a former department store. 

For decades, the cultural heart of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities beat loudest in the historic urban enclaves of San Francisco and Oakland. But today, that pulse has officially migrated outward, triggering a radical retail transformation across the suburbs.

Roughly 2.1 million AANHPI residents now call the Bay Area home, accounting for a massive 28% of the total population. Except for the state of Hawaii and the San Gabriel Valley in southern California, no other region in the US has a greater concentration of AANHPI.

Driven by the tech boom, the rise of AI, and families seeking space, AANHPI families are fueling an unprecedented suburban shift leaving the comfortable enclaves of the ueban Chinatowns and Daly City. 

In the East Bay beyond the Oakland-Berkeley urban centers, between 2010 and 2020, Dublin’s Asian population skyrocketed by an astonishing 219%, transforming it into an Asian-majority city (56%). 

Seeking more affordable housing for multi-genertional households, neighboring Tri-Valley boomtowns show a similar surge: Pleasanton’s Asian demographic jumped 94%, while San Ramon saw a 68% spike. 

Down the road, Fremont continues to expand its legacy as a foundational hub for the South Asian diaspora and some have dubbed Union City has been dubbed by some "Little Manila" while the Silicon Valley corridors of San Jose and Cupertino draw in high-earning tech professionals at a relentless clip.

Corporate grocers have taken note of this high-earning, rapidly growing population. Where traditional American big-box retailers like Walmart, JCPenney, and Macy’s have collapsed under changing economic tides, massive Asian corporate grocery empires are aggressively stepping into the physical footprints they left behind

A surge like no other

What is happening in Northern California is entirely different from the slow, decades-long growth of Asian supermarkets in Southern California's San Gabriel Valley.

In the Bay Area, this corporate mega-market growth has exploded almost overnight and so quietly that the majority of Bay Area residents — aside from eating sushi, attending K-pop concerts, purchasing Asian skin-care products, buying the latest fashion trends with clothing made in South or Southeast Asia and ordering Chinese takeout — are not readily aware of the quiet transformation of Bay Area culture.

Desperate to fill massive vacancies, landlords of enclosed malls and big-box strip malls are rolling out the red carpet for major international chains, transforming empty real estate into high-energy cultural hubs and multi-level food entertainment complexes.

The institutional bedrock

To understand this explosion, you have to look at the regional titans that laid the groundwork:

99 Ranch Market: Founded by Taiwanese American immigrant Roger Chen, it remains the undisputed bedrock of the region, pioneering new dining-destination concepts inside major suburban hubs like South San Jose’s Westfield Oakridge.

Seafood City & Island Pacific: These foundational Filipino powerhouses have long anchored historic community hubs, with Island Pacific currently planning a 33,000-square-foot food-court-heavy outpost on San Francisco’s Alemany Boulevard.

When Seafood City opened up its new store in Daly City, the store's "Late Night Madness" complete with a DJ and blaring music  turned the aisles into dance floors and the opportunity for karaoke.

SEAFOOD CITY

Seafood City's opening festivities in Daly City brought dancing and karaoke to the supermarekt.

Nowhere is the competitive collision between established players and new empires more visible than in Daly City. Long anchored by legacy favorites like 99 Ranch, Island Pacific, and the neighborhood community staple Kukje Supermarket, the landscape completely shifted with the arrival of Jagalchi at Serramonte Center.

Developed by international chain Mega Mart, this staggering 75,000-square-foot Korean food complex took over a multi-level department space left vacant by JCPenney. Jagalchi isn't just a grocery store — it’s an evening out, pairing a premium supermarket with a dedicated K-beauty wing, an on-site bakery, a cocktail bar, and a sleek, 160-seat contemporary restaurant.

The giants move in

The momentum established by local hubs is radiating across the entire region, pulling in major players from across the continent. Canada’s cult-favorite T&T Supermarket officially marked its highly anticipated entry into California with a massive opening at San Jose’s Westgate Center.

The momentum is radiating across the entire region as major cross-border and international players scale up:

T&T Supermarket: Canada’s cult-favorite chain officially marked its entry into California with a massive opening at San Jose’s Westgate Center, drawing huge crowds for its live seafood tanks and street-food-style hot bars. T&T's aggressive expansion playbook includes a Winter 2026 debut in Millbrae, a 55,000-square-foot flagship in San Francisco by the end of 2026, and a jaw-dropping 72,600-square-foot mega-space inside the former Macy’s at Newark’s NewPark Mall slated for late 2027.

H Mart: Cementing its dominance along the tech corridors, H Mart followed up its highly successful Dublin location by setting its sights on Fremont. Slated to break ground at the Pacific Commons Shopping Center in late 2026, the upcoming two-story flagship is designed to become the largest H Mart in the United States, complete with an expansive multi-vendor food hall.

Tokyo Central: Owned by Marukai Corporation and backed by Japan’s hyper-popular discount giant Pan Pacific International Holdings (PPIH/Don Quijote), Tokyo Central’s sprawling complex in Emeryville imports exclusive specialty goods directly from Japan.

Osaka Marketplace: In Foster City, this specialized Japanese grocer is drawing massive crowds to Edgewater Boulevard with its curated layout featuring a Sakura Sushi Buffet and Kobe Melonpan Bakery.

Many of the Asian supermarkets feature a food court.

View from the edge

The days of the mom-and-pop store catering to a few AANHPI families appear to be over in the Bay Area.

I bought my first dark soy sauce the other day in my local 99 Ranch. Who knew there were so many different soy sauces from so many countries.

Fish sauce? Do you the prefer fish sauce from the Philippines, Vietnam or Malaysia.?

Don't get me started on the variety of noodles: wheat, rice, flour, corn starch? Thin, wide, short or long?

What we are witnessing is a profound rethink of the suburban commercial landscape. The days of the monolithic, sterile department store anchoring the local mall are giving way to vibrant, scent-filled marketplace ecosystems.

But the appeal is spilling far beyond cultural boundaries. Driven by a universal love for regional dishes like hot pot, fresh sushi, and Korean BBQ, non-Asian shoppers are increasingly treating these mega-stores as everyday dining and leisure destinations. 

By blending high-end grocery infrastructure, regional food halls, and beauty retail under a single roof, these international chains aren't just surviving the retail apocalypse—they are thriving in it, rewriting the rules of experiential retail one empty anchor store at a time.

Where retailers like Walmart, JC Penney, and Macy's have collapsed under the weight of changing economic tides, Asian supermarket chains are aggressively stepping into the physical footprint they left behind. Landlords, desperate for reliable foot traffic, are rolling out the red carpet with affordable rents.

The result? Massive "shop-and-dine" destinations that serve as modern community anchor points. From the expansive H Mart in Dublin with its 8,500-square-foot food hall, to Tokyo Central's sprawling complex in Emeryville, and Canada’s premier T&T Supermarket planting its first local flag in San Jose, these spaces are redefining the suburban landscape.

It’s an economic reality driven by community growth, but the appeal is spilling far beyond ethnic boundaries. Driven by a broader cultural curiosity from non-Asians —and a universal love for regional dishes like hot pot, fresh sushi, and Korean BBQ —non-Asian shoppers are increasingly treating these mega-stores as everyday dining destinations and to purchase the ready-made sauces, spices and specific cuts of meat rarely found in American suppermarkets  to prepare their favorite Asian dishes at home. 

In a region that is fiercely competitive, the Asian presence is gradually becoming ingrained into  the Bay Area's cultural and food scene. The Asian supermarkets are helping transform the the entire culture of the innovative Bay Area, and, generally, the state of California, which is often cited as a trendsetter for the rest of nation.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

 EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective interesting, please repost.

Two photographs go viral when a subway car becomes a mirror for America

Rowell Encina, left, was photographed by
Finn Gomez of Getty Images.

Initially, Tthe picture of Bernita Bowlding by
 Cheney Orrwent viral

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then two pictures are worth two thousand words.

 On the Fourth of July, a Washington D.C. Metro train at Eastern Market station turned into a pressure cooker. Hundreds of masked members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front flooded a train car, creating an instant nightmare for the passengers trapped inside.

Two separate photojournalists pulled focus on two different minority passengers in that exact same car. What happened next is a textbook example of how the modern media machine works: visceral symbolism moves at lightning speed, while complex reality takes the slow lane.

Frame One: The overnight icon

The first image to absolutely fracture the internet was captured by Reuters photographer Cheney Orr. It showed 33-year-old Bernita Bowlding, a Black woman sitting entirely alone, her eyes fixed forward as a wall of masked white men packed the car around her.

For cable news and social media, the visual shorthand was instantaneous. It didn't matter that the public didn't know her name yet; the image perfectly mirrored iconic Civil rights photographs from the 1950s. The media instantly anointed it "the defining image of modern American division," driving millions of clicks and leading every nightly broadcast.

Frame Two: "There was another photo..."

But while that singular narrative was dominating your timeline, a parallel story was unfolding just a few feet away. Getty Images photographer Finn Gomez had pulled focus on a different passenger: Roswell Encina, a gay Filipino-American immigrant who happens to be the CEO of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.

"There was another photo taken from a different angle," Encina later noted recalling the media coverage. While Bowlding's photo became a global Rorschach test for racial tension, Encina’s experience provided the raw, real-time audio to the visual horror.

Encina gave a voice to the terrifying sensory experience of being trapped in that rolling metal box. "I froze," he recounted. "I was terrified. I thought, 'If somebody stabs me, if somebody kicks me, I won't be able to identify who did it because everyone is masked.'"

"It was very unnerving, uncomfortable and unsettling when you see a big group of men in masks and sunglasses and hats that could not be identifiable, and they're all coming into your car," Encina said.

The Pivot: From political prop to human reality

As the week rolled on, the media was forced to grapple with the actual human beings behind the viral frames—and the story took a sharp, messy turn.

The Washington Post tracked down Bowlding’s family, who dropped a devastating complication into the media's neat narrative. Her brother revealed that Bernita struggled with severe mental illness and was likely experiencing a health crisis during the ride. Her family publicly blasted the media for turning a vulnerable woman into a political prop, saying she looked like "hounds surrounding her."T

However, because Encina was a highly articulate civic educator, the media utilized his voice not as a passive symbol, but as an active analyst. He was able to give words to the collective trauma of the train car.

Encina used his platform to contextualize the moment, drawing strength from the very history he protects. "I thought of Ruby Bridges. I thought of the Little Rock Nine," Encina said, explaining how he survived the 30-minute ride. "They went through worse. I can survive a 30-minute subway ride."

The view from the edge

Ultimately, the D.C. Metro incident became a masterclass in how modern media digests trauma. Bowlding’s photo received the lion's share of the press because it fit a pre-existing, powerful historical template.

But it was Encina’s willingness to speak out that allowed the media to pivot from exploitation to education.

Encina's story is the "American Dream." He came to the United States as an infant from the Philippines and became a US citizen. His father served in the US Navy. He said suddenly being surrounded by a group of people with a very different vision of America from his own was a powerful moment.

A day after the subway ride, Espina reflects on his experience, and posts his thoughts on Instagram:

Encina hopes that when people see the photo of him, they’re reminded that we are one country.

“I’m hoping when they see my image they’ll remember we are a nation of different people, but also remember our history. There’s a lot to celebrate,” he said.

"One thing I realized is that democracy is very fragile ... We need to stay engaged with history and civics and education," Encina said. "Doris Kearns Goodwin likes to say that there is hope in history. I really believe that's how we can get through this."

He transformed a terrifying viral moment into a serious conversation about the fragility of American democracy—proving that sometimes, the front line of the culture war is just a random subway ride on America's birthday.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective interesting, please repost.

AAPI artists nominated for Emmys

CREATED BY GEMINI

The 2026 Emmy nominations are out, and once again, it is a mixed bag for our community. While we are seeing historic representation on one side of the ledger, the TV Academy still manages to leave some of our finest talent out in the cold.

Let’s break down the wins, the behind-the-scenes power players, and the glaring omissions that have us scratching our heads.

Actors' noted

Our community showed up in major acting categories this year. Leading the pack is Riz Ahmed, who secured a Lead Actor nod for his powerful role in Bait. 

Meanwhile, the second season of Netflix's smash hit Beef brought in major acting love: Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung and Charles Melton both scored Supporting Actress and Actor nominations for their respective turns in the anthological dramedy.

Over on the drama side, Sepideh Moafi clinched a Supporting Actress nod for her stellar performance in Max’s medical juggernaut The Pitt. playing Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, a doctor taking over the ER as Noah Wiley's character prepares for a sabbatical. She is the first Iranian woman and woman from the Middle East to be nominated in the support actress in a drama series category, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"I can’t imagine a more ideal world, show, character to have this sort of recognition with," Moafi said after she heard about her nomination. 

"Playing this woman who carries so many worlds, so many of which I can identify with in my own way, and that I’ve heard over the last several months, so many people identify with, whether it’s with her chronic disease, her chronic illness, people with disability, people who are mixed race, people who are from the Middle East or Africa, women in medicine who are in similar positions and have to deal with certain male counterparts."

FYI: The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards will air live on NBC on Monday, September 14, 2026 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT

Steven Yeun, who won an Emmy two years ago in the first season of Beef, landed a voice-over nomination for keeping things animated in Invincible.

True representation means having a seat at the table where decisions are made, and our behind-the-scenes creatives are dominating this year's Emmy ballot.

The Beef mastermind Lee Sung Jin, continues his historic streak, earning individual nominations for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series, alongside a nod for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as executive producer. He's joined in the executive producers' circle by Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Kitao Sakurai and Anna Ouyang Moench.

Destin Daniel Cretton, the Japanese American director-producer, is nominated as the driving executive producer behind Marvel’s buzzy Wonder Man.

Hiro Murai & Claudia Shin: The powerhouse duo earned Executive Producer nods for Apple TV+'s freshman comedy hit Widow's Bay.

FYI: For a complete list of the 2026 Emmy nominees, click here.

Chris Nguyen-Gia & Marian Wang: Nguyen-Gia scored a Best Drama Series nomination as a producer for the freshman drama Paradise, while Wang is back in the mix as a producer for the late-night champion Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Yulin Kuang: Celebrated writer-director Kuang scored an Outstanding Television Movie screenplay nomination for adapting Netflix's People We Meet on Vacation.

You can't talk about the Emmys without talking about who got left behind, and the Academy dropped the ball on several standout AAPI performances.

Should have been nominated

Isa Briones (The Pitt): In what is arguably the most heartbreaking snub of the morning, Briones was completely shut out for her role as the sharp, headstrong Dr. Trinity Santos. What makes this a bitter pill to swallow is that The Pitt actually led the entire pack with 25 total nominations—including 13 acting nods for her co-stars. How voters completely bypassed Briones's polarizing, fiercely layered performance is beyond us.

Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live): Despite delivering a highly celebrated final run on the sketch show before his mid-season departure, Yang missed out on a Supporting Actor in a Comedy nod. The Academy chose to shut out the entire regular SNL cast this year.

Industry Cast & Crew: HBO's financial thriller was entirely shut out by the Television Academy. This means no love for Ken Leung, who has consistently turned in a masterclass performance as the complex and shrewd management executive Eric Tao.

Young Mazino & Tati Gabrielle: Both actors missed out on highly predicted guest and supporting drama nominations for their impactful roles in The Last of Us.

View from the edge

We've come a long way from the days of absolute invisibility, but as these snubs show, the fight for the Academy to fully recognize the depth of our talent continues.

What is especially noteworthy, is none of the characters played by AAPI actors, are the stereotypes that pigeonholed generations of Asian actors in Hollywood.

But there is so much more room for improvement. That's why overlooking Briones' role as Dr. Trinity Santos in The Pitt is so disappointing. There were so many moments where we saw glimpses of the life of Santos beyond the ER -- such as a white-passing Filipino American -- makes us crave  for more of her storyline to explore.

In fact, you can say that about all the acting AAPI nominees and the AAPI community as a whole. As two seasons of Beef have shown us, there's more complexity in us than Hollywood has been able to capture so far.  Hollywood's creators and artists are only starting to scratch the surface of the multiple worlds we live in and start delving into those stories.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective interesting, please repost.