San Francisco Chinatown retailers welcome evening market occasion as one other step to restoration
Vendors in San Francisco’s Chinatown hope another night market event on Friday will bring needed attention and visitors to their neighborhood as it continues to recover from the pandemic more than four years later.
The event modeled after markets in Asia saw large crowds last fall and in March, so organizers quickly decided to make it a monthly occurrence.
“I think it’s important because you know the traffic in Chinatown is being quite slow in my opinion,” said Max Huang, who runs By Me Boba Tea with his father. “In order to have a good business we need our, you know, people, tourists, to come to Chinatown, right? To eat, to shop, you know, to consume.”
Huang opened the business which sells Taiwanese and Hong Kong-style milk tea right before the pandemic. It hasn’t been easy for them given all the setbacks that came with COVID-19, but in 2023, he saw the start of a decent flow of customers and growth for the business.
He says they need to see more customers come through Chinatown this year to help the neighborhood of family-run stores and restaurants.
“I think the night market is very good for the community, it’s going to be bringing more people to Chinatown,” said Abby Huang, another business owner in Chinatown whose family runs Gourmet Kitchen and House of Dim Sum. “After the COVID is little bit tough because a lot of changing, like the food cost and then it’s hard to hire people, yes it’s still challenging.”
For some of these families, it isn’t just a business district but a piece of home. The family that runs By Me Boba Tea immigrated to the U.S. from China and they see a part of where they are from each day they spend in the neighborhood.
“You know, the environment, the buildings the, you know, the decorations is very close to home, so we think, you know, it’s very attached to us,” Max Huang said.
The night markets are held on the second Friday of the month from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. More than 25 vendors will participate along Grant Street between Sacramento and Jackson.
