This week San Jose voted to move forward with a plan to establish a new business district.
On Saturday, Cafes Quan , held their grand opening at Lion Plaza in East San Jose, bringing new energy to a decades-old shopping center.
Windy Trinh is the manager and owner of Cafes Quan. Trinh’s husband is a well-known artist from Vietnam.
“Our hope is not only to our business but to help out other business owners in the plaza. So we can bring the vibe back,” Trinh said.
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Trinh said the shopping center off Tully Road was once a central market for the Vietnamese community and she believes it has the potential to be the hub it once was.
“To get more people to come back like before like 10-20 years ago,” Trinh said.
Around the corner, Christina Bui and her mother have owned Love Me Knots Bridal at the shopping center for 35 years.
“As a second-gen here, I was trying to retire my mom, and you know the day I left it to go get married and have my family and the day I came back nothing had really changed,” Bui said.