Last week, nearly 500 Sanrio enthusiasts lined up for the opening of the Bay Area’s first Hello Kitty Cafe inside the bustling Westfield Valley Fair mall. At the pastel-pink, gold bow-decorated cafe, giddy customers waited for servers to emerge with three-tier pastry trays in the shape of their favorite pop culture feline.
Hello Kitty Cafe is the latest eatery to come to the Santa Clara mall, which has transformed into a foodie paradise in recent years thanks to its roster of sought-after restaurants like Din Tai Fung, Baekjeong, Eataly and Joey. After years of hosting Hello Kitty Cafe Truck pop-ups, Urania Chien, who co-founded and co-owns Hello Kitty Cafe, told SFGATE that the July 11 turnout wasn’t surprising.
“Growing up in the South Bay, it’s always been a dream to come back and open a Hello Kitty Cafe here,” Chien said via email. “Over the past ten years, our team has brought the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck to the area again and again—and every time, the response has been amazing.”
The first U.S.-based Hello Kitty Grand Cafe opened in Irvine in 2018 and there are now Hello Kitty Cafe locations in Universal City, Las Vegas and Vancouver, British Columbia. That same year, a mini Hello Kitty Cafe debuted briefly at San Jose’s Santana Row but was slated to close at the end of 2018. So, when news swirled earlier this year that a larger cafe was heading to the South Bay mall, Hello Kitty fans everywhere were more than ready to immerse themselves in the lively 2,300-square-foot shop. For those who grew up visiting Sanrio retail stores, a trip to the cafe meant a trip down memory lane. So, on a recent Wednesday, my childhood friend and I did just that…