This is the second in a series of columns to continue
the dialogue between cultures.

The Starbucks at the corner of N. Wolfe Road and Homestead Road is an oddity for its location. Customers of various skin tones chat with their friends or read with lattes in hand, the sounds of many languages filling the air.

What separates this shop from the others are the Caucasian faces present and signs only in English. The coffeehouse seems to be one of the only businesses in Cupertino Village that appeals to multiple ethnicities. The rest of the strip mall is controversial in Cupertino for its nearly exclusive Chinese signs. For many, the area is like a mini-Chinatown in Cupertino.

Longtime Cupertino residents have asked the city to prohibit the signs with the reasoning that they are racially divisive. Bob Levy, a resident of Cupertino since 1968, has traveled all over the world. He's encountered a few problems with language barriers while shopping in Japan and Australia, but never to the point of avoiding stores. But he's never been in a Cupertino store that displays signs in Chinese.

"Obviously, they don't want my business," he said. "If they don't advertise in English, they won't get much business from the potential customers who don't speak whatever language the store is using."

This strategy of not reaching out for business goes against the cultural-American business norm: The customer is always right.

However, shop owners at the city's three Chinese supermarkets—Tien Tien, Marina and Ranch 99—say they have been trying to attract customers besides Asians. (Cupertino Village now has bilingual directories throughout the shopping center.) But they simply don't know how.

Many shop owners at the surrounding shopping centers are first-generation immigrants and cannot speak fluent English. Some of their merchandise, such as Chinese herbs, have names that don't have direct English translations, and they don't understand the business climate in the United States. These difficulties are not only encountered by Chinese business owners, but also by proprietors of other ethnicities. "You feel more comfortable doing business in your native language and with people you know," said Mahesh Nihalani, the Indian owner of a jewelry store.

Although the ultimate goal of having a business is to attract customers, cultural-American and immigrant-owned businesses can differ in their philosophies. While many Asian American business owners boast of the quality of their products, mainstream cultural-American business owners tend to emphasize the friendly ambiance of their stores.

Jared Carlson, owner of the Roasted Coffee Bean in Cupertino, said that his approach toward his customers is meant to foster loyalty. "We look at our business as inviting guests into our home, where we want them to feel comfortable and welcome," he said. "We're not selling Rolls Royces—we're not looking for a one-time purchase. We want them to want to come back again."

This mentality infuses every step of Carlson's business, from ensuring a good working environment for his employees to training them to greet customers with a smile. "People can feel the atmosphere and whether there's tension in a retail store when they walk in," he said. This painstaking work has resulted in customers who have been patronizing the Roasted Coffee Bean since its opening more than 20 years ago.

Compared with the Roasted Coffee Bean's art exhibitions and wireless connections, Fantasia Coffee & Tea, a Chinese pearl teashop at Cupertino Village, despite its popularity, provides nothing more than its basic service. Sam Wang, one of the shop's owners, said that their customer loyalty is built on the quality of Fantasia's products. The owners flew all over the world to find the best tea leaves and only use whole leaves in their drinks instead of tea bags. Their tapioca pearls are freshly made every morning before the store opens.

Although 80 percent of its customers are Asians, some Caucasians have become loyal customers because of the store's quality. "Their coffee is much better than Starbucks'," said customer Nick Mavrogenes of San Jose.

But as Fantasia ventured into the mainstream market at the upscale Santana Row, its owners realized they needed to change their business approach. They hired professional interior designers, who decorated the teashop with Italian lighting, black barstools and bamboo tables. A marketing company even chose music for them to create a welcoming space.

To cater to health-conscious cultural-American customers, this branch of Fantasia provides customized drinks and offers soymilk as a substitute in its drinks. These options are not available in its Cupertino headquarters. "We want to introduce the tea culture to the mainstream society, as an alternative to Starbucks," said Wang.

In a society like that of the United States, where competition characterizes the economic system, a choice such as which coffeehouse to visit or which CD to buy or where to purchase groceries can require a lot of thought because there are so many options. It also becomes a very personal choice based on which business fits best with each person's needs. So, visiting a place like Cupertino Village can seem disconcerting for a cultural-American when the signs and stores themselves are unfamiliar, when nothing fits with a potential customer's needs. It goes against the outreach many cultural-Americans normally expect from a business.

Ranch 99 Market is organized like a typical American grocery store, so its familiar freezer sections and extensive produce area are comforting to cultural-Americans. But going into a store featuring Japanese animation DVDs can prove overwhelming even to someone with a basic understanding of the genre, mostly because of signs and DVD titles exclusively in Japanese.

But this is the same feeling many immigrants experience when they first come to the U.S. The language barrier creates a huge chasm, and they natually look for something familiar. And following the capitalistic practice of targeting a particular market, businesses that display signs exclusively in a language other than English are doing so to attract those customers who might feel insecure about their English language skills.

To bridge Asian American and mainstream businesses in Cupertino, the Chamber of Commerce established a subcommittee in 1998. "Our mission is to promote, strengthen and enhance the inter-ethnic business environment in Cupertino," said Jennifer Johnson, co-chair of Asian American Business Council.

Jody Hansen, CEO of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, said she doesn't think the signs at Cupertino Village are going to change. "Right now we are at a transition period," Hansen said. "Although many shop owners there cannot speak English now, we are going to see more people in organizations who are bilingual. The cultural exchange we hope for will eventually come."