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Photograph by Robert Scheer

Stylist Raymond Tat works on Lynn Nguy's hair at Cupertino Village's Calihair.

Local shopping center finds its niche

By Pam Marino

Two years ago Cupertino Village was just another aging shopping center with an uncertain future.

Despite its location at the major intersection of Home-stead and Wolfe roads right on the border of Cupertino and Sunnyvale, anchor stores rotated out of the center's largest retail space, and small businesses were struggling to stay afloat as more and more customers shopped elsewhere.

But business is beginning to look up at the center. The 99 Ranch Market is busy, and most of the businesses are open in the once sparsely populated center.

Currently near the end of a $6 million remodeling job, the owners are projecting a possible $30 million in business each year once the center is fully operational.

Cupertino Village has been reborn--not as a traditional American shopping center, but as a new type of "niche" shopping center catering to Silicon Valley's growing Asian population.

"We saw a demand here," said Susanna Pau, one of the owners of Sand Hill Property Company, which owns the center. She and her husband, Peter, were drawn to Cupertino Village because of its proximity to Highway 280, allowing easy access for shoppers coming from as far away as San Mateo.

The husband-and-wife team came to the United States 30 years ago and were educated at Stanford and UC-Berkeley. Over the years they have redeveloped other shopping centers in the Bay Area. Every one of those included chains like Target and Home Depot. That is, until Cupertino Village.

Asian-focused shopping centers are nothing new. But there is a new breed of Asian centers developing in North America. Here in Silicon Valley, there are three centers, including Cupertino Village, that are anchored by a 99 Ranch Market, the largest chain of Asian supermarkets in the United States. The other two centers are located in Milpitas and San Jose.

The difference in these new centers is in the people they cater to, Pau said.

"This is second generation," Pau said referring to second-generation Asian Americans. "The first-generation [consumers] shop in Chinatown in San Francisco."

But second- and third-generation Asian Americans want something different, Pau said.

"They are highly educated and Westernized," she said, adding that they were brought up "the Asian way" but desire a more Western lifestyle.

Shopping centers such as Cupertino Village, Pau said, offer the best of both worlds: Asian products as well as Western products, but in a Western-type shopping atmosphere.

But it is not just an Asian clientele that Cupertino Village is after, Pau said. Owners are eager to attract the more than 7,000 employees of neighboring Hewlett-Packard and Tandem Corp. to the center for weekday lunches at the center's more than 10 restaurants.

The center has its first Chinese New Year celebration planned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Feb. 14.

"It's one way of opening up that center to the broader community," said John Statton, a councilmember and executive director of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce.

According to Pau, space at the center is 95 percent leased. Tenant improvements take time, however, so all stores will not be fully occupied until June.

But like every birthing process, the transformation of Cupertino Village has not been without its labor pains.

When Sand Hill took over the center two years ago, several tenants chose to leave because rents increased and the center was scheduled for an intensive renovation.

Linda Cayot, former owner of Café Gourmet, tried to ride out the renovations, but her business failed in July of 1997, she said, because her customer base dropped off. Many of her customers believed the center was closed, she said, despite signs along the roadway stating otherwise. She also faulted Pau's company for not advertising in English-language newspapers, to let customers know that the center was still open.

Pau said that the company tried to help some of the existing businesses by offering a 10 percent discount on new rents to those who stayed.

In an effort to further diversify the merchant base, Pau said the company is trying to attract a nationally recognized chain store to the empty space on the corner of Homestead and Wolfe. She said company representatives say they are concerned that the Asian focus of the retail center will not draw a racially-mixed customer base.

Pau said the center offers a diverse range of products and services. "We want to see this center become a success for the entire community," she added.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 11, 1998.
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