14-07-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
This Bay Area mall is thriving with the help of Asian cuisine
An aging Bay Area mall is successfully trading some of its struggling big box stores for popular Asian food businesses, taking a page out of a playbook that's been successful elsewhere in the region.
Serramonte Center in Daly City caused a stir earlier this year with the opening of Korean food market Jagalchi, which took over the 75,000-square-foot space that once housed a JCPenney. Now, more changes are ahead for the mall, including the new home of an award-winning dim sum restaurant; a popular ramen shop; and a major hot pot destination.
The new investment capitalizes on the changing retail environment and move to online shopping, as well as the Bay Area's large Asian American population — 27% of Bay Area residents identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander. Along with drawing in customers looking for a bite to eat, the new restaurants could also create a ripple effect for surrounding tenants in the mall who may be struggling to stay afloat.
'With the addition of a large tenant like Jagalchi, which drives a lot of traffic to the shopping center, other tenants are gonna be benefiting and are already benefiting,' said Patrick Conway, the managing director for Regency Centers, which operates the mall.
The first weekend it opened at Serramonte, it's estimated that Jagalchi brought in almost 100,000 people, Ashley Jung, the marketing manager at Jagalchi's corporate parent, Megamart, told the Chronicle. Along with a grocery store, the complex houses a restaurant called POGU, two bars, a butcher and a bakery.
Next up, the old Kids Foot Locker will reopen later this year as the newest location of Marufuku Ramen, a chain the Chronicle ranked as one of the top ramen spots in the Bay. It's been a staple of San Francisco's Japantown since 2017.
'We hear that a lot of people come from (Daly City) into our restaurant in San Francisco, so we figured that this would be a perfect location,' Herrador said.
In a space right next to Jagalchi, the James Beard-nominated dim sum restaurant Koi Palace will move its flagship location this December. This new space will be twice the size of their old one, which has been a Daly City staple for almost 30 years.
And this month, it was also announced that China's largest hotpot chain will be coming to Serramonte. Haidilao, which has gone viral on Tik Tok, is known for its tableside entertainment through the form of an in-house 'boyband' that dances for customers.
A lot has changed for Serramonte Center since it first opened in 1968 to serve the recently developed residential community of Serramonte. Gone are Longs Drugs, Kinney Shoes, and the department store Mervyn's — though Macy's, an original anchor tenant, remains.
Previous efforts to bring back shoppers have mostly included design changes, like replacing the fountain with a koi pond in 2003 and expanding rest areas for customers. Regency Centers, which bought the property in 2017, is currently in the midst of a $37 million dollar renovation of the Serramonte Center, according to public filings.
Adding Asian food businesses seemed like a natural next step for Serramonte, as other malls across the Bay Area have gone through a similar evolution. Santana Row in San Jose has emerged as a dining destination, and in particular, Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco has been thriving. It recently welcomed Le Soleil, a contemporary Vietnamese restaurant, and other businesses including Marugame Udon, Supreme Dumplings and Kura Revolving Sushi Bar have popped up in the past year.
Asian food businesses are likely to find a strong foothold with an Asian American clientele, but they can also have a broad appeal, said Jung of Jagalchi. 'As a Korean grocery store, I guess we naturally attract a strong Korean and Asian customer base,' she told the Chronicle. 'But we're also seeing people of all backgrounds who are curious about Korean flavors and looking for new experiences.'
