With Young Vietnamese Spending Elsewhere, Local Businesses Eye Brands, Bands
A lot of folks in Orange County’s Vietnamese community have been mulling Little Saigon’s declining business activity. One focus: what to do about the younger generation of Vietnamese that increasingly is spending money elsewhere.
Begun by refugees following the end of the Vietnam War in the 1970s, Little Saigon long was an insular community,many signs are in Vietnamese only,but still has been able to prosper.
Little Saigon now is home to more than 200,000 Vietnamese immigrants and their offspring,the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside Vietnam. But in recent years, the area’s economy has stagnated, and community leaders watch as many of its young people spend money at nearby shopping centers such as Westminster Mall instead of shops in Little Saigon.
“It’s a generational thing,” said Steve Soto, Westminster’s new economic development manager.
“Little Saigon is going through a lot of growing pains,” said Garden Grove City Councilman Van Tran. “It’s inevitable that the generation born here, raised here, educated here and more heavily assimilated here also will move up the economic ladder more and branch out.”
Some OC Vietnamese believe the area has lost appeal in the eyes of its younger generation and many are relocating to other parts of Southern California as a result.
“People who grew up around Little Saigon and went to local universities in Orange County or in Long Beach generally just want to get out,” said Quang Pham, chief executive of MyDrugRep Inc., a Newport Beach pharmaceutical information provider. “A lot of people are going to South OC to get newer homes with better prices and surrounding infrastructure.”
Pham believes the trend of young Vietnamese shopping, dining and living outside Little Saigon is inevitable.
“Unless you put a South Coast Plaza in Little Saigon, young Vietnamese are not going to flock there,” he said.
On the other hand, said Tran, even when people move away they generally come back regularly and spend money in the area.
“No one is ever completely divorced from Little Saigon,” he said.
Pham agreed.
“I don’t think people are leaving as fast as everyone says,” he said. “Even the people who do leave return regularly to eat there, see their parents and shop there on weekends.”
Tran does not believe a substantial emigration from the area will happen for at least another five to 10 years.
“I don’t see a significant economic slump in the near future,” he said. “There still is enough immigration from Vietnam and from other parts of the U.S. to sustain the area economically. Besides, young people aren’t the economic cash cow for business owners,the real big spenders in Little Saigon are ages 40 to 60.”
Little Saigon’s strip malls are home to more than 2,000 businesses, including shops and restaurants. Westminster Councilman Tony Lam believes adding more Americanized stores and restaurants would help encourage young Vietnamese to spend their money there.
“We need more mainstream fast-food outlets and stores that sell high-end clothing,” Lam said. “That’s what the young people in Little Saigon want,they eat fast food and they buy Armani.”
Lan Nguyen, a lawyer who heads Westminster-based legal firm Lan Quoc Nguyen and Associates, wants the area’s restaurant and shop owners to alter their general outward demeanor.
“People need to be friendlier and better able to deal with people who don’t speak Vietnamese,” he said. “A lot of young Vietnamese now only speak English. To attract Vietnamese youth, they should be doing the same things they would do to attract non-Vietnamese customers.”
Crystal Wadsworth, executive director of the Westminster Chamber of Commerce, also believes retailers should cater more to the mainstream. The chamber last week headed up a safe-food-handling seminar for Little Saigon restaurant owners and managers in cooperation with the Orange County Health Care Agency.
Frank Jao, chief executive of Westminster-based Bridgecreek Realty Investment Corp., said he already is spurring his tenants,who total about half of all Little Saigon businesses,to look at contemporary American culture and update their businesses accordingly.
“We encourage all our tenants to pay attention to this,” said Jao, who is known in Little Saigon as chow fou,Chinese for “godfather.”
“Our level and quality of retail service needs to be improved and modernized,” he said.
Westminster’s Soto said he is talking with businesses about how to tap into the youth market.
“We want to keep the kids shopping in Little Saigon,” he said. “We’re planning to bring in Vietnamese musicians since a lot of the youngsters still avidly follow Vietnamese pop music.” n
