Good Taste offers weekly tips on eating well in the Bay Area. If you’re as much of a fan of big Asian grocery stores as we are, there’s a lot to look forward to around here right now. San Francisco and the Bay Area have always been rich with stores like these, of course, from Duc Loi to H Mart, and we’re happy to see more on the horizon (though please support your local family-run spot). Here’s what to look for later this year and into 2025.
Daly City: Jagalchi
Billed as a culinary destination that’s much more than a grocery store, Korea’s Jagalchi will open a location in Daly City’s Serramonte Center that will also include a gluten-free bakery called Basquia and a restaurant called Pogu run by Tony Yoo, Korea’s first Michelin-starred chef and alum of Michael Mina’s now-defunct Aqua restaurant in San Francisco. Serramonte Center operator Regency Centers promised in a May blog post that it “will be unveiled by the end of 2024.” Prepare now for the lines.
Emeryville: Tokyo Central
SFGATE figured out that Japan’s Tokyo Central is the grocery store that’s moving into the big waiting space inside the Bay Street Emeryville mall. Formerly called Marukai, Tokyo Central also has an existing location in Cupertino, if you want to go see what it’s like before the East Bay opening next year. A handroll sushi bar is being built in one Southern California location and I wonder if that could be something that happens here as well.
San Jose: T&T Supermarket
A massive Pan-Asian grocery chain with 33 locations in Canada called T&T Supermarket will debut next year in a former South Bay Walmart (1600 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose). Plans include a bakery, street food, dim sum and other hot prepared items, and live seafood.
In an interview with SiliconValley.com, T&T CEO Tina Lee said that this store, its first in the state, is dedicated to her aunt and spending summers with her in Saratoga. Awww!
“We want to be the place where people want to go, not just need to go,” Lee said.
Dublin: Battle of the Korean Marts
Korean grocery chain H Mart has locations in San Francisco and San Jose, and has been planning to open an East Bay outpost at the Dublin Retail Center (7886 Dublin Blvd., Dublin) since 2021. It’s still expected to debut some time this year, but it will now have some competition from another Korean chain. According to SFGATE, Seoul’s Mega Mart will open a third store in the region in Dublin’s Fallon Gateway Shopping Center (2480 Dublin Blvd.). Sounds like a good day of shopping!
Daly City: Seafood City (Maybe?)
Though Seafood City, a national Filipino grocery chain with seven Bay Area locations, says that a new store at 79 St. Francis Blvd. in Daly City is “soon to open,” the city manager told KRON4 that the address is incorrect. There’s already an existing location in nearby South San Francisco, but keep your eyes open in case something else opens… somewhere.
Tamara just launched a new free newsletter for California Eating.
