Retail Openings and Closures

Not sure how reliable my source is but should be Cantonese. Don't know much else.

A Lunasia would be great. I went there in Cerritos for the first time over the weekend and was impressed by value compared to J. Zhou. However, my in-laws from HK said they still preferred the taste at J Zhou despite price. (maybe affected by us paying for them, lol)
 
It wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

I guess the ham and cheese set me up. I liked grilled sandwiches and while yes, I can make these at home... it taste better when SOMEONE ELSE makes it. :)

I think it's mostly marketing. Why else is the place in pastels, neons, and with a bunch of polaroids of teenagers? It's a scene for younger people. I think that logistically, the sandwich is a tough one to eat as well. Though to be fair, if you are going to make the same sandwich properly at home, you'd need to pick up some thiccly cut Japanese milk bread and gallons of Kewpie.
 
A Lunasia would be great. I went there in Cerritos for the first time over the weekend and was impressed by value compared to J. Zhou. However, my in-laws from HK said they still preferred the taste at J Zhou despite price. (maybe affected by us paying for them, lol)
I also thought the Cerritos location wasn't that great. China Garden off Jeffrey still does the job for me. Their dinner is good too - lobster, peking duck, etc for decent pricing.
 
I also thought the Cerritos location wasn't that great. China Garden off Jeffrey still does the job for me. Their dinner is good too - lobster, peking duck, etc for decent pricing.
I think China Garden is decent, but my wife thinks their dim sum is too salty. Since it's a lot better than Tim Ho Wan, it would be the one I'll go to whenever I crave dim sum.
 
Just went to Capital for the first time in a year or so? Didn't know they switched to a paper system instead of the carts.

So expensive, $8.28 per order. Is that the going rate? Worse than gas! :)
 
Just went to Capital for the first time in a year or so? Didn't know they switched to a paper system instead of the carts.

So expensive, $8.28 per order. Is that the going rate? Worse than gas! :)
I think China Garden is a couple of dollars cheaper per order. Har Gow and Siu Mai are $6.28. Steam BBQ pork bun is $5.28. Rice noodle rolls with shrimp is $7.28. Most fall into one of these 3 categories. There are some specialties that are $8.28 and $9.28.
 
We ate like kings at Lunasia Cerritos for like $25 pp. Tons of leftovers.

For dinner we had a cowboy ribeye at The Ranch--now THAT is an awful deal.
 
I think China Garden is a couple of dollars cheaper per order. Har Gow and Siu Mai are $6.28. Steam BBQ pork bun is $5.28. Rice noodle rolls with shrimp is $7.28. Most fall into one of these 3 categories. There are some specialties that are $8.28 and $9.28.
Hah... all those 28s.

Surprised Capital wasn't just charging $8.88.
 
New Hmart in Northpark is nice. Really good sales going on right now for their grand opening (thru 1/31). Produce, meat, and seafood are all super fresh. I got the live lobster and it was really good.

Parking is bad right now but it should settle down once the excitement dies down. Good work by Irvine PD and Hmart employees regulating traffic. The food court is a bit smaller than the other new location off Alton.

I feel bad for Zion. They either need to step it up or it'll become a place where Stonegate, Woodbury, Cypress Village, Eastwood, and Great Park residents go for a quick grocery run. Would expect people needing a full pantry/fridge restock to go to HMart.

My feeling is the HMart in Irvine caters to more diverse and Kyopo demographics, while first gen immigrant ajumma's might prefer Zion and Hannam. I shop at Hannam/Super 1 Market in Buena Park and La Palma, and the customers are mostly older Koreans. H Mart tend to have better looking fruits and vegetables.


We ate like kings at Lunasia Cerritos for like $25 pp. Tons of leftovers.

For dinner we had a cowboy ribeye at The Ranch--now THAT is an awful deal.

I live about 15 mins from Lunasia. Their dim sum is acceptable, but choices are few in Cerritos since Tin Tin and Royal Garden closed.

I think the previous owners of Cho Dang Tofu franchise in Cerritos sold to new owners, and they might be running the Cho Dang Tofu at H Mart Irvine (Alton) food court. Not certain.


Anyone have a timeline update on when Bass Pro is supposed to open?

Drove by few weeks ago and saw no activity. Just as Big 5 is more or less a shoe store, Dick's and Bass Pro Shops here are more or less clothing stores. Look at how Walmart shrunk their fishing & hunting section here over the years. With stock market and housing market down plus layoffs, I think 2023 is going to be a tough year.
 
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I might just stick with the Southern relatively new H-Mart.
The one at Northpark , while also nice, has small parking spaces.

People shopping at supermarket already desn't have the best parking etiquette, I rather not deal with it on top of smaller spots.
 
I might just stick with the Southern relatively new H-Mart.
The one at Northpark , while also nice, has small parking spaces.

People shopping at supermarket already desn't have the best parking etiquette, I rather not deal with it on top of smaller spots.
We were there this weekend. My wife likes it. It has a lot of Chinese stuff, so she will go to 99 Ranch (Culver) less often unless I want to eat roast pork. We ate at Chai Lan, and I found a parking space near Subway. But my wife plans to park near Starbucks, where there are a lot of free parking space and walk over there. She hates packed parking, so she would rather park farther away and walk. A little exercise won't hurt, she said. 😂
 
We were there this weekend. My wife likes it. It has a lot of Chinese stuff, so she will go to 99 Ranch (Culver) less often unless I want to eat roast pork. We ate at Chai Lan, and I found a parking space near Subway. But my wife plans to park near Starbucks, where there are a lot of free parking space and walk over there. She hates packed parking, so she would rather park farther away and walk. A little exercise won't hurt, she said. 😂

I've gotten accustom to an empty parking lot for over two years. It's crazy how many more customers Hmart attracts vs the old Albertson.
 
The Westpark Hmart has calmed down quite a bit. Parking is still more crowded than when it was an Albertson's but is nothing like during the grand opening.

I expect the Northpark location to follow the same pattern. Just went to Zion in Northwood a few weeks ago, still busy... amazing that Irvine can support 5 Korean markets.
 
Shake Shack coming to Irvine Spectrum

 
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