`New concept' 99 Ranch draws eager crowd to San Jose mall
Grocery store will offer full plate of customer services
The Phams may not have realized it when they made their shopping plans Tuesday morning, but they are the target customers for the South Bay's newest retail experience.
Wife An wanted to check out 99 Ranch Market's first store located inside a megamall, Westfield Oakridge in South San Jose. The warm weather had her husband, Binh, thinking about outdoor cooking and grills.
“My wife came for the groceries and I found they have the Daiso store here,” he said.
So while she was braving the crowds inside the 99 Ranch, he headed into the mall — there's a huge entrance near the eight grocery checkout stands — to do his shopping. He came back to the store, barbecue grates under one arm, to meet back up with her and head home to Milpitas.
They were among hundreds of shoppers who descended on the Blossom Hill Road mall Tuesday for the opening of 99 Ranch Market's newest store — in a setting that company officials believe will have broader appeal than a specialty mall. It's the 18th in the Bay Area and the 56th overall for the nation's largest Asian grocery chain, founded in 1984 in Orange County.
Like Macy's and Target and the Century Theatres, this Oakridge store will serve as an anchor at the massive center. Beyond that, this “new concept” store is being closely watched as an innovative retail experiment as U.S. malls look to fill vacant storefronts.
“This could be a gamechanger,” said Teddy Chow, NorCal vice president for 99 Ranch. “It's more of a food destination than a grocery outlet.”
Several quick-service counters serve dim sum, steamed pork ribs, sauteed head-on prawns, noodles, the chain's popular Taiwanese burritos and more. The fish and seafood counters will steam or stir-fry customers' purchases for free. Soon a sashimi counter — a first for 99 Ranch — will open at this store.
Shoppers can make their hot deli and bakery purchases either inside the store or from service windows inside Oakridge. Curbside pickup of groceries is also offered from the store's location on the northwest, or Thornwood side, of the mall.
Many in the crowd were longtime fans thrilled to have a 99 Ranch location closer to their homes.
“This is biking distance,” said Jim Banks, who has been eagerly watching the “coming soon” signs here during