AN CHÂU PLAZA

Staff Writer: Linh C. Nguyen

After 31 years of the first Vietnamese immigrant arriving in Raleigh City, North Carolina, a small plaza with a few services and merchants servicing the Vietnamese American Community is being developed. An Châu Plaza is the name of this little cozy shopping mall. The plan is created and developed by a few retired Vietnamese engineers with the support of the local Vietnamese American Community.

Beside the economic character of the plaza the planning group also hopes that the plaza will offer a place for community meeting, Vietnamese Language School, and more.

Based on census data there are ~16,000 Vietnamese American residing in North Carolina. Behind Charlotte, Raleigh held the second largest Vietnamese American population (~4,500 people). The majority of the local Vietnamese people are working professionals and employed by major companies such as IBM, MCI, Cisco, and GlaxoSmithKline. Others are doctors, dentists, realtors, loan officers, and small business owners.

An Châu Plaza major tenants will be An Châu Oriental Market and the Vietnamese Small Business Association.

An Châu Oriental Market has been in business over 5 years and has outgrown its current location at Star Mount Shopping Center. It has been serving the Raleigh, Cary, Durham and also many Eastern cities, and the demand for more ethnic products and vegetables are growing higher every day. Vietnamese Small Business Association provides many much needed services to the Vietnamese small businesses or the self-employed. VNSBA services include commercial and residential real estate investment, commercial and residential mortgage planning, starting a business in NC, bookkeeping, year end tax preparation and planning, and much more. The association was formed in 2005 to meet the request of local business owners. The uniqueness of VNSBA is that all of the services are being provided either directly by degreed bilingual Vietnamese professionals or bilingual Vietnamese liaisons who worked with licensed American professionals. The goal of this association is to help educate and integrate these small businesses so that they can create, build, and grow their businesses successfully and compliantly.

Another major tenant is the non-profit Boat People SOS agency. BPSOS provides many free services to assist Vietnamese refugees and immigrants in their search for a new life in America. An Chau Plaza will also have a food court with many ethnic Vietnamese Food Vendors, a Vietnamese Video Store, a Vietnamese Barber Shop, and many Kiosks for small Vietnamese merchants and service providers such as clothes, gifts, travel agent, cellular services, etc.

The interior and exterior of the plaza will carry a bit of the Vietnamese Architect and culture. An Châu Plaza will be the first step in building Saigon Capital in Raleigh, North Carolina which is long overdue. Not only An Châu Plaza will bring the diversity to the City of Raleigh economy, but it will no doubt support this city economic growth in the long run because it is here to stay, and it is an easy goal to reach since it is executed with a lot of pride and a lot of motivation.