Bolsa Mini Mall Gets 1st U.S. Chain

Payless ShoeSource Inc. has become the first national chain to move into Little Saigon’s Bolsa Mini Mall, a well-rooted collection of mom-and-pop retailers.

Manager Bruce Parsons, whose family developed the center 22 years ago, said the 1,800-square-foot space was vacant for more than a year because he was determined to lure a national name to the mall, to “give it some credibility.”

“We have marketed to other national tenants, and nobody has responded favorably, just because they’re not sure of the market,” said Parsons, whose 38-tenant mall underwent a $1.5-million remodel in 1997. Other landlords in the community are also hoping to sign up stores with a broader appeal, he said.

“It’s got to appeal to a wider customer base, so that’s what we were trying to do,” he said. “The younger generation of Vietnamese people, they’re going to South Coast Plaza.”

Meanwhile, the Kansas-based Payless shoe-store chain was zeroing in on a target customer.

“Most of our stores in the Westminster and Santa Ana area do a respectable amount of Asian business,” said Robert Arredondo, a district manager for Payless. “And to help service the customer even more, we felt we would need to open” in Little Saigon.

Payless hired employees from the community who speak both English and Vietnamese. It will take some time for the shoe store--which opened Thursday--to sink its roots in Little Saigon. “A lot of the customers don’t know we’re there yet,” Arredondo said. “It’s going to be a building process.”

While some family-run retail centers shudder when a chain store struts into town, Bolsa Mini Mart’s tenants have welcomed the new business, said Hung Ho, the store’s manager. “They’ve bought a lot of shoes,” he said.