Mega Mart’s new East Palo Alto store may seem out of place demographically, but with 40,000 Asians nearby, no local Asian grocers, and high traffic, it’s a bold and strategic market move.
A few months ago Korean grocery chain Mega Mart announced their September 2025 opening of a new location in East Palo Alto. While many East Palo Alto residents were excited about the news and welcomed a new tenant in the previously shuttered Target at Ravenswood shopping center, other residents questioned why there was an Asian grocery store opening in a city with only 5.8% asian alone (2020 Census).
Market Strategy
Mega Mart's East Palo Alto location appears to be a strategic choice because they will be the only Asian grocery store in a 5 mile radius with 50,000 asians; they will capitalize on significantly lower rents in East Palo Alto; and they will capture some customers who drive on the Dumbarton Bridge.
Reason 1: 40,000 Asians Within 5 Miles
I think Mega Mart opening in East Palo Alto is a market strategy because Mega Mart will be centrally located in an area with around 50,000 asians within a 5 mile radius.
To illustrate this, I created a Google My Maps to visualize the number of asians in each city within a 5 mile radius of 1775 E Bayshore Rd, East Palo Alto, CA.
| City | % Asians | Population | % Within 5 Miles | Total Asians |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Palo Alto | 36.1% | 29,296 | 100% | 1,700 |
| Palo Alto | 36.1% | 67,658 | 90% | 21,982 |
| Menlo Park | 18.28% | 33,040 | 100% | 6,040 |
| Atherton | 18.6% | 7,022 | 100% | 1,306 |
| North Fair Oaks | 5.9% | 13,718 | 100% | 809 |
| Redwood City | 18.1% | 82,982 | 10% | 1,501 |
| Mountain View | 34.5% | 87,316 | 15% | 4,519 |
| Los Altos | 37.5% | 30,864 | 10% | 1,157 |
| Total | 39,014 |
As shown in the table above, I calculate around 40,000 asians who live within a 5 mile radius. Because this figure does not include mixed race, I would round up to around 40,000 asians. Moreover, many non-asians like to visit Mega Mart: when I visited Jagalchi (owned by Mega Mart) in Daly City, around 10 - 20% of the patrons were non-asian.
Many of the downtowns in these cities have had a trend of more asian restaurants and stores. For instance, 5 new asian businesses have opened in downtown Palo Alto in the past year.
Reason 2: No Asian Grocery Stores Within 5 Miles
There are zero asian grocery stores within this 5 mile radius. The closest asian grocery store is 99 Ranch on 1350 Grant Rd, Mountain View, CA, which is 6.5 miles away as the crow flies (Fig 3). For many, driving to East Palo Alto via US-101 is faster than taking El Camino Real to Mountain View.
Other asian grocery stores are located in Cupertino, and those will take longer to get to by car than the future Mega Mart.
Reason 3: Rent is Cheaper in East Palo Alto
Commercial rent in East Palo Alto tends to be significantly lower than in neighboring cities, which benefits Mega Mart financially. Mega Mart is taking a large space: a 50,000 square foot space used by a "small-format" Target store (source). By comparison, an average Whole Foods Market store is about 40,000 square feet (source).
Reason 4: Dumbarton Bridge Traffic
In addition to the 50,000 Asians within a 5 mile radius from East Palo Alto, there are also 80,000 vehicle trips on the Dumbarton Bridge every day. East Palo Alto is uniquely positioned to be "on the way" for I estimate at least one-third of these trips (traffic from University and Embarcadero, but not traffic from Willow and 84 Expressway). If we assume 80,000 total daily vehicle trips across the Dumbarton Bridge, divide that by 2 for round trips, and assume one-third pass near East Palo Alto, that’s about 13,333 vehicles daily.
Conclusion
East Palo Alto residents have repeatedly asked for more restaurants and stores. While at first glance Mega Mart is not an obvious match for the local demographics in East Palo Alto, it is going to fill a market demand within 5 miles. If Mega Mart brings food traffic like its Jagalchi offshoot did in Serramonte Center in Daly City, this could attract new restaurants and stores to open in East Palo Alto, aligning with residents' interests.
The previous space used as an Office Depot at 1761 E Bayshore Rd, East Palo Alto, has been vacant for several years; few developers would be able to justify a construction loan to build new retail space until existing vacant space has been filled. I will be very eager to see if Mega Mart's opening attracts a new tenant to this space in the next year.
