Bay Street! With food, entertainment, and endless amounts of shopping, it is a hot spot for Tech students. Since opening in 2002, Bay Street has shifted to share the Bay Area’s cultural diversity. Bay Street’s newest addition, Tokyo Central, had its grand opening on January 29. Tokyo Central is an up and coming Japanese grocery store chain that, by focusing on a unique range of snacks and hot food, is expected to be a hit with local teens.
As frequent visitors of Bay Street, when we heard about the grand opening of Tokyo Central we had to check it out the day it opened. Right as we arrived at the entrance, as expected the doors were swarmed by hundreds of people in a condensed line stretched across the courtyard connecting to Barnes and Nobles. In order to control the hordes of hangry shoppers, staff allowed 10-15 guests in every 10 minutes, resulting in us waiting around 50 minutes in line to enter. After the wait it was finally our turn, as soon as we stepped into the store scents of fried foods and vegetables graced our senses, which complemented the glowing signs and colorful posters raining down from the ceiling. In front of us stood booming towers of foreign and recognizable produce, from juicy red dragon fruits, to bunches of napa cabbage, Tokyo Central
To the left of the produce stood aisles of various household products, ranged from cooking utensils and pans to beauty and self care products. TKTK A variety of those products were familiar to other Asian importation stores such as Koreana Plaza, Ranch 99, and Daiso. We were drawn to the beauty section as they had popular brands. The beauty aisle featured viral brands like TKTK Though one creative characteristic that sets the store apart from its competitors is its unique brand collabs with popular cartoon characters like Pompompurin, Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro), and Doraemon. A meat market is located in the back of the store which offers prime cuts of beef for grilling, sushi grade fish, and different types of shellfish like sea urchins, scallops, and clams. To the right of the meat market, pallets of drinks were stacked high. From — to Calpis ( a Japanese probiotic drink), Tokyo Central had a wide range of juices, sodas, and energy drinks. We tried a popular brand called “Hawaiian Sun”, which offered a variety of flavors like: Passion Orange, Luau Punch, and Strawberry Guava Nectar. Tokyo Central Cool