Bazaar Canton

Bazaar Canton was an Asian food and gift store in Livermore, California (USA) from 1971 to 1988. Bazaar Canton is an interesting footnote in Livermore history because as the first Asian food and retail store in the Livermore-Amador Valley, Bazaar Canton was the very first introduction to Asian culture for many residents in the Tri-Valley area.

When Bazaar Canton opened on April 1, 1971, Livermore had very few Asian residents and only two small Chinese American restaurants, the Yin Yin and Maly's. Initially, its customers were almost exclusively Caucasian. Originally located in a retail building known as The Mall at the east end of Second Street, Bazaar Canton quadrupled in size when it moved to its final location at what was then known as the JC Penney's shopping center on Second Street and North L Street. At that time, the JC Penney's shopping center was the primary shopping center in Livermore.

The store began as a spinoff of Chinese cooking lessons. In the late 1960's, the Livermore Area Recreation and Park District asked local resident and accomplished artist Amy Gee, a native of Shanghai, China, if she would teach Chinese cooking through the District. She agreed and the lessons became extremely popular, prompting Ms. Gee to give Chinese cooking lessons on her own at her home. The steady growth of this endeavor led her and her husband, Stanley Gee, a Hong Kong native and a mechanical design draftsman since 1956 at what is now called the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to open Bazaar Canton and sell the Chinese canned and packaged dried foods used during the cooking lessons to her growing population of students. Canton Bazaar was originally considered for the name of the business but rejected because a San Francisco Chinatown store catering to tourists already had the name. An owner of the Way Up Gallery, a neighboring art gallery, suggested reversing the name, and the new business had its name. The initial success of this small business led to the sale of Chinese cookware, dishes, and utensils at the store. The store doubled in size, and then doubled again as Bazaar Canton moved to increasingly larger retail spaces in The Mall and began to feature a wide variety of Asian cookware and gift items.

Bazaar Canton's final move to the JC Penney's shopping center in 1973 quadrupled the size of the store, dramatically increasing its selection of Asian gift items of all kinds, shapes, and varieties to the point where the store became more known to local shoppers as a gift store. The store also began selling refrigerated Asian food items. Due to popular demand, the store in later years even began selling fresh Chinese deem sum dumplings and pastries from Oakland Chinatown on Saturday mornings. By 1973, Bazaar Canton became one of the larger retail establishments in Livermore. Bazaar Canton later opened a large branch gift store to service the growing suburban population in San Ramon, California. As the population of Livermore grew, and with it the city's Asian population, Bazaar Canton also served the new refugee Vietnamese American families in the town as a clearinghouse for community charitable donations and making available merchandise for those immigrant families.

After a very successful 17 years in business, Ms. Gee had become a well-known and popular business owner in Livermore. In 1988, Mr. and Ms. Gee, Livermore residents since 1964, decided to retire after raising five children and close the store, to the disappointment of Ms. Gee's many customers. Although the population of Livermore, and its Asian population, has significantly increased since 1988, Bazaar Canton will be remembered by many long-time Livermore residents as their first introduction to Asian culture.

External links

* [http://www.livermorehistory.com Livermore Heritage Guild]
* [http://www.larpd.dst.ca.us/ Livermore Area Recreation and Park District]
* [http://www.llnl.gov/ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]