Addictedtotext, have you shopped at Uwajimaya? They have the broadest selection of Chinese grocery's in the state. The fact that it's a Japanese-name doesn't make it any more of a Japanese supermarket than Mitsuwa or others of that ilk.
Additionally, if you think that the weekend festival festivals are all Japanese, you just haven't been paying attention.
Uwajimaya started as a Japanese store and is certainly pan-Asian now, but it shouldn't be described as being a Chinese store. They would be a very welcome addition to that neighborhood and their track record with doing the mixed use and mixed income housing in Seattle is very good.
OK, finally read the post all the way through. I've gotta agree the Uwa brings a hell of a lot more Chinese to the table than an a vacant block or some Pearl businesses creeping in.
I know downtown is SCARY AND CONFUSING to Eastsiders like you smirk, but Couch is in NW and Oak is in SW. Anyone who's looked at a map and especially someone who's doing a story about business development in the area shouldn't make that mistake.
While it's true that Uwajimaya would put some Chinese groceries in Chinatown, it would do far more to put Japanese food back in Japantown. Before we rounded them up and sent them to internment camps, it was primarily Japanese who populated Old Town. The Chinese businesses were south of Burnside.
You know that it's possible to fact-check and edit posts before they're posted, right? I'm starting to think that someone just forgot to explain how this all works when you started the "journalism" thing...
Additionally, if you think that the weekend festival festivals are all Japanese, you just haven't been paying attention.
Lazy reporting.
The real reason they can't develop the Uwaj is because they can't find the proposed locations on maps.
But I really hope that Uwaj gets built. It did a lot for the King Street area in Seattle.