nwasianweekly.com
Sept. 30, 2006

Christine and Omar Lee developed the Great Wall
Shopping Mall in Kent.

By Yoon S. Park
For the Northwest Asian Weekly

Selling everything from bubble tea to pho, jade necklaces to anime, the Great Wall Shopping Mall in Kent caters to the needs of the diverse local Asian community. Founded in 1997 by California transplants Omar and Christine Lee, the mall is the first indoor Asian-centered development in the Pacific Northwest.

Christine, who is secretary and treasurer of Great Wall Development Inc., said they take great care in their tenant selection to best serve the Asian community.

At this central location in the heart of Kent, one can find all sorts of Asian restaurants, including Imperial Garden Seafood Restaurant (which is owned by the Lees), Pho To Chau, Bangkok Café and Eddokko Japanese Restaurant. In addition, the mall is also home to a bubble tea café, a bookstore, clothing and handbag stores, and herbal and gift shops. A major tenant is 99 Ranch, a popular supermarket specializing in Asian food and goods.

Not only for adults, the mall is also a fun destination for young ones. On any given Saturday afternoon, children can be seen stepping to the beats of the arcade game Dance Dance Revolution or playing any of the numerous other electronic games located in the common walkway of the Great Wall Mall.

The Lees say they strive to provide a venue in which the Asian community can “congregate.” By offering “authentic Asian shopping and eating experiences,” they say the mall fosters an atmosphere that “bridges” the various ethnicities within the Asian community.

In order to foster and promote diversity, the mall organizes six cultural festivals throughout the year. These events usually take up an entire day, usually on a Saturday, and feature cultural performances like singing and dancing and the foods and customs of a particular community. A Filipino festival was held recently, and a Vietnamese festival will take place this weekend. A Lunar New Year festival will take place early next year.

Before opening the Great Wall Mall, Christine and Omar traveled a great deal between California and Washington due to their many friends in this state. They were already developing other types of properties in other states, but their friends kept asking them to create a mall that caters to the needs of the Asian community in the Puget Sound area.

When the self-financed Great Wall Shopping Mall opened, the Lees were living in the San Francisco Bay area and commuting to Washington state. They soon realized that to run the company successfully, relocation to Seattle was necessary. The couple, along with their three children, made the move in 2000.

Since then, they have weathered the storms that seemed to erupt one after another, including the dot-com bust, the post-Sept. 11 economic plunge and the SARS scare. The mall continues to deliver profits, according to Omar.

The Lees are among the nominees for the 2006 Asian American Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, to be announced Oct. 14 at a dinner celebration at the Asian Resource Center in Seattle. The event is organized by the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation.

Both Lees have educational backgrounds in business, and, as such, neither “(loses) sight of the importance of marketing, finance and networking for all our business … endeavors,” Omar says.

As a company and as a private entity, the couple has donated their time and talents to the many causes they care about, including the Chinese Information and Service Center, Kin On nursing home, the Seattle Art Museum and the Asia Pacific Cultural Center in Tacoma. Christine recently hosted a fund-raiser for Children’s Hospital in her home. In addition, the mall also sponsors programs for seniors.

When asked if they were planning to develop other Asian malls in the area, Christine said that she and her husband are constantly looking for opportunities, but that they have no firm plans at the moment to open a new shopping center.

For more information, visit www.greatwallmall.com

Yoon S. Park can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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