Alice Uchi slowly pushed a near-empty shopping cart down the near-empty aisles flanked by near-empty shelves in what had been the first and largest modern Japanese supermarket in Little Tokyo.
"I feel lost. Sad," the retired Los Angeles registered nurse said glumly.
Uchi was catching the tail end of Mitsuwa Marketplace's 50% fire sale before it prepares Sunday to shut its doors, marking an emotional transition for many in Little Tokyo. Last year, a group of six ethnic Korean investors purchased the property, part of the Little Tokyo Shopping Center at 3rd and Alameda streets, for $35 million. The group plans to recast the market with more Korean, Chinese and American products in addition to Japanese ones.
The change reflects the rapidly diversifying demographics in Little Tokyo -- most prominently, the growing Korean influx into the historic heart of Southern California's Japanese American community. Ethnic Koreans have moved into the neighborhood as shopkeepers, running frozen yogurt stores, pharmacies and sushi restaurants, and as residents in both the new condos and historic senior housing complexes such as Little Tokyo Towers. As a mark of the shift, Korean-language newspaper stands are now scattered throughout the neighborhood.
Many see the change as inevitable -- but not without pangs of nostalgia and regret.
"There is some regret in seeing Japanese businesses change and others come in, because it is Little Tokyo," said Chris Aihara, who heads the Little Tokyo Community Council. "But the change is something we have to embrace, use to build a strong community and move forward."
Young S. Cho, a 48-year-old Los Angeles garment manufacturer and one of the market's new co-owners, said his group would respect the area's historic ethnic traditions and retain, even enhance, the center's Japanese design elements. But he said the neighborhood's growing diversity offered an opportunity for a supermarket with a broader focus.
"This is America," said Cho, a Seoul native who immigrated to the United States at age 10. "Now everyone lives in Little Tokyo -- Koreans, Americans, Japanese, Chinese -- and they don't have a lot of places to go shopping."
For much of its 24 years, the supermarket stood as a symbol of Little Tokyo's boom times, when the Japanese were flush with cash and invested millions in the neighborhood. One of their first joint projects was the three-floor, 300,000-square-foot shopping center and its flagship supermarket. The mall was built by Japanese American developer Albert Taira in partnership with the U.S. real estate arm of Obayashi Fudosan of Japan. The supermarket was operated first by Japan-based Yaohan and then Mitsuwa Marketplace.
