On a one-mile stretch of Federal Boulevard in West Denver, it might seem like something is missing.
Aside from a Taco Bell on one end, there’s a notable absence of corporate chains along the stretch of Federal from Alameda to Mississippi avenues.
There’s no Starbucks, no Buffalo Wild Wings and certainly nothing like a Modern Market Eatery.
Instead, nearly all of the businesses here are locally owned. Some have been passed down for generations. And they are a key reason that this part of town is known today as Little Saigon.
The center of the district is the Far East Center, a shopping center at Alameda and Federal that has become the center of Asian culture in Denver since it was founded by a family of Vietnamese immigrants in the 1980s.
“I grew up basically running around that plaza with my siblings and cousins,” said Mimi Luong, the eldest daughter of the Far East Center’s founding family.
These days Luong runs her family’s gift shop, Truong An Gifts. But for all their decades of success, she and many business owners in the district have a dilemma: Who will take over the family businesses that form the backbone of Little Saigon?
