SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco night market has been voted one of the best in the country. Readers of USA Today gave the Be Chinatown Night Market rave reviews.
Employees were busy getting out all their egg custard tarts and barbecue pork buns for the third annual Be Chinatown Night Market.
“Over 40 years, I see Chinatown changing and changing,” said Henry Chan, the owner of AA Bakery.
Chan has seen positive changes, but he says business has taken a big hit in 2025.
“Very tough,” he said. “I’ve never seen it like this year.”
Small-business owners cite the Trump administration’s imposed tariffs and the state of the economy as the biggest factors.
“The wholesaler, they increased 20% to 30%,” Chan said. “Some increase 50%.”
Ruby Velasco, the owner of Bay Area Homemade, says she’s had to pass on the extra costs to consumers.
“You can’t sell $5, $10 now,” said Velasco. “Everything goes up. And of course, the consumers don’t like that and we don’t like that too.”
As a home-based business, Velasco says this night market is badly needed to advertise her catering company. She noticed a good crowd pass through. This event has grown every year.
“I started two years ago with two blocks,” said event organizer Lily Lo. “Last year was five, and now it’s seven.”
Lo is the president of Be Chinatown. This event takes a lot of hard work to put together, but it’s a way to give back to the community.
“How much can we help?” Lo said. “We can only do small, so hopefully young people who can spend money don’t mind to spend a little bit more.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie made an appearance as well. He says from First Thursdays to this market, each event is vital to bring dollars into the local economy.
“We as a city want to support efforts like this,” Mayor Lurie said. “Entertainment zones throughout the city, night markets. They’re working and let’s keep it going.”
Businesses can only hope this will translate to more customers visiting their stores throughout the year and the lull in the economy will eventually pass.
“We try our best,” Chan said. “That’s all we can do. Nothing we can do right now, so we have to wait.”
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