Chinatown's new gift shop artfully connects generations of Asian Americans

That sentiment is core to the sisters’ new shop, On Waverly, which sells books, gifts and souvenirs. It opened last month in the heart of the historic neighborhood.

“We wanted to have a community space for locals while also bringing out a different generation of people to Chinatown,” Jennifer Huie said.

As the name suggests, the shop is on the corner of Waverly Place and Washington Street, sandwiched between Grant Avenue and Stockton Street. The former is usually filled to the brim with tourists during the summer months, while the latter is where many locals live and grocery shop.

The Huie sisters said they hope to bring those groups and the many generations of an increasingly diversified Asian American population in the Bay Area together into one space through dozens of AAPI-authored books, as well as a smattering of posters, greeting cards, board games and other trinkets.

Most of the items feature modern twists of traditional Chinese culture.

One table is scattered with a variety of unique magnets and stickers, some featuring assorted Chinese pastries, others picturing rice bowls, chopsticks and the phrase “Sik Fan Lah!” — a common Cantonese expression which translates to “It’s time to eat!” Another displays a rice cooker alongside the phrase “the real MVP.”

“People tend to gravitate towards that table,” Cynthia said with a laugh.

They also sell traditional red envelopes, called “hong baos,” which are used to gift money in Chinese culture.

Elders typically give the envelopes to someone younger, but these are no ordinary hong baos. One version for sale folds out like an accordion to present several slots for money. Another was designed by a Chinese-Canadian artist with boba tea artwork.

Ninety-nine percent of On Waverly’s wares are from Asian American merchants, half of them local to the Bay Area.

They also hope to host events throughout the year, including Asian American author signings and talks, DJ live streams and game nights.

“We really wanted to figure out how to blend the modern, the traditional and the different things that make us feel nostalgic and thinking about how they fit into our daily lives,” Cynthia said.

The store transformed 1,300 square feet of vacant Chinatown real estate — formerly Lucky’s Gift Shop, one floor beneath a dental clinic — into a brightly lit, spacious and contemporary interior with red and gold colors.

The shop is lined with freshly set hardwood floors, wooden tabletops and bookshelves. The walls are plastered with Chinese decorations, including lanterns and a colorful dragon sculpture that keeps watch near the back wall.

The dragon had been sitting in Cynthia’s garage for two years after she noticed it in a giveaway pile on the curb while driving along Divisadero Street. It fit perfectly with the motif of the store, which Cynthia described as “slightly traditional, with a more modern aesthetic.”

“My hope is that we bring people who perhaps have some sense of connection to Chinatown, either from coming here as a child or visiting once or twice, and want to come back now,” she said.

It’s a deeply personal mission for the Huie sisters, who grew up in Fremont. Cynthia described themselves as “regional tourists” to Chinatown.

“The store is really about how do we get people like us to dig deeper into Chinatown and understand how it connects to our greater American history and what’s relevant today,” Cynthia said.

For nearly a decade, the Huie sisters ran a popular boutique clothing store in the Inner Richmond called Seedstore, but they closed it shortly before the pandemic.

Cynthia, who is president of the San Francisco Small Business Commission, connected with Chinatown community leaders about ways to bring visitors back to the neighborhood after the pandemic and make people feel safe again after the rise in AAPI hate crimes.

She eventually met the landlord of the empty Chinatown storefront, who wanted to transform the space into “something that would help Chinatown and see what retail could be like in the future.”

“I said OK, let’s do this,” said Cynthia, who also co-founded Art Walk SF. “I’ve met so many AAPI artists who I would love to see in a more brick-and-mortar, permanent space.”

Many of those paintings and designs are on display inside the store, such as a drawing highlighting Chinatown’s landmarks and another displaying different types of Chinese food favorites.

Chinatown’s businesses were crushed by the pandemic. While the economy has steadily recovered in the years since, business is still down between 20% to 30%, and tourism is down 20%, according to Edward Siu, president of the Chinatown Merchants United Association of San Francisco.

While other entrepreneurs might have been frightened by the uncertain financial situation, the Huie sisters said they felt the opposite. Their last clothing store opened in 2009, in the middle of the recession.

“Literally, everyone walked in and told us, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you opened a shop right now,’ ” Jennifer said.

And with more people being born and entering adulthood further removed from the direct links to Chinese culture, the Huie sisters said they hope their store bridges the divide between the original Chinatown residents and younger generations.

“I think having a diverse amount of entry points for someone to be welcomed into Chinatown is to the benefit of everyone in Chinatown,” Cynthia said.

The Huies asked their father to give On Waverly a Chinese name. During the discussion, he suggested “gua zi,” which means “melon seed” in Cantonese. Cynthia’s teenage daughter “loved it.”

Cynthia said it was the perfect symbol for the intergenerational connection they wanted the store to convey: “If a grandfather and granddaughter both like it, that’s pretty cool, right?”

“Melon seeds are something that people eat communally. They’re doing something they’re eating together; it’s a very communal act of eating seeds together,” Cynthia said. “We thought that that feels pretty appropriate.”