Business owners are inspired<\/b><\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t look like much more than a run-down East Hill strip mall, but passersby who dare pull into the long parking lot along 104th Avenue Southeast just north of Southeast 240th Street will find a portal to a handful of foreign countries.<\/p>\n
Despite its exterior, the strip mall holds a wealth of culinary creations, groceries, clothing and other products and services offered by business owners from India, Vietnam, Korea and the Ukraine. And the mall\u2019s diverse set of tenants are now joining forces to make their distinctive offerings more widely known.<\/p>\n
Their vision is to turn the area into Kent\u2019s own \u201cInternational District,\u201d said Harpreet Gill, the owner of East Hill Indian eatery Punjab Sweets, who is spearheading the effort, and whose shop is a tenant in the mall. She has spent the last several months concocting the idea, organizing fellow business owners and soliciting partnerships with city officials and business organizations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause (the strip mall) is not very appealing, people don\u2019t really come, but we have such wonderful services and products that we offer,\u201d Gill said. \u201cThe diversity of this area really reflects the overall community. I think if we put it together right, even people from far away will come.\u201d<\/p>\n
The effort will start in the immediate area \u2014 the mall in which Gill and many other ethnic owners do business. She already has had meetings with the other owners in the area to discuss the steps they need to take. The first step: beautification.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis area isn\u2019t very pretty visually on the outside,\u201d Gill said. \u201cIn our first meeting, we discussed things like power-washing, cleaning up the area, getting flower pots for outside and maybe even getting signs that match.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second step, she said, will be a block party-like festival, tentatively called the \u201cFall International Festival\u201d and scheduled for sometime in September. Gill said the strip mall businesses would set up shop closer to the street for a day, drawing attention to their goods with music, decorations and other festivities.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, we\u2019re just trying to figure our permits and what it would take to set that up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Rita Kumar, 42, the Indian owner of the strip mall\u2019s Ravi Video & Grocery, said she\u2019s wholly behind the idea. Business is good at her store, which offers a large selection of Indian grocery goods, but she thinks Gill\u2019s concept could significantly help.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a small plaza, but we have all the international shops here,\u201d Kumar said. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t know that all of this is here, so hopefully this will help let them know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gill said if all goes well, she\u2019ll plan to continue networking with other East Hill business owners outside the mall. She said there are many diverse offerings all over that area, and the ultimate goal will be to create an East Hill business partnership to connect them and bolster their exposure and marketing potential. She hopes the partnership will someday operate like the Kent Downtown Partnership.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re on the right track to that goal, said KDP Executive Director Jacquie Alexander, though the downtown partnership has a bit of a head start. The partnership was founded in 1992, as part of a national program called the National Trust of Historic Preservation. The program provided the partnership\u2019s initial structural and committee guidelines, and now it has become a smoothly running independent organization with operating committees and many business members dedicated to maintaining a thriving downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think so much of (our success) has to do with our board and their sincere interest in revitalizing our downtown and truly turning it around,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cThe energy they bring is truly instrumental. In addition to the board, it\u2019s our volunteers. We only have one and a half paid staff members, and everything else we do is done by volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n
With that same passion and spirit of volunteer service, she thinks Gill and the other East Hill business owners could create a similarly successful partnership. And she said the downtown partnership would be interested in working with them in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a wonderful idea,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cWe have even talked about having a promotional event to celebrate international businesses, sort of a downtown international fair. We would certainly like to work with them on something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kent Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Andrea Keikkala offered similar support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Kent Chamber of Commerce is excited that the East Hill businesses are in the process of forming a partnership and international district,\u201d she said. \u201cWe hope that we can work together for the good of the business community in Kent and look forward to collaborating with East Hill businesses and the future International District.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional support already has come from Mayor Suzette Cooke, who attended the East Hill business owners\u2019 first meeting. Gill said Cooke offered the group advice on ways to jump start their organization efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mayor talked to us about how everyone needs to get together on this,\u201d Gill said. \u201cYou can tell she\u2019s excited and very willing to help out, but it\u2019s up to us to get things started.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the enthusiasm and support, Gill knows the challenge she\u2019s up against getting her concept off the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of leg work, and it\u2019s a little daunting, but you just have to try,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m very excited about it, and I think we can make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kumar agrees that with Gill\u2019s leadership, the international district and even an East Hill partnership may become a reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be difficult, but I think we can do it,\u201d she said. \u201cHarpreet is very ambitious to do something, and I\u2019m with her, and I think others are very interested as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gill invites business owners interested in being a part of the effort to contact her at Punjab Sweets by calling 253-859-3236.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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