The best pizza in New York traces back to Italian immigrants. The bagel went from a Lower East Side Jewish bakery to every corner deli in America. Curry became Britain’s comfort food through the Indian diaspora. The bodega, a New York institution, was built by Dominican and Puerto Rican immigrants. As people cross borders, what starts as foreign eventually feels like home.
Asian retail—much of it Chinese—is now having its own moment. But these arrivals are different.
Some of them are Asian American chains growing at warp speed, like H-Mart and 99 Ranch Market, which last summer opened its first New York location in Flushing, featuring 23 vendors in a 15,000-square-foot food hall.
But a surprisingly large number are surging due to corporate-backed, international expansion, moving at a speed most legacy brands in America have never seen.
New York is the test, America is the goal
Chinese retailers are starting with New York as their entry point.
Urban Revivo, often called China’s Zara, opened its U.S. flagship in SoHo in February 2025, the brand’s largest overseas store at over 30,000 square feet.
Beverage chains are multiplying just as fast.
Luckin Coffee, which has overtaken Starbucks in China by store count, opened four New York locations in under two months. Heytea launched 14 New York locations in a single year. Cotti Coffee, founded by former Luckin executives, is already on its second Manhattan store. The Shanghai chain Auntea Jenny has three U.S. locations in California and New York, with seven more “coming soon.”
This isn’t coincidental. Urban Revivo CEO Li Mingguang explicitly called New York “a litmus test for broader success elsewhere.” Density, diversity, and a built-in diaspora give Asian challenger brands the early traction they need.
And what starts in New York rarely stops there. Miniso’s Times Square flagship generated nearly $80,000 in revenue on opening day in May 2023. It now has over 300 U.S. stores. Pop Mart also debuted in the U.S. in 2023 and operated 41 locations by mid-2025, with North America revenue growing over 1,000% year-over-year—though to be fair, its growth hit a recent snag.
