NEWS
NEWS
Youtubers Preston & Krista recently vlogged their “Vietnamese Feast” at Eden Center.
In the video, they sample a hot tofu dessert, pork spring rolls, banh mi ga nuong (Vietnamese chicken sandwich), pho tai chin (rare beef rice noodle soup), bun bo hue (spicy beef noodle soup), and Ga xao xa ot (Vietnamese spicy lemongrass chicken).
It’s impossible to watch this without getting hungry!
‘It’s A Place That Makes Me Feel Like I’m Home’: How Eden Center Became A Hub For Virginia’s Vietnamese Community
Founded by Norman Ebenstein and led by Douglas Ebenstein, Capital Commercial Properties owns Eden Center shopping center. Over the years Eden Center has become the largest tourist attraction in the City of Falls Church and perhaps the most unique destination shopping center in the Washington Metropolitan Area. With over 115 family-owned stores and 230,000 feet of retail space, Eden Center is the largest Vietnamese American shopping center on the East Coast. To learn more about how Eden Center become a hub for the Vietnamese community in this dcist article
EDEN CENTER RECEIVES OFFICIAL VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MARKER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2022
CONTACT: Alan B. Frank, Sr. VP, Eden Center, Inc.
FALLS CHURCH, VA—The Virginia Historical Commission (VHC) has recognized Vietnamese Immigrants in Northern Virginia as a significant part of Virginia history by awarding it an Official Virginia Historical Marker. The designation honors Vietnamese Immigrants in Northern Virginia as an important and educational part of local history.
A dedication ceremony to commemorate the event will be held on May 24, 2022 at Eden Center at 3:30PM. Speakers for the afternoon will include Mayor David Tarter, Trinh Nguyen Mau, Chairman of the Vietnamese Senior Citizen’s Association, and Alan B. Frank, Sr. VP and General Counsel of Capital Commercial Properties, Inc. The Eden Center will host the ceremony and welcomes the public to share in and witness this exciting historical event.
“The Official Virginia Historical Marker program helps bring attention to community treasures and the importance of their preservation,” said Douglas Ebenstein, President and Chairman of the Board of Eden Center, Inc., and Capital Commercial Properties, Inc. “Awareness and education are among the best ways to guarantee the preservation of history. This designation is a tool that will increase public awareness of important cultural resources, like Eden Center”, Doug Ebenstein said.
Virginia’s historical marker program is the oldest such program in the nation, beginning in 1927 when a handful of markers were erected along U.S. 1 between Richmond and Mount Vernon. To qualify for a state historical marker, the topic must be about a person, place, event or institution that has statewide or national significance.
Nomination for the historical marker was made by Oliver Hardi (8th grade) and Griffin Hardi (7th grade), both of whom are students at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in Falls Church. The students were participating in the 2021 Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Historical Marker Contest, a contest that involved many students at the Middle School.
“It is vital that as we move forward, that we do not forget our past. Not only will this Virginia Historical Marker raise awareness of this important and fascinating culture and history, but it will become a building block for local tourism,” said David Tarter, Mayor of the City of Falls Church VA.
May 16, 2022
CONTACT: Alan B. Frank, Sr. VP, Eden Center, Inc.
CE-Nexus Magazine
On April 25, 2021, Capital Commercial Properties, Inc. and Eden Center, Inc. founded by Norman Ebenstein and currently run by president Douglas Ebenstein celebrated 10 years with our Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Graham Eddy. We look back at an interview from 2012 with E-Nexus Magazine regarding the Eden Center shopping center:
Introduction: Eden Center, the iconic Vietnamese shopping and dining spot, has provided goods, services and food, and contributed to Vietnamese community in DC metropolitan Area for a very long time. Today, we interviewed Mr. Graham E. Eddy, a member of the Eden Center property management team, to learn more about the management side of the center. Mr. Eddy graduated in 2002 from University of Virginia, School of Law. Over the last 10 years, Mr. Eddy has worked in many areas of the law, including business disputes, securities litigation, anti-trust disputes, and government contracts litigation. Mr. Eddy joined the management team for Eden Center last year as the Associate General Counsel at Capital Commercial Properties, Inc. When we spoke to him it was apparent that he is very passionate about running a Vietnamese shopping center.
E-Nexis: What do you like best about Eden Center and working as the management team?
- Mr Eddy: Eden Center offers many different services, goods and foods to our customers. In fact, there are about 140 different family-owned businesses at Eden. The center has restaurants, beauty salons, delis, cafes, jewelry shops, music stores, a grocery store and many other services. But my personal favorite thing at Eden Center is the diverse array of Vietnamese foods. There is no other place I have ever been, where I can visit more than 20 different stores that sell bubble tea or Banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) in the same shopping center. As a member of the management team at Eden Center, I have the opportunity to meet and talk to a lot of different people, which I love. I particularly enjoy working with our customers, tenants and partnering with Vietnamese organizations with the goal of making Eden Center the most successful shopping center in Washington DC Metropolitan Area and a home for the Vietnamese-American community.
E-Nexis What Vietnamese foods do you like the best and which restaurant at Eden Center is your favorite.
- Mr. Eddy: I enjoy many types of Vietnamese food but my favorites are bun (Vietnamese vermicelli noodles), pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) ban xeo (Vietnamese fried pancakes), rice paper rolls, caramelized fish in clay pot and Vietnamese papaya salad. I cannot tell you which restaurant is my favorite because each Eden Center restaurant has its own specialty and provides foods with slightly different tastes and ingredients. When I visit Eden Center I go with my mood and pick a different restaurant and different food each time. Everything is Vietnamese, but also different from each other, and that is the beauty of Eden Center.
E-Nexis. What is the role of Eden Center in Vietnamese community?
- Mr. Eddy: Eden Center is the world famous economic, cultural and emotional center of the Vietnamese community in the Washington Metropolitan Area and beyond. Eden Center often has visitors from as far away as New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, the west coast of America and even Vietnam and the rest of the world. When people visit Eden Center, they often feel that they are in Vietnam. The management team wants Vietnamese people to feel that Eden Center is their home, and that is why we designed the center with features like the lion gate entrance and the clock tower. Eden Center also donates money to Vietnamese organizations, hosts charity events, gives space and time to Vietnamese student groups and give scholarship money for outstanding Vietnamese students. We have been embraced by the Vietnamese community and we feel it our obligation to live up to that trust and give back to the community at every opportunity.
E-Nexis: How do you manage and help tenants at Eden Center?
- Mr. Eddy: As Associate General Counsel at Eden Center, I work with Alan Frank, the Vice President and General Counsel for Eden Center, and make management decisions every day in many different areas. For example, we work with tenants to come up with the ways to market promote their businesses. One way that we do this through our website (www.Edencenter.com), that has detailed information about every store at Eden Center and also provides a community bulletin board for the entire Vietnamese community, not just about events at Eden Center.
E-Nexis How often do businesses change owners at Eden Center?
- Mr. Eddy: When Eden Center first began virtually all of our businesses were owned by first generation Vietnamese immigrants. Today we have a number of tenants that are second generation Vietnamese Americans but still many of our businesses have been at Eden for as many as ten 10 or 20 years! It can be hard to start a new business at Eden Center because there is a waiting list for many of our business locations and when vacancies do occur they are quickly grabbed-up by new businesses. One other way that new businesses start is when a successful businesses owner decides to sell their businesses to someone new. This happens because some tenants like the process of building a successful store and selling it then using the money to start another business and other times the tenant may just want to take time off for travel. The Eden Center management team sometimes allows our tenants to sell their businesses because new businesses and new tenants bring new enthusiasm and new products to Eden Center.
E-Nexis How has the management team improved Eden Center so far?
- Mr. Eddy: We are constantly looking for new ways to improve. Let’s use parking as an example. There are about one thousand parking spaces at Eden Center. This should be plenty of parking. But on a typical weekend, Eden Center is so popular that it is sometimes difficult to find a parking space in the front of the center. To improve this problem, we have taken two steps. The first step is to encourage our customers to park behind the center where there is usually plenty of close convenient parking, even when the center is very busy. Next, we are in the process of adding close to 100 new premium parking spaces. These new parking spaces will be directly in front of the new “Good Fortune” grocery store that is coming to Eden Center in 2013. These new parking spaces will help provide a good shopping experience at Eden Center and are just one small step we are taking to improve Eden Center. My personal vision for the future is for Eden Center to remain the home for Vietnamese American community for the next 100 years and beyond. To accomplish this goal we will constantly improve the center, continue to support our tenants and customers, and to continue to look for news way to support Vietnamese organizations and charities.
Epilogue At the end of the interview, Mr. Graham told us about the upcoming Moon festival at Eden Center, which is going to be a very fun, family friendly, and culturally diverse event. It takes place on October 6th, 2012 and features an Annual pageant “Miss Vietnam-DC”, games for children, Eden Idol Contest, and many other giveaways. At the event, visitors can also make a paper lantern and join the lantern parade. I have never been to a moon festival in the United States, but this year, I will go to Eden Center for sure. Thanks to Mr. Graham and the rest of the Eden Center management team, Eden Center is truly an iconic place, a landmark for the Vietnamese community and too many other customers who love Vietnamese culture.
Capital Commercial Properties is proud to own and manage Eden Center shopping center located in Falls Church, Virginia, conveniently located minutes from the nation’s capital.
Open 365 days a year, Eden Center is the place to feed your craving for everything Vietnamese. Eden Center, with over 230,000 square-feet of family-run retail stores and eateries is the largest Vietnamese shopping center in the East Coast and among the biggest and the best Vietnamese shopping centers in USA. Over forty years ago, Norman Ebenstein had a vision to create a destination shopping center that was cultural hub for the Vietnamese American population in Virginia. Today, Eden Center, now managed by Norman’s son, Douglas Ebenstein, has over 130 businesses. These stores include restaurants serving cuisine from every province of Vietnam, numerous bakeries selling fresh Vietnamese delicacies and treats, jewelry stores with the very best prices on jade, gold, and other precious metal and stones, full-service beauty salons, and much more. In fact, Eden Center has grown so large that it is often referred to as Saigon Mall or the Little Saigon of the East.
Taste Vietnam through these 7 dishes at Eden Center, including banh mi, roast duck and skewers
Back when Cha Oc Gia Huy was just a single, slender storefront in the Little Saigon neighborhood of Garden Grove, Calif., customers visiting from the East Coast would bring coolers into the shop to haul their loot back home. Owner Huy Pham felt for his Vietnamese American clientele from the other side of the country. He knew they could visit his store maybe once or twice a year, tops, so he came up with a rather industrious plan to get food into their hands on the regular.
Eden Center Stands Against Anti-Asian Racism
Eden Center stands against anti-Asian acts and words that have become prevalent since the Coronavirus outbreak. We stand in grief and solidarity as we all feel deep pain and anguish after the loss of life of six Asian women due to a violent attack.
As advocates for diversity and inclusion in America, we are deeply troubled by the stigmatization of Asian Americans, many of whom have faced blame for the pandemic solely due to their racial identities.
We call on all segments of American populations including businesses, academic institutions, religious groups, non-profits, local, regional and national governments, and all who believe in the shared values of a civil society, to denounce harassment and hostility against Asian Americans. We believe together we can help build a world where people live with dignity and thrive.
Eden Center – Like a Trip to Vietnam . . . Without the Jetlag.
Open 365 days a year, Eden Center is the place to feed your craving for everything Vietnamese. Eden Center, with over 230,000 square-feet of family-run retail stores and eateries is the largest Vietnamese shopping center in the East Coast and among the biggest and the best Vietnamese shopping centers in USA. Over forty years ago, Norman Ebenstein had a vision to create a destination shopping center that was cultural hub for the Vietnamese American population in Virginia. Today, Eden Center, now managed by Norman’s son, Douglas Ebenstein, has over 130 businesses. These stores include restaurants serving cuisine from every province of Vietnam, numerous bakeries selling fresh Vietnamese delicacies and treats, jewelry stores with the very best prices on jade, gold, and other precious metal and stones, full-service beauty salons, and much more. In fact, Eden Center has grown so large that it is often referred to as Saigon Mall or the Little Saigon of the East.
“Eden Center is the finest Vietnamese shopping center in the entire country,” said Alan Frank, the General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Eden Center. “We listened to our tenants and customers and created a shopping experience that is unmatched.” When asked about the influence of the Eden Center on Vietnamese American life, he said, “Eden is the hub of the Vietnamese community … Eden Center supports local Vietnamese organizations and holds several annual festivals celebrating Vietnamese holidays.” For three generations of Vietnamese immigrants, the Eden Center has been a home for the Vietnamese American community of the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. Today, it still seems that the Eden Center will forever be an integral part of the Vietnamese heritage. Eden has a fine tradition of contributing to Vietnamese charities and organizations, “Eden Center is a proud supporter of the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce,” said Alan Frank.
New visitors from Vietnam, whether visiting their relatives or on a business trip, always want to travel to the Eden Center. For them, it means shopping, eating, and business opportunity. “I would like to taste all the best Vietnamese food available in the Eden Center, so I will recommend them to my customers,” said, Ms. My-Dung, owner of Spirit Travel Company. Just like many other Vietnamese tour operators in the area, she was looking for ways to expand her “outbound” tours in the US. “Virginia is an ideal transit for Vietnamese travelers. It is strategically located between New York and Florida. There are a lot fine universities in the East-Coast of the United States. It is a good location for Vietnamese students.” she said.
Eden Center’s Associate General Counsel Graham Eddy, said “from the first time that I tasted the food at our bakeries, delis, cafes and restaurants, I have not wanted to eat anywhere else.” His comments have been echoed by many food critics and connoisseurs. Boasting more than 40 restaurants and bakeries Eden Center is listed in many prestigious publications, such as the Washingtonian magazine, Vanity Fair magazine, and the Washington Post. “Vietnamese food has become my favorite cuisine,” said Graham Eddy, “when I began worked at Eden Center, I was very impressed with the quality and the value of product sold at our stores.”
It is understandable that once people get a taste of one of the many diverse Vietnamese food options available at the Eden Center, they always come back for more. The design of the Eden Center also plays a role in its success. The “Lion Gate” entry arch on Wilson Boulevard, the plaza with a water feature, and the façade of the center made to resemble a Vietnamese marketplace symbolize the commitment of the center to Vietnamese culture. As it has been for many years, Eden Center will remain a cultural hub and community center for all Vietnamese Americans. Whether you are a regular visitor to Eden Center and are already familiar with its outstanding bargains and unique charm or have never been to the Center and want to see for yourself what all the excitement is about, there has never been a better time to visit.
Enjoy your stay and keep in touch for our latest news & promotions!
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6751-6799 Wilson Blvd., Falls Church, VA 22044
© Eden Center. Designed by PSK Creative.
© Eden Center. Designed by PSK Creative.
General Hours
MONDAY – SUNDAY
9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
9:00 AM – 11:00 PM