Forty years after its founding, the Eden Center remains a pillar of the Falls Church community and a popular destination for visitors from throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area and beyond.
Known for its immigrant-run restaurants and grocery stores, the mall is a landmark for Northern Virginia’s Vietnamese community. Founded in 1984, the center draws on the collective memory of thousands of immigrants who moved to the region after the Vietnam War, right down to its architecture, including a clock tower modeled after one in downtown Saigon.
Over the decades, hundreds of businesses – many of them family-owned – have called the center home. It’s not uncommon to come across long-established businesses like Huong Viet and Huong Binh Bakery, which have been in business since the center’s founding or shortly thereafter.
Today, the Eden Center is a cultural attraction on the East Coast, Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi told ARLnow.
“We often see tour buses driving for hours so people can buy Asian groceries and eat Vietnamese food. It’s delicious,” Hardi said.
What’s new?
In addition to the historic gems of the center, you’ll find a handful of newer destinations that remain committed to authenticity.
One place to keep an eye on is Pop Up District – a food hall concept from the owner of bubble tea shop TeaDM Lounge – which is set to house six or seven different shops focusing on Vietnamese fusion cuisine. The business is currently awaiting liquor license approval, TeaDM CEO Andrew Vossler told ARLnow.
“It’s going to be a really great place to spend the night,” Vossler said. “Ideally, we’ll have a lot of DJs and promoters too. So it’s for people who want to come in the evening and relax after work.”
Also new to the Eden Center are sister restaurants Tinh Tam and Truong Tien. While Tinh Tam focuses on vegetarian food, Truong Tien—which was dubbed the center’s “newest gem” by the Washington Post last fall—offers imperial Hue cuisine.
Another notable new addition is the Mia & More Sugarcane Juicery sugarcane press, which presses hundreds of pounds of sugarcane a day—sometimes over 1,000 pounds on weekends. If you look to the left of the cash register, you can’t miss the large juicer.
The store is part of a fresh juice franchise founded in Washington state in 2012. Just before the new year, the Eden Center welcomed the franchise’s first location on the east coast.
Owner and partner Ken Pham told ARLnow that sugarcane juice is to Vietnamese culture what coffee is to some Americans.
“When we hang out with people and friends, we drink sugarcane instead of coffee,” Pham said, mentioning the small juice vending machines on the streets of Vietnam that he remembers from his childhood.
Other key culinary destinations for visitors could include Crabby Noodles Pho & Seafood, opening in late 2023, or Thanh Son Tofu. Scheduled to reopen on Friday, August 24 after a brief closure, Thanh Son Tofu is the place where visitors flock to enjoy homemade, hand-made tofu.
The soy-based protein can be ordered fresh, fried or as a pudding and enjoyed alongside the retailer’s other offerings such as sticky rice and fish cakes.
Soon
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is a Chinese holiday celebrated in many cultures. It takes place next month.
The festival celebrating the fall harvest is an important time for the Eden Center. Many bakeries produce and sell the sweet symbol of the festival: moon cakes. Cha Kim Phung Bakery began preparing for the festival earlier this month, owner Vinh Tran told ARLnow.
This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival will take place on Tuesday, September 17th.
Come to stay
When the Falls Church City Council considered the now-approved East End Small Area Plan last year, fears arose that the Eden Center’s reputation could be compromised or even removed entirely as part of the redevelopment plans.
Organizers of the Viet Place Collective worked with city officials to raise awareness of potential displacement risks and prioritize preserving the center in the plan, the organization’s Facebook page said.
Capital Commercial Properties, the center’s landlord, recently confirmed to ARLnow the company’s commitment to preserving the Eden Center.
“We have no (restructuring) plans at all. In fact, our plans are the opposite,” said General Counsel and Senior Vice President Alan Frank. “Our plans are to stay there forever.”
