On any given sunny afternoon, you might see a couple of young professionals enjoying an afternoon cup of noodles on a tidy sidewalk table - customers of Goodies Snack Shop, a 9-month-old business bringing new life to the historic corner space.įounded by Joyce Chung and Terence Brasch, this concept store combines grab-and-go snacks and beverages, Asian pantry staples, ample seating for people to spend quality time in this neighborhood, and space for artists and fellow entrepreneurs to host events. The dramatic columns framing the corner’s entrance are clean and gleaming the lightbulbs illuminating the stoop have been replaced and relit. Over the past year, however, vibrant signs of life have been spotted at the corner of Northwest 2nd and Davis. Since 2014, it’s been one of the many vacant, shuttered spaces of Old Town. Several businesses, remodels, a World War, and an oddity museum later, though, this corner space had devolved into a ghost of itself. Even more so, they needed a hub to build a community around, and the Teikoku Co. Hundreds of young Japanese immigrants were arriving in Oregon to work on the railroads, lumber mills, and fish canneries, and Matsushima was keenly aware of their need for a place to find Japanese ingredients and household goods for their growing families. It was located in the 10 or so blocks of downtown beginning to go by Japantown, or “Nihonmachi,” at the time. mercantile on the ground floor of the Merchant Hotel on what is now Northwest Davis and 2nd Avenue. In 1905, a labor contractor named Mosaburo Matsushima opened up the Teikoku Co.
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