Tag: Red Mountain Group

Event, Food and Drink, New Business, Top 2025

Large Attendance at 99 Ranch Grand Opening

Crowds of eager shoppers packed the queue outside Portland’s first 99 Ranch Market on August 16th for the Pan-Asian grocery’s opening day celebration. Attendees waited in a one-hour-long line to enter the new 40,174 square foot store and waited another 25 minutes to check out. Inside, people found a brightly LED-lit and fully stocked store featuring fresh produce, live seafood, meats, housewares, and foods from domestic and Asian suppliers.

A large crowd of shoppers waits in line under a tent for the opening day of 99 Ranch Market in Portland, showcasing a diverse group of people excited for the new grocery store.
Crowd waiting in line under event tents

The opening ceremony, featuring a lion dance, started just before 8:45. Then, organizers asked people to join the waiting area that had already grown beyond the double event tents constructed to shelter guests. Under the white canopy, a zigzagging felt rope controlled a holding area that felt more fitting for an amusement park ride queue than a store opening. However, it remained full for hours after the 9 a.m. launch, as Portlanders showed a large-scale interest in seeing inside this long-anticipated store. Event organizers kept the shop at a reasonable capacity, waiting for people to leave before letting new patrons enter. The crowded store was always functional with minimal challenges caused by competing interests in items blocked by the checkout line that wrapped around to the back of the store.

Crowded checkout area inside Portland's 99 Ranch Market on opening day, with shoppers in line and carts filled with groceries.
Interior view of 99 Ranch Market showing busy shopping area with customers browsing fresh seafood and meat displays, colorful signage overhead, and a variety of products in a well-lit environment.
A well-stocked aisle in a grocery store featuring various cooking pots, pans, and kitchen appliances displayed on shelves.
Shoppers waiting in line at the 99 Ranch Market opening, with grocery carts in a brightly lit aisle filled with packaged food items.
An aisle in a grocery store lined with shelves filled with various packaged snacks and beverages, brightly lit and well organized.
A display of various frozen desserts, including ube ice cream and matcha popsicles, inside a freezer section of a grocery store.
A busy grocery store filled with shoppers browsing fresh produce. Colorful displays of fruits, including apples and melons, are prominently featured. Signs displaying prices and product information are visible. The atmosphere is lively and bright, showcasing a well-stocked market.
A cheerful mascot dressed as a bee stands in a brightly lit produce section of a grocery store, surrounded by various fruits and vegetables. The store features a vibrant green wall with signage promoting fresh produce.
Crowd of shoppers inside the 99 Ranch Market on opening day, showcasing a brightly lit grocery store with shopping carts, colorful displays, and banners advertising promotions.
Interior view of the 99 Ranch Market, displaying a brightly lit space with shelves stocked with various Asian food products. A large green wall features the text 'Your Favorite Pan-Asian Grocery'. Customers are visible browsing the store.
A brightly colored claw machine arcade game featuring various plush toys inside, located in a grocery store. Multiple rows of the machines are visible, each displaying different types of stuffed animals.
Interior of a grocery store aisle featuring a variety of snack and drink products, with a prominent sign that reads 'Prime Cut MEAT' in the background.

The store’s designers utilized an open ceiling configuration painted matte black, with much of the lighting hung low off the product shelving. The overhead illumination bounced back up from the polished concrete floor, making nearly all angles of merchandised space bright and easily seen. Hanging banners helped direct people to the food items they desired and sell the attributes of the shop’s selection.

Exterior view of the 99 Ranch Market during its grand opening, featuring a decorative entrance, balloons, and a crowd of attendees.

Shoppers can visit 99 Ranch Market from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily at 10544 SE Washington Street in the Gateway District east of Mall 205. The grocery destination has become the new anchor tenant of Plaza 205, operated by the Red Mountain Group, which is revitalizing the older shopping center with many Asian-American focused businesses. People can expect to see continued expansion at this location, including the opening of Teso Life, a Japanese fashion casual department store with a planned launch at the end of 2025.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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Construction, Food and Drink, New Business

Plaza 205 Retail Revival

In 2022, a California-headquartered real estate investment and management company purchased the Plaza 205 retail complex east of Mall 205. For over a decade, the struggling retail destination at SE 103rd and Washington Street followed the shopping mall decline seen across the country with prolonged vacancies and empty parking lots. Since taking ownership, Red Mountain Group has leveraged its relationship with the Asian supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market to become a new anchor store for this property. Many complimentary businesses have signed leases to fill most of the vacant space. The property owners have plans to expand the retail footprint by constructing sidewalk-accessible additions on the northern edge of the ample parking lot.

Storefronts at Plaza 205 awaiting tenant buildout. Post subdivision and 99 Ranch entrance updates

The 30-year-old Red Mountain Group owns just over 120 properties across 20 states, most of which are in Arizona and California. The privately owned company has an in-house group that works strategically to fill properties like Plaza 205 in various markets. “The leasing team that is working on this property is really the force behind it. They have a great relationship with 99 Ranch Market, and we have other properties where they have been our tenant. So with this property [we determined] that they would be a great tenant for it and partnered with them to revitalize the shopping center, bring in other tenants that would be great Co-tenants,” said Red Mountain Group representative Lisa Gray.

Portland Maps image with MV News illustrations. Red outline indicates Plaza 205 property

Earlier this year, crews divided the future 99 Ranch Market space to allow for the construction of three smaller storefronts sharing the grocery store’s frontage. This renovation allowed the anchor store to take over two spaces formerly used by Hometown Buffet and Office Max. The food retailer needed a significant footprint inside the store but only an modest entrance. That allowed for several shallow retail spaces at the front. However, shell construction delayed the speed at which new tenants could move in. Gray explained that Red Mountain Group’s leasing team often works ahead of acquisition to fill new properties. “Usually, we buy a property, and we can pre-lease. We really get leases done very quickly,” said Gray. In this case, most of the new stores moving into this shopping center will need to wait until early 2025 to open, and construction crews will take over a year before adding new structures at the complex.

Former Big Lots storefront at 10548 SE Washington Street, future location of Teso Life

Despite leasing delays due to buildout time, Red Mountain Group has secured tenants for all but one 2,401-square-foot retail space. Tea brand The Alley will take a space at 10542 SE Washington Street to the west of 99 Ranch Market at 10544 SE Washington Street. East of the grocery store, specialty restaurant chain Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle will open an eatery at 10546 SE Washington Street. Recently, Japanese department store Teso Life signed a lease for the 23,200 square foot former Big Lots location at 10548 SE Washington Street.

Inside 10548 SE Washington Street, future location of Teso Life

Having a high-profile tenant like 99 Ranch Market helped Red Mountain Group shift the direction of this shopping center away from decline and office tenants back to a growing retail segment. “We’re very excited about the future because of the tenants that are going in, including 99 Ranch. We have these concepts down [in California] where there is a great mix of tenants that are symbiotic; they really flow well with each other’s customer base,” explained Gray. Plaza 205 is the first Oregon property where Red Mountain Group applied that proven model. If it works well for them, they will look at repeating the process at other shopping centers in the area.

Homogenized big-box commerce is still on the decline across the country. However, culturally specific business clusters are rapidly filling that gap in American shopping centers. This shift presents an opportunity for retail landlords to rework investments with a greater variety of storefront sizes and to consider underserved communities when leasing. People should expect to see a more active shopping experience at Plaza 205 in 2025 as tenants complete their buildouts and customers start visiting these new businesses.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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