TESO Life will open its first Portland location at 10548 SE Washington Street next Saturday, January 31st. The Asian household goods seller took over the 23,200-square-foot storefront left vacant by Big Lots four years ago at Plaza 205. The shopping complex is currently reinventing itself to serve people interested in items and flavors from across Asia. Shoppers will find a variety of imported products, claw machines, and collectables inside the Japanese department store. The TESO Life staff will welcome people as the company hosts a grand opening celebration over the weekend, ending on February 2nd.
Once open, the store will serve guests daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Headquartered in Queens, New York, TESO Life began in 2017 and has expanded across the country with dozens of shops and plans to open more storefronts in the coming years, doubling its footprint. The organization will open another Oregon location at 4005 SW 117th Avenue in Beaverton this May. The store has a significant social media following among fans and customers seeking Asian skincare, hair care, and makeup products, as well as hard-to-find snacks and drinks not often sold in the United States.
This location is next door to Portland’s first 99 Ranch Market, which opened to large crowds on August 16th, 2025. Based on other locations’ opening days, attendees looking to check out the SE Washington Street TESO Life on January 31st should anticipate lines similar to those at its neighboring grocery store’s grand opening. The event organizers will offer free items with purchase during the opening weekend, further incentivizing large attendance. People can visit the company’s Instagram page for more details.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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