Tag: The Alley

Food and Drink, New Business, Top 2025

99 Ranch Hiring for Midsummer Opening

Crews are assembling the refrigerated display cases and product shelving inside East Portland’s first 99 Ranch Market location at 10560 SE Washington Street. The highly anticipated Asian grocery store began hiring for nearly 100 positions at the new location in May, with a Job Fair and postings on job websites. The hiring manager for this location anticipates the store will open in late July or August, with trainees reporting to the Beaverton location as they learn to perform their roles within the organization.

Interior view of the under-construction 99 Ranch Market in East Portland, featuring refrigerated display cases and product shelving among unpacked equipment and supplies.
Partially assembled refrigerated display cases and product shelving inside 10560 SE Washington St.

The new store required more effort to open compared to the only other Oregon 99 Ranch location, which took over an existing grocery. Plans for the latest store became public in 2023, with construction starting in 2024. The California-based chain opened its Beaverton store at 8155 SW Hall Boulevard on August 23rd, 2017. Although the two stores are comparable in size, representatives say this new location will feature the company’s modern design updates, and the custom-configured space will better align with the brand’s goals for its store layout.

  • Beaverton 99 Ranch Market
  • Beaverton 99 Ranch Market
  • Beaverton 99 Ranch Market
  • Beaverton 99 Ranch Market
  • Beaverton 99 Ranch Market

With over 60 stores nationwide, the company is renowned for offering a wide range of imported products alongside local meats and vegetables. As with most stores in this chain, the new Montavilla adjacent location will offer prepared foods and baked goods made in an onsite kitchen. In addition to grocery items, shoppers will find a hot deli, an extensive meat department, and a seafood area with live seafood tanks. The store will carry a diverse assortment of Asian ingredients and packaged items alongside other grocery staples.

  • The job poster has a typo, ‭(510) 309-1057 is the correct contact number
  • Ten Seconds Rice Noodle
  • The Alley

The Plaza 205 buildout for the 99 Ranch Market created a larger floor plan for the grocer at the back of the space while making room for complementary businesses along the shopping center’s frontage. Ten Seconds Rice Noodle restaurant and The Alley tea shop recently opened next door to the grocery store’s entrance. Foot traffic on the eastern side of Plaza 205 should increase once 99 Ranch Opens later this summer. However, the long-vacant storefronts at this location have encouraged more consumer activity on the Mall 205 adjacent side of the property, making it harder for people to discover the two new businesses in the shopping complex. People can expect to learn more about the official opening date for the SE Washington Street grocery store on the 99 Ranch website or its social media sites, including Instagram and Facebook. Jobs at this location are still available for anyone interested in working at this new location.

Graphic announcing the grand opening of 99 Ranch Market in Portland, OR on August 16, 2025, featuring the store's logo and event details.
Graphic courtesy 99 Ranch Market

Update August 9, 2025:  The 99 Ranch Market at 10544 SE Washington Street will officially open on Saturday, August 16th starting at 9 a.m. The store’s Instagram page touts a celebration featuring a lion dance and ribbon cutting event at opening. People can also attend a Bluefin Tuna cutting demonstration at 1 p.m. and the First 100 people in line before 9 a.m. will receive a $10 gift card.

Interior view of a grocery store under construction, featuring assembled checkout counters, product shelving, and refrigerated display cases. Workers are present, and various signs hang from the ceiling.
Staff stocking store ahead of Aug 16th opening

Article and phots by

Jacob Loeb

Note: Title image digitally edited by MV News to show 99 Ranch sign as originally proposed in permit drawings. Finale store signage will differ and include FRESH PRODUCE, LIVE SEAFOOD, HOT DELI, and BAKERY under the 99 Ranch Market logo based on LU 24-073292 DZM documents

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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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