Photos by Olivia Charis
Mayor Elicker and May Lin cut ribbon at Zakka.
Now that she has cornered the bubble tea market on Whitney Avenue, business owner May Lin has moved on to the skincare-to-footwear variety market on Chapel.
Zakka Yale
Tuesday afternoon city officials gathered to celebrate the opening of Zakka Yale at 841 Chapel.
Before commencing into words from city officials, attendees had the opportunity to enjoy free bubble tea and snack samples, while perusing the endless contents of the store.
The Asian variety shop opened officially back in early June, sourcing authentic products from Japan, Korea, and China.
Lin described Zakka as the “shop that has everything” from lotions to stationery, snacks, kitchenware, and shoes.
“You can’t even call it a home goods market. It’s a marketplace,” noted city Small Business Resource Center Director Cathy Graves.
Prints for sale.
Customers check out the merchandise
Chinese-American, New Haven-born storeowner May Lin is also the founder of the bubble tea spot Whale Tea, which opened in 2019. Lin now has over 20 Whale Tea locations nationally and internationally, she said. She said she hopes to do the same with Zakka.
Lin noted how Zakka reflects her personal tastes.
“I’m very stylish”, Lin noted, pointing to her pearl heart earrings and trendy scrunchies she gets at the store.
Lin said she plans to open a Zakka location in Milford soon. She also spoke of dreams to start a Chinese fast-food restaurant and eyelash booth in New Haven.
Sakura tree and seating area at the front of the store.
“It’s an awesome place — that I am afraid to bring my children to,” said Mayor Elicker who spoke at Tuesday’s event. “They won’t want to leave.”
Mayor Elicker shared these thoughts before congratulating the owners in Mandarin.
Recent Hamden Hall graduate Katie Xie, a friend of Lin and the daughter of her manager Yanhua Xie, spoke on behalf of Lin during the ceremony.
Xie noted that they decided to make a pig a part of the store’s logo because it has “brought Lin luck” in the past.
aapiNHV Co-founder Christine Kim
“This is like walking into a store in Singapore,” remarked Christine Kim, co-founder of the group Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders New Haven (aapiNHV).
Items she would have to travel to Asia or New York to buy, she can now find right here in New Haven, Kim said.
Kim also noted the importance of Lin’s business for the cultivation of Asian-American community in the city. “Asian-American business owners are isolated from the rest of the community,” Kim noted, so businesses like Lin’s can fill a gap.
Whale Tea samples at Tuesday's event.
Squishmallows for sale.
Lin’s partner, Steven Gao, built out the space for the store over three months. The outlay for the store is not based on any other, Manger Yanhua Xie noted: “[May] wanted to create something.”
Even after the store was physically ready, the team had to work hard to take in all the inventory coming from three separate countries.
Sometimes, when inventory comes in, “we have to stay till midnight,” noted Xie, “but it’s fun.”
Since the store’s official opening a few weeks ago, Lin said, she has been testing the market to see what products are in highest demand.
Free store samples at Tuesday's event
Steven Gao, May Lin, and Yanhua Xie
Congratulations and best wishes for the stores continued success. I used to love visiting the shops in Chinatown in NYC, and I used to frequent the Asian market store that used to be on Crown St in the 1980’s. The New Haven area could definitely appreciate an Asian market store that carries more than just groceries.