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Creating Community on Tully Road

Board Chair Christina Bui on her family business and the new Tully Road-Eastridge Business Association

Post Date:04/07/2023 5:00 PM

An important part of the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs (OEDCA)’s work is to strengthen and sustain key business neighborhoods in San José. This year, OEDCA has launched a multi-year project to support the establishment and development of business networks and associations in specific communities in San José through promotion, capacity building and crime & safety support.

One of these groups and communities is the Tully Road – Eastridge Business Association, a network of businesses located along the Tully Road corridor, bordered by Highway 101 to the west and Capitol Expressway to the east. Christina Bui is the owner of and designer for Love Me Knots Bridal (1818 Tully Road, #152), located at Lion Plaza, and is also the Board Chair for the Tully Road – Eastridge Business Association (TREBA), a formal association with a stable and growing membership.

Christina shares her thoughts on her experience as a business owner and the work to launch the TREBA.

My family and I immigrated to America as refugees of the Vietnamese war in 1980. Moving to East San José in the 1980’s was like moving to a second Vietnam, there were already many immigrants like ourselves settling into San José and opening businesses. We were surrounded by markets that sold our types of food, restaurants that made pho just like home, and a bookstore that had Vietnamese books, newspapers and magazines.

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My parents opened up our bridal shop in 1989 in Lion Plaza. The shop was an extension of their tailoring experience from Vietnam where they fixed and made traditional Vietnamese clothing. Our store, Love Me Knots Bridal, keeps Vietnamese culture alive by way of bridal dresses called Ao Dais. Clients would bring silk fabrics with beautifully hand painted flowers on them for us to create their ao dais. It was here that I spent the majority of my childhood assisting my parents with tasks ranging from attaching buttons all the way to cutting and making dress patterns. I loved working with these fine fabrics and seeing the end results and it became my passion.

We were very happy here, everything we needed was within a three-mile radius. New shops were opening all around us. But I realized something: most of the shop owners like my parents did not speak English or had very little understanding of it. They would have a hard time communicating with the property managers. Our neighbor Mr. Bình would always come to us for help to read notices from the management or the City. Whenever there was a problem with the mall, they would come to us for advice or problem solving.

By the time I took over my parents' shop in 2017, Mr Bình was no longer the owner of the restaurant next door, he too had retired. But the problems of the Lion Plaza mall were still very relevant and there was no organization that they could turn to. Then COVID happened and the small businesses especially in Lion Plaza had no one to turn to. A lot of small business owners, like myself experienced incredible hardship and were made to close down their businesses. I didn’t realize that our community was in so much need of help, it was a dire situation.

Fortunately, through a rent relief program introduced by the city I was able to stay afloat and did not have to shut down my business completely. I wanted to learn more about this program and how the city implements other programs to help small businesses not only survive but thrive. I began working with Access SBDC (Small Business Development Center) to assist many of the non-English speaking business owners, specifically Vietnamese to apply for grants and rent relief so that they could survive through the pandemic. It was definitely an eye-opening experience, I noticed that there was a need for Vietnamese small business community leadership.

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Then an opportunity arose, the city was looking for ways to better the community by formulating a business association along the Tully Road and Eastridge Mall corridor. Then TREBA was born! We found a group of enthusiastic business owners that took time out of their busy schedule to partake in these meetings. We began with meetings to discuss the importance of having a business association, we all agreed that together our voices would be louder. I personally wanted to advocate for those who needed it most. So I was humbled when they selected me to be president of the association’s board. My hope for TREBA is to be a bridge between business owners and the City of San José. We will be their voices.

It is incredibly rewarding for me to be able to give back to my community in this way. What began as a small tailoring shop in the corner of Lion Plaza has now become so much more than that; it has become my community.

For more information about OEDCA’s efforts to support local business associations and networks, or to learn more about TREBA, please contact Business Development Officers Jiawei Tang or Nguyen Pham at jiawei.tang@sanjoseca.gov or nguyen.pham@sanjoseca.gov.

Below are the people and businesses that are part of the Tully Road – Eastridge Business Association.

Return to full list >>