Kim Ngoc Jewelry: Legacy Businesses in Little Saigon
Kim Ngoc Jewelry owners Phillip and Lynette discuss Little Saigon’s past, present, and future.
One of the unique characteristics of Seattle’s Little Saigon is the dense concentration of legacy businesses–businesses that are small, old, independently owned and operated, and have some significance to the community they’re in (City of Seattle Department of Economic Development, Legacy Business Study, 2017). Many businesses in the neighborhood were opened by Vietnamese immigrants in the 1970s and 1980s, and continue to operate today through the founders’ children.
This is the story of Kim Ngoc Jewelry, opened in 1986 by current owner Phillip Dang’s father. Much like Leeching Tran’s experience with Viet-Wah, Phillip grew up with the business where it still stands today on 12th Ave S and S Jackson St. After over 20 years, Phillip inherited the operations in 2010 so his father could “slow down and retire.”
“It became a family business that kept on growing,” Phillip says.
Since then, Kim Ngoc has gained a respectable reputation both within and beyond Little Saigon (Their clientele spans from Washington to Vietnam!). Part of this reputability comes from being known as long standing members of the community.
“The relationships that we’ve built with our customers… we have older generations, we have newer generations,” Phillip tells us. The elders who shopped with Phillip’s parents have “grandkids who’ve come back and shopped with us” and “still recognize us as the most trusted jeweler in the area.” As if to emphasize this point, a grandparent-grandchild duo that came into the shop during our interview mentioned that they only come to Kim Ngoc for all their jewelry needs.
Their success is also due, in large part, to the ability of Phillip and Lynette, the store’s current co-owner and Phillip’s wife, to adapt their offerings to a more diverse clientele.
“We have evolved into newer things, and newer customers,” Phillip explains, “Back then the majority of them were Asian, and now it’s more international.” Lynette also adds that the customers are increasingly younger, as well. “All walks of life” find themselves at Kim Ngoc, according to Phillip.
They still offer traditional jade jewelry to maintain their roots, but they’ve also expanded their products to include necklaces, rings, and bracelets of all styles, including what Lynette calls “mall jewelry.”
Their “bread and butter,” however, is a product they’ve always offered that sets them apart from other jewelers in the city. This is the signature Kim Ngoc ring, a simple gold band made from scratch.
“We sell a lot of them. People buy them for engagement, weddings, friendship… all occasions. It’s our most popular item that we sell. We keep making more every time we’re low.”
These bands are not only versatile, as Phillip explains, they’re also unique to Kim Ngoc by being completely customizable. While many jewelers will order rings like this from elsewhere, at Kim Ngoc they make these from scratch, able to match the size to any finger and the thickness to any preference.
These orders keep them busy, Phillip admits. “We’re so married to the shop, all we do is work.”
When they do find some free time, though, the two like to get outside the shop, the neighborhood, and the city. “We do a lot of hiking when there are days that are nice. In the Northwest, that’s what you do. We take our little dogs out and hike.”
Phillip was raised in Seattle and Lynette is from Texas. Having worked in Little Saigon for as long as they have, they’ve both witnessed all the changes the neighborhood has gone through, and can speak to the need for more Vietnamese-owned businesses in the area.
“Little Saigon has developed, but the store owners are not able to open up more shops,” says Phillip, “ It needs to be easier for newer entrepreneurs to start businesses, especially the Vietnamese community.”
“Viet-Wah is one of the big supermarkets,” Lynette says, “and they’re closing. And then we have so many empty spaces here not filling up.”
Not only that, but people often feel hesitant to take advantage of all of the culture and cuisine Little Saigon has to offer because of negative media attention. “They just hear that the area here is unsafe.”
Fortunately, that stigma is changing. “We’ve seen some changes in the past two months or so that have been much of an improvement,” says Lynette. “We feel safer here. And we told our customers the same thing.”
Lynette and Phillip have felt disappointed with the Little Saigon media attention that has made people feel unsafe coming to the area when the neighborhood really has so much to offer. This includes all of the legacy businesses that decorate the area, Lynette says. “These businesses that have been here forever are still here, and want you here!”
Imagining a future Little Saigon, Phillip sees several Vietnamese-American owned and operated businesses driving people to the area. “I hope it would be a safer place, where people would be happy coming down to shop. And hopefully there’s more big supermarkets which anchor the city, that help drive more walking customers.”
Lynette thinks we, as a community, can make it happen. “If we clean up the place around Little Saigon, things are gonna improve. People are gonna want to come here to shop and eat.”
The two were also excited by the idea of clothing stores, community spaces like the Little Saigon Creative, street food, and regular events in the neighborhood to make the area feel warm and welcoming. Their vision of a future Little Saigon is one that people feel drawn to for all sorts of reasons, and is celebrated for the vibrant cultural hub that it is.
“The more people come down, the safer they will feel.”
Friends of Little Sài Gòn is a 501(c)(3) based in Seattle, WA, with a mission to enhance and preserve Little Saigon cultural, economic, and historic vitality. Learn more at www.flsseattle.org.
