Bazaar Canton

Bazaar Canton

Company type	Private
Industry	Retail (Asian specialty food and gifts)
Founded	1971
Founder	Amy Gee, Stanley Gee
Defunct	1988
Headquarters	Livermore , United States
Products	Asian groceries, cookware, gifts, refrigerated Asian food items, fresh Chinese dim sum dumplings and pastries

Bazaar Canton was an Asian specialty food and gift retailer established by Amy Gee and Stanley Gee in Livermore, California, United States. Operating from 1971 until 1988, it was the pioneering Asian grocery and retail outlet in the Livermore-Amador Valley region. The store played a significant role in familiarizing many residents of the Tri-Valley with aspects of Asian culture.

History

Amy Gee, a Livermore local originally from Shanghai, China and an accomplished artist specializing in Chinese watercolor, founded Bazaar Canton. Friends of the family often enjoyed Chinese meals at the Gee home and would request Amy and her husband Stanley Gee—who hailed from Guangzhou, China and had been working as a mechanical design draftsman since 1956 at what is now known as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—to bring back Chinese groceries from the Chinatowns of San Francisco and Oakland for their own cooking.

Motivated by this demand, the Gees decided to launch a small Chinese grocery store named Bazaar Canton, located in a modest shopping center called The Mall at the eastern end of Second Street. When it opened on April 1, 1971, Livermore had only a small Asian population and just two Chinese American dining establishments: Yin Yin and Maly's.

Initially, the name Canton Bazaar was considered but discarded due to an existing San Francisco Chinatown shop using that name to attract tourists. A neighboring art gallery owner suggested reversing the words, resulting in the business being named Bazaar Canton.

Cooking classes at the store

The Livermore Symphony Guild invited Ms. Gee to conduct Chinese cooking classes as a fundraiser, which she accepted. These lessons quickly gained popularity and led her to continue offering cooking instruction at her residence. This growing interest prompted Bazaar Canton to expand by relocating to a larger space downstairs in The Mall, where it began retailing Chinese cookware such as woks, dishes, and utensils. As demand increased further, Bazaar Canton tripled its footprint by moving to a street-facing location within The Mall and broadened its inventory to include a diverse range of Asian groceries, kitchenware, and gift merchandise.

Relocation

In 1973, Bazaar Canton moved into the JC Penney's shopping center at Second Street and South L Street—a major retail hub in Livermore at that time—quadrupling its retail space. This expansion allowed for a substantial increase in Asian gift products of various types and designs, leading local shoppers to recognize the store primarily as a gift retailer. The store also began offering refrigerated Asian food items and eventually started selling fresh Chinese dim sum dumplings and pastries sourced from Oakland Chinatown on Saturday mornings due to popular demand. By this point, Bazaar Canton had become one of Livermore’s larger retail businesses.

To accommodate the expanding suburban population in nearby San Ramon, California, Bazaar Canton launched a large branch gift store there. As Livermore’s population grew alongside its Asian community, Bazaar Canton also supported newly arrived Vietnamese American refugee families by serving as a hub for community charitable contributions and providing access to essential goods for these immigrants.

After seventeen prosperous years of operation, Ms. Gee had established herself as a respected business figure within Livermore. In 1988, having raised five children since moving to Livermore in 1964 with her husband Stanley, the couple chose to retire and close Bazaar Canton—much to the disappointment of Ms. Gee’s loyal clientele. Their son Delbert Gee serves as a judge for the Alameda County Superior Court. Despite significant growth in Livermore’s general and Asian populations since then, Bazaar Canton remains fondly remembered by many long-term residents as their first encounter with Asian cultural influences.

External links

• Livermore Heritage Guild
• Memorial tribute to Stanley Gee on the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory "Newsline" site
• Obituary for Stanley Gee featured on the Independent newspaper platform