"Starting a brand from scratch is so hard," Danya Li told The Philadelphia Inquirer in September. The paper had asked why she and her partners chose a franchise instead of their own concept. Li and her husband, Tom Kang, run Kyo Matcha with Alex An and Jing Xiong. The shop opened in August at 222 N. 11th St., in the former Vietnam Palace space, and drew long lines from the start.

Li's comment fits the rest of Chinatown's year. Several independent food businesses opened or reopened within a short walk of the Friendship Arch in 2026, and each one started from something already in place. One took over the lease of a bakery that had held its address for close to three decades. One brought a family restaurant name down from Lewisburg. The oldest is a 1982 restaurant whose renovated dining room is now run by the founder's daughter.

Who the lines were for

The longest wait of the summer was at the corner of 10th and Arch, next to the Friendship Arch, where heytea opened its first Philadelphia store in August. The Inquirer reported that one King Jasmine Guava tea, priced at $7.99, took 90 minutes to get during a thunderstorm, and that the shop had staff managing a line that ran back and forth down the block. Heytea was founded in Guangdong in 2012 and runs more than 4,000 stores worldwide.

Two more franchises opened on the 100 block of North 10th earlier in the year. The Inquirer reported in March that Beard Papa's would hold its grand opening at 104 N. 10th St. on March 28 and 29, selling Japanese cream puffs at $4.75 for the original and $5 for matcha or chocolate. A local franchisee secured the site. According to a June Inquirer food feature, Hey I Am Yogost, at 124 N. 10th St., makes drinkable yogurt in flavors like matcha, strawberry, and avocado, and you can add mochi or whipped cream.

In its September survey of the trend, the Inquirer put these shops in a longer line of chains. Vivi Bubble Tea arrived in 2015, Kung Fu Tea in 2016, Mr. Wish in 2017, and Teazzi on Arch Street in 2023. The paper said the newer wave favors Chinese coffee, brewed iced tea, and yogurt drinks over boba. It also said that, apart from two businesses, the significant Chinatown openings of the past year have been franchises, and that more are likely as these brands spread through the region's other Chinatowns.

The two exceptions it named are both on 10th Street, a block or two from heytea.

North 10th and its neighbors, address by address

The franchises are mostly drink and dessert counters. The independents serve breakfast buns, rice rolls, congee, and late dinners, and between them they cover the hours from 8 a.m. to 2:15 a.m.

109 North 10th kept its old sign

Super Bao & Cake Girl opened May 12 in the space KC's Pastries had occupied for close to three decades. Owner Cai Ban took over the KC's lease the previous August, and when the Inquirer profiled the bakery at the end of May, the KC's signage was still up. Ban comes from a family of bakers in Guangxi and had lived in Philadelphia for a decade. Xian Wu is the chef and baker.

Most of the case sells for $1.50 to $3. It holds Portuguese-style egg tarts with brûléed custard, matcha-tinted pineapple buns, corn buns with flower-shaped sprinkles, cheese-and-pork-floss breads, durian pastries, and cream buns rolled in pork floss and seaweed. The bakery is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the Inquirer described a "relentless line" around lunch.

That makes two lines on the same block. The lunchtime line at 109 is for $2 buns in a storefront the neighborhood has known for close to 30 years.

50 North 10th brought its name from Lewisburg

Hen Ji Hou Wei Xuan Cheung Fun opened at 50 N. 10th St. at the end of January. Susie Ruan and her husband, Jackie, previously ran a restaurant with the same name in Lewisburg that served Chinese-American classics and hot pot. In Chinatown they narrowed the menu to Cantonese steamed rice rolls. According to the Inquirer's March review, the rolls are made to order and filled with beef or char siu pork. The menu also includes beef-bone broth, fish-ball skewers, and large bowls of congee. The shop is counter seating and takeout only, open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

If you want to compare rice rolls, Yin Ji Rice Roll at 908 Cherry St. is a short walk away. Most rolls there cost $8 to $10, and the shop opens daily at 8 a.m. In 2025, Philadelphia magazine described the Cherry Street location as an independent restaurant run by chef Binyin Zhao. The Inquirer's September roundup lists Yin Ji among the year's franchise openings. The two outlets classify it differently, and neither explains how the local operator relates to the brand.

1001 Race reopened with the next generation running it

The most recent change in Chinatown came at one of its oldest restaurants. David's Mai Lai Wah opened in 1982 under David Chan, a Hong Kong native, and is known for its salt-and-pepper chicken wings. It had been takeout-only since 2020, though its neon "Eat In Take Out" sign stayed lit. On a Monday in late September, it quietly reopened its renovated dining room.

According to the Inquirer's Oct. 1 report, the uneven floor was leveled and replaced, the pink tablecloths and glass tabletops are gone, and a new bar sits under a green neon sign reading "Mai Lai Wah," which means "beautiful magnificence." The walls are papered with photographs of Hong Kong's neon signs, along with one image of the Friendship Arch, which stands a few steps from the door.

David Chan still owns the restaurant. His daughter, Priscilla Chan, is the general manager, and she and her husband, Barry Li, run it day to day. They replaced a handwritten ordering system with a new point-of-sale system and focused the menu on the salt-and-pepper wings, shrimp, and scallops. "I know a lot of people really love the roast duck but it's incredibly difficult and really expensive," Chan told the Inquirer, adding that it might come back one day. Li wrote a cocktail list that includes a yuzu margarita, a ginger Old Fashioned, and an espresso martini made with Vietnamese coffee. The restaurant is open for dine-in and takeout, with no delivery, from 4 p.m. to 2:15 a.m., and last call is at 2 a.m.

The city's plan for local vendors starts in the park

The Chinatown Stitch, the City's plan to build a park over I-676 between 10th and 12th Streets, also covers small, independent businesses. During the City's engagement rounds, many people asked for places to sit, gather, and sell. The City responded this summer by installing three modular "market stalls," built of wood and red metal, in Chinatown Community Park. They can be rearranged for vending, seating, or play, and the City calls them a preview of the community spaces the Stitch will add. The stalls were used for a Market Stall and Movie Night on Aug. 6 that included local vendors.

Here is where the rest of the project stands, based on the City's Oct. 23 update and City & State Pennsylvania's September reporting:

• Design is funded. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission allocated $10 million and the City added a $2.5 million match for engineering and construction documents.
• Most construction money is not. City & State reported that nearly all of the earlier federal construction grant was rescinded, leaving about $150 million of an estimated $200 million project unfunded.
• Final design elements are expected sometime in 2027, combining options residents responded to this summer, including playground themes, a Rail Park connection, and Winter Street landscaping.
• Construction-ready in 2029. After that, the pace depends on funding, and Phase I could open in the mid-2030s.

The City is also writing an Equity Plan alongside the design. Its stated goal is that the people who built Chinatown and have lived there can stay once the park opens. Until then, the three stalls are the only part of the Stitch you can use.

On Vine Street this month

The Stitch's planned safety work runs along Vine Street from 9th to Broad. On that stretch, Asian Arts Initiative at 1219 Vine St. has three programs in the next two weeks:

• Careoke Club Vol. 2, Friday, Nov. 6, 7 to 9 p.m., Black Box Theater, $10 to $25.
• River Full of Fruit in concert, Thursday, Nov. 12, 8 to 9:30 p.m., $15 in advance or $20 at the door.
• Black + Gold Artists Exchange pop-up exhibition, Nov. 13 to 15, with an opening reception Nov. 13 from 6 to 8 p.m., free or pay what you wish.

Details are on Asian Arts Initiative's program pages.

The Robin Gordon Group follows Center City block by block, including which storefronts change hands and which stay in the same family. If you own near the Friendship Arch and want a candid read on how this year's turnover along 10th Street affects your plans, Contact Robin.