SEATTLE — The sidewalks of Seattle’s Chinatown-International District were bustling Sunday afternoon, in the hours leading up to two large events in the neighborhood: the Seafair Chinatown Parade and Taylor Swift at Lumen Field for night two of her Eras Tour. The neighborhood's boba tea shops saw lines out the door.
But despite the presence of Swift fans, owners and managers of many sit-down restaurants in the CID said business was anything but swift.
"Honestly, it’s been even more slow than the All-Star Week," said Hai, who preferred not to share his last name. He owns Baegopa, a Korean Barbecue restaurant on 7th Ave. South, offering all-you-can-eat options.
Tim Zhou, manager at Chengdu Taste, said the same thing about the turnout at his Chinese food restaurant.
"I can see a lot of people walking around the city, but they just don’t come to the restaurants for food," said Zhou.
Hai said that at Baegopa last summer, however, they, "had lines out the door."
"We actually did super, super well," he said.
Zhou echoed that sentiment. He said sales dropped this summer by 50%.
"Last summer, it wasn’t like this... it’s horrible," he said.
So what changed?
"I don’t know why, but, I can’t figure it out," said Zhou.
Zhou is not sure, but he and Hai are both asking local leaders to help them get stadium goers into seats at their tables.
"Maybe the city can promote us? Like, promote the Chinatown?” said Zhou.
Since this weekend saw so many events happening at once, including Bite of Seattle, the Capitol Hill Block Party, and other aforementioned events, Hai hopes event planners take a different approach.
"Maybe have like the Bite of Seattle be spread out from like a Taylor Swift or like a team like the [Toronto] Blue Jays come in, or something like that," said Hai.
He wonders if the resulting high demand for lodging, parking, and more made stadium goers strapped for cash.
"Maybe people just kinda went all out this weekend, right?” said Hai.
Both restauranteurs said they just want to be included in conversations with local economic leaders.
"More than happy to talk to anybody," said Hai.
CID advocate Tanya Woo, who is also running for Seattle City Council, told King 5 she is planning on bringing these concerns to the attention of the Seattle Sports Commission at their next debriefing.