The New York department store which claims it was the world's first Chinese-American store is back in business after a forced closure.
Pearl River Mart has been serving the city for almost 50 years. But rising rent prices brought the shutters down on the iconic store last year.
Now, it's back to doing what it was conceived to do, building better US-China relations.
Nick Harper reports from New York.
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Since 1971 Pearl River Mart has been offering a little slice of China in the Big Apple.
It was originally opened at a time of frosty relations between China and the US.
The founder Ming Yi Chen hoped his "friendship" store in New York's Chinatown could encourage cultural relations.
His daughter-in-law Joanne Kwong now acts as president of the company.
SOT - Joanne Kwong: "He thought that his neighbors in New York, who were very open minded and curious people would enjoy the items which were for the home. I think we started with slippers and soy sauce and communist-style caps, and lo and behold New York loved it."
But it wasn't always easy. Kwong says her father-in-law was regularly visited by the FBI. Others thought he was spy.
But he persevered in the hope of extending what he saw as Chinese outreach to the New York community.
His wife Ching Yeh Chen says that perseverance paid off.
SOT - Ching Yeh Chen: "At the very beginning our customers are 95%, or even 99% Chinese immigrants from China. So sat that time the most popular products were things they were familiar with, like soy sauce. But through there last 45 years things have changed so much that right now our customers are 95% general American including people from all over the world."
Today, food products remain popular, but ceramics and clothing are among the store's best selling items.
And there's a vast array of items, from the kitsch to the cultural: Paper lanterns, kites, lucky cats, fans, dolls and figurines, sticks of incense. Something for the store's diverse mix of customers.
VOXES - "It's like being in the Emperor's Palace without even being in China. That's what I really love about this store."
"I was most looking at the dishes maybe if I see some hand-woven stuff, I'd love a pair of slippers that are just raffia sorta-typa-thing."
Last year, the store was unexpectedly forced to close after its rent in the Soho area of the city increased fivefold.
There was an outpouring of support from customers and fans, prompting the owners to open in a new location in TriBeCa.
SOT - Joanne Kwong: "There still is need for this cross-cultural joy and New York is just an example to the world where people co-habitate and work and create side by side, and they create amazing things because of each other, because of that interaction with each other. So it's that very egalitarian ethos that has really fueled Pearl River."
Kwong now hopes to modernize the current New York store, and expand the brand across the country, potentially opening Pearl River outlets in other major US cities.
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