"For Korean women, it's hard to find clothes that fit in American stores," she explained.
Like some of her Korean commercial neighbors, Kim said she has no reason to join the Chamber of Commerce. She spreads word of her shop through Korean churches or friends or by advertising in some of the area's 14 daily and weekly Korean publications.
Kay Kim of CeCi Fashion says that 90 percent of her clients are Korean and that her supplies are imported from Korea.
(Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)
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Korean Christian bookstore owner Rosa Eun said: "I'm trying to get the Korean signs out there so Korean people can realize this is a Korean religious book place. It's better for business."
For the immigrants, having a Koreatown is a source of pride and comfort. The enclave took off in the early 1990s, as a collection of restaurants, dry cleaners and stores -- evidence of the ethnic group's burgeoning presence.
Koreans have newer outposts in Centreville, Rockville and other suburbs. There also are now billion-dollar Korean business chains, such as the supermarkets Lotte, Super H-Mart and Grand Mart. There are 51 South Korean-based companies that have opened branches in Fairfax, more than from any other country.
In Annandale, wealthy Korean ventures are snatching up prime commercial properties. In July, the downtown's largest shopping center -- which houses the Kmart on John Marr Drive -- was purchased for about $9 million by a U.S.-Korean partnership led by Gaithersburg lawyer Brian Kim.
"I think Annandale is going to be one of those Koreatowns like in Los Angeles or New York, whether the chamber of commerce likes it or not," Kim said.
Many of the landowners started small and saved big.
John Chung and his wife owned several liquor stores in the District and Maryland, often working as long as 14 hours a day, seven days a week. The family saved what it could and invested the money in small real-estate deals. In 2001, it had enough to purchase the Great World Plaza, a strip mall in Annandale, for $6.2 million. All but one of the shops there are Korean.
The emergence of such a strong Korean business base has sapped clout from the Annandale Chamber of Commerce, some city officials said.
"It has been a struggle to get Koreans to join," said Robert Vaughn, the chamber's president and the director of continuing education at Northern Virginia Community College.
"They spend a lot of long hours working their business, and they don't have time to come to our meetings," he said. "We have to let people know that Annandale has an awful lot to offer other than the Korean business establishment. . . . That's the most visible because when you see signs and you see the businesses, then you can get an impression from that. . . . But that's not what makes Annandale what it is."
Civic leaders also noted that few Koreans live in Annandale. Less than 7 percent of Annandale's residents are Korean, and whites make up the majority with nearly 65 percent, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. That residential divide has made it difficult to fulfill the new-urban vision -- now popular with planners -- for a pedestrian-friendly Village Centre that serves the neighborhood, officials said.
Language and cultural barriers also have proved difficult to overcome. A few years ago, several civic leaders and Supervisor Penelope A. Gross (D-Mason) invited Korean business owners to a rare joint meeting to urge them to participate in an initiative to spruce up Annandale's downtown.
Gross said she remembers a lot of culturally mixed messages. In many cases, the Korean shopkeepers, most of whom were working more than 12 hours a day, said they were too busy to be active in the beautification effort.
In response to the idea that Annandale needed a "walkable" downtown, "someone started suggesting that we build a shopping plaza underground and that was something that he [had] in Korea, and those of us who were not Korean were sort of aghast," Gross said. "That's not the way we do it here, but it gave me the sense that we are dealing with some real cultural differences."
Not all Koreans in Annandale believe the community should be called Koreatown. Paul Im, who runs a hardware store, said the label encourages Koreans to isolate from the rest of society.
"We have to assimilate ourselves into an American way of life and become part of the country, rather than creating a Korean community," Im said. "But even if Koreans are living here, they say, 'Korea, Korea, Korea, we have to teach our children the Korean way of life.' But I'm more American than Korean. . . . Because of how I feel, I don't mix too well with them."
Young Kim, the Korean American Association president, said he believes "it's time for Koreans to join the mainstream." He said second- and third-generation Koreans will lead the way.
"What I'm afraid of right now is that in Koreatown in Los Angeles, some people don't have any problem living without speaking any English at all," he said. "I don't want it to be the same here because Annandale is not just for Korean Americans."
