Since July 2025, a few blocks around Prince Street have picked up two first U.S. locations and two first New York City stores. NaiSnow and Nong Geng Ji opened their first American locations here. 99 Ranch Market and MoreYogurt opened their first stores in the city. MUJI added its first Queens store over the same stretch.
Each opening alone is a new place for lunch or a new tea shop. Taken together, they show that downtown Flushing has become the place where a brand coming from Shenzhen, from overseas, or from the West Coast first tries out New York. Brands that started in Manhattan have also treated Flushing as their next address.
The record, opening by opening
Here is what opened, in order, using each brand's own claim about what the location is a first of.
| Opened | Brand | Address | What it's the first of |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 25, 2025 | 99 Ranch Market | 37-11 Main St. | First New York City store |
| Oct. 3, 2025 | NaiSnow | 39-07 Prince St. | First U.S. store |
| Jan. 18, 2026 | Nong Geng Ji | 135-15 37th Ave. | First U.S. location |
| June 12, 2026 | MUJI | 133-33 39th Ave., Tangram | First Queens store |
| July 1, 2026 | Mixue | 41-01 Kissena Blvd. | Not a first; follows LA and Manhattan |
| Sept. 27, 2026 | MoreYogurt | 37-05 Prince St. | First New York City shop |
Five of the six sit within a few blocks of the Prince Street and 39th Avenue corner. Two of them are on Prince Street alone. Mixue on Kissena Boulevard is the outlier on the map, and it is also the only one in the table that isn't a first.
Prince Street, where the U.S. debuts landed
NaiSnow was the first of the overseas debuts. QNS reported that the Chinese bakery and tea brand has more than 1,200 locations, mainly in China. Its Flushing shop at 39-07 Prince St. is the brand's first-ever U.S. store. It held a ribbon cutting on Oct. 2, 2025, and opened its doors on Oct. 3. Eater's October 2025 openings roundup gives Oct. 2 as the U.S. debut date, so a week of last October counts as NaiSnow's first anniversary here.
The emcee at that opening described the move in the brand's own words.
"We came all the way from Shenzhen to New York, from China to the world."
That line ran in QNS's coverage of the ribbon cutting. The New York in that line meant a storefront on Prince Street.
The newest debut is farther up the same street. MoreYogurt made its New York City debut at 37-05 Prince St. this fall. A soft opening ran Sept. 27 to 29, followed by grand-opening promotions Oct. 2 to 4. WhatNow reported that the shop takes the brand beyond its existing international markets, with a menu built around avocado yogurt smoothies and a yogurt Basque cheesecake. NaiSnow and MoreYogurt opened almost exactly one year apart, and both picked the same short stretch of Prince Street for their first shop in the city.
37th Avenue got a Hunan chain's first American kitchen
Nong Geng Ji opened on Jan. 18, 2026, at 135-15 37th Ave., near Prince Street. Forbes identified it as the Shenzhen-based chain's first U.S. location. The brand was founded in 2017 by chef Guohua Feng and has more than 100 locations in Asia and Canada. Eater NY's January openings list called it the chain's first NYC location and listed signature dishes, including pepper pork stir-fry and high-pressure-cooked sweet-potato rice.
Forbes also explained why the location fills a gap. Flushing has hundreds of Chinese restaurants, the piece noted, but only a handful that specialize in Hunan cooking. That fits the pattern on Prince Street. A brand making its first U.S. bet doesn't need to explain a regional cuisine from scratch on these blocks. It needs to stand out on streets where diners already know the category well.
Independent openings fill the same blocks. Chuan Bistro, on the same stretch of 37th Avenue at 135-21A, held its grand opening on Feb. 12, 2026. QNS described an immersive dining format with performances. Around the corner at 135-38 39th Ave., Xiaozhan Rice Noodle opened in May, according to Eater NY's Queens restaurant guide, last updated Oct. 6. The first-in-America brands are moving onto streets that already turn over new restaurants all the time.
The brands that started elsewhere still came here next
The debut pattern also covers brands that opened their first stores somewhere else.
MUJI had already expanded to several Manhattan locations. When QNS reported the Tangram lease in March, the Japanese brand had committed to 12,001 square feet at 133-33 39th Ave. for its first Queens store, with an opening set for "later this year." It opened ahead of that loose timeline, on June 12, 2026, according to MUJI USA's announcement. MUJI USA president Richard Rappaport explained the choice in the QNS piece. "Flushing is the perfect home for our first store in Queens, NY," he said. Out of the whole borough, the brand's first Queens store went to a mall on 39th Avenue.
Mixue followed a similar route at a different scale. Eater NY reported that the chain opened its first U.S. store in Los Angeles in December 2025, made its NYC debut on Christmas Eve with Times Square billboards, and lists a Midtown location at 805 Eighth Ave. About six months later, on July 1, 2026, it opened at 41-01 Kissena Blvd., as QNS covered. A chain that started with billboards over Midtown had a Flushing storefront within the same half year.
The supermarket that set the scale
The run of firsts started with a much larger store. 99 Ranch Market is an Asian grocery chain that its own release calls a West Coast brand. On July 25, 2025, it opened its first New York City store at 37-11 Main St. That was its 64th store nationwide, according to the company's announcement on PR Newswire. The store covers 37,000 square feet on two floors. That includes a 22,000-square-foot market floor and the 15,000-square-foot EAT UP food court, which was planned for 23 food vendors. Shoppers who spend $99 get free parking. The release also says the company partnered with the Flushing BID.
Compare the sizes. 99 Ranch opened with 37,000 square feet and MUJI with 12,001. NaiSnow and MoreYogurt opened tea and yogurt counters on Prince Street. Debut brands of very different sizes found space here, from a two-floor grocery to a single storefront. A brand's first New York store usually goes where the operator has the most confidence. Over the past 15 months, brands that size have shown that confidence in a few blocks of Flushing.
October on these streets, and a few blocks over
For anyone heading out from the Prince Street corner this month, the newest arrival is MoreYogurt's shop, now past its grand-opening weekend. NaiSnow is farther down Prince Street. The rest of October's calendar comes from long-established institutions nearby.
- Oct. 13, 5 p.m. Opening reception for the Portraits of America exhibition at Flushing Town Hall
- Oct. 14, 7 p.m. Thelonious Monk/Bebop monthly jazz jam, Flushing Town Hall
- Oct. 18 Archtober Family Day, Flushing Town Hall
- Oct. 24, 11 a.m. Autumn Garden Tour at Queens Botanical Garden
- Oct. 31, noon to 5 p.m. Halloween at the Garden, Queens Botanical Garden
- Nov. 1 Diwali Festival: The Indian Wedding, Flushing Town Hall
Archtober Family Day falls on Sunday, Oct. 18. That day, a walk from the Town Hall to Prince Street and over to Tangram passes three of the brands that have chosen Flushing for a first store since last fall.
When a brand opens its first New York store, it reveals which storefronts, block sizes and foot traffic it thinks will work. Since summer 2025, that has repeatedly meant Prince Street and 39th Avenue. Asset CRG handles ground-floor retail leasing and investment sales in Flushing and across Queens. If you own a storefront on one of these blocks, or represent a brand looking at its first New York location, request a property valuation and off-market access from our senior team.
