Inside Sakura Novi's new retail and dining hub

• The project is testing whether a concept more common on the coasts can work in Metro Detroit.

🚙 Axios Detroit took a field trip to Sakura Novi this month.

• Before going, we'd seen online chatter questioning if the development is a true walkable destination or just a glorified strip mall — and whether it's really built for Asian American Metro Detroiters.

Zoom in: The mix of uses stood out during our visit.

🍰 We started at Paris Baguette, a South Korean bakery-cafe chain.

• QR codes inside the shop advertised Sakura's residences — a telling sign of the development's interconnectedness.
• We split a meal-in-one pastry: hash brown bread with ham, mozzarella and a drizzle of ketchup.

🧸 From there, we checked out Klawsome!, a claw machine arcade with cute plushy prizes.

• Joe nabbed a toy on his first-ever try, while Annalise devastatingly missed time after time in her mission for a stuffed capybara.

📗 BookOff was next, a Japanese resale chain that opened earlier this year with a nostalgic mix of secondhand video games, anime figurines, graphic novels, CDs, DVDs, books and records.

🍣 By lunchtime, the only sit-down option was Chubby Cattle Wagyu Shabu House, an upscale hotpot restaurant with meals starting around $50.

• The price point sent us across the street instead for sushi at One World Market.

🏠 Living: Sakura Novi includes 176 apartments, with more than 100 already completed. Leasing began in February.

What's next: More tenants are on the way, including a U.S.-based Japanese department store chain called Teso Life with cosmetics, food, home goods and toys.

• Others will include the Dancing Pine, a high-end Korean steakhouse; a tea shop; Sumo Japanese Grill, a quick-service hibachi eatery; and a Korean skincare store.
• Sakura Novi developer Scott Aikens says there's retail space left to fill, and they're seeking tenants offering health, beauty, fitness, sushi, ramen or dessert.

How the Sakura vision unfolded

The blend of amenities isn't accidental.

Catch up quick: The idea has been years in the making, going back to at least 2016 — rooted in Novi's longstanding ties to Japanese businesses and inspired by similar retail hubs in coastal cities.

What they're saying: Aikens says he worked with local officials and the Japanese consulate-general to create a more international, market-style destination.

• "We've seen a lot of these internationally themed retail projects coming up on the East Coast and West Coast and now in Texas and Atlanta," says Aikens.

The big picture: City leaders say the project represents a $55 million private investment and reflects decades of demographic change. Asian Americans make up about 28% of Novi's population, nearly double the share in 2010, per the Detroit News.

• "The project helps attract and retain global talent — particularly expatriate professionals and their families — by offering culturally familiar amenities and housing in one place," city manager Victor Cardenas told Axios in an email.

For tenants like BookOff, the bet is already getting results.

• Manager Yasuko Kitajima told Axios that the store is seeing steady foot traffic early on as the company expands beyond its New York and California locations.
• "[Business has been] quite good," she said. "Many customers are coming now."