On September 25, Taiwan's largest potsticker chain held a pre-opening event at 2540 Old Denton Road on the same day as Taiwan's Mid-Autumn Festival. Carrollton council members were there, Hoodline reported. Bafang Yunji opened that storefront in October as its first location anywhere in Texas.
Bafang was the third this year. Since June, three Asian food and drink brands have opened their first store in a new market on the same short stretch of Old Denton Road near the President George Bush Turnpike. The reason they ended up here goes back to a department store that closed almost two decades ago.
Three Firsts Within a Few Doors
| Brand | Where it started | Carrollton address | Opened | What makes it a first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smoking Tiger Bread Factory | Southern California, 2020 | 2225 Old Denton Road | Early June 2026 | First store outside California |
| Molly Tea | Shenzhen, China, 2021 | 2540 Old Denton Road, Suite 122 | Aug. 10, 2026 | First North Texas shop |
| Bafang Yunji | Taiwan | 2540 Old Denton Road | October 2026 | First Texas store |
Two of the three share one address. The third is a short drive down the road. None of these brands needed to build an audience from nothing. They opened where one was already shopping for groceries.
The Plaza H Mart Revived in 2008
The cluster dates to the Great Recession. When Mervyn's went bankrupt, the retail plaza it anchored at Old Denton Road and the George Bush Turnpike was left to wither. H Mart opened there in 2008. Carrollton put $700,000 into freshening up the plaza, and city officials said at the time that Korean immigrant investors put in a lot more money than anyone expected, according to a 2023 Dallas Morning News editorial.
In that 2023 piece, the editorial board described 99 Ranch Market holding the opposite side of the intersection. It said H Mart was surrounded by Korean barbecue restaurants, sushi and ramen spots, bakeries and professional offices. D Magazine described the area as three strip malls clustered around Old Denton Road and the turnpike, with H Mart as the anchor. The city's economic development office now pitches the area to businesses as the "Korea Town District." It says the district has grown over the past two decades into a hub for dining, shopping, entertainment and culture.
That history explains the 2026 openings. A large grocery store brings regular, repeat visits, and the restaurants, bakeries and tea shops around it pick up the shoppers on their way in and out. Once a corridor has that kind of traffic, it becomes the easiest place in North Texas for an overseas or out-of-state brand to try its first store. Hoodline described the Bafang storefront as part of a corridor that Carrollton officials promote for international dining, alongside Gen Korean BBQ and Kura Revolving Sushi.
A Bakery Built to Feel Like Seoul
Smoking Tiger's marketing director, Andy Lee, told The Dallas Morning News that the brand came to Carrollton because of the growth happening in North Texas and Texas overall, especially with other food and beverage brands moving in. "It really felt natural," he said.
The Carrollton store is a less common format for the brand. Smoking Tiger runs 10 "coffee labs" built around specialty drinks. It has only two "bread factories," which center on fresh bread, pastry and the occasional new item from its test kitchen, and Carrollton is one of those two. The room is about 4,000 square feet and lined with vertical mahogany panels, which Lee told the paper are common in South Korean cafes and in traditional houses called hanoks.
The name comes from Korean folklore. Old stories often begin "back when tigers used to smoke," a phrase that points to the faraway past.
These were the signature items and prices the paper listed in August 2026:
- Cream Cheese Garlic Bread, $6.75, the item Smoking Tiger is best known for in California
- Original Salt Bread, $4.75
- Kimchi Musubi Croissant, $5.75
- Honey Bori Latte, $6.75, made with barley milk and salted honey cold foam
- Banana Milk Latte and Sweet Corn Latte, $6.50 each
A Local Owner Bringing Brands to His Own Plaza
Molly Tea took a different route to Old Denton Road. A local operator brought it in. Hui Chen, the franchisee, has lived in Dallas-Fort Worth for more than 10 years and owns other area businesses, including the TESO Life department store in the same plaza as his Molly Tea, The Dallas Morning News reported. "Its floral aroma tea is very well-known in China and very special," Chen told the paper. "We hoped to bring it to the D-FW area."
The brand launched in Shenzhen in 2021, began expanding abroad in 2024 and now has more than 2,000 stores worldwide. It grew on Instagram and TikTok on the strength of its jasmine aroma, pink look and merchandise such as charms and magnets. The Carrollton shop is about 1,600 square feet, finished in pink and light wood, with cushioned seating. Its opening menu featured Premium Jasmine Milk Tea at $6.99 and Snowy Jasmine at $7.99, which is made with jasmine whipped cream and pecan.
Chen's plans also show where Carrollton sits in the order. He called this location the first step in Molly Tea's North Texas expansion. Stores in Plano and Frisco are planned for around spring 2027, and he plans more than 20 additional Molly Teas across Texas over the next two years. For now, residents of Plano and Frisco who want the drink come to Carrollton for it.
The Dumpling Line California Is Watching
Bafang Yunji shows how far the test-market role now goes. Hoodline reported that the Carrollton store uses a stripped-down quick-service format: an assembly line instead of the made-to-order setup at the chain's California locations.
The numbers come from the company's own earnings call. Citing BigGo Finance's coverage, Hoodline reported that Bafang told investors during its fiscal 2026 second-quarter call that the Carrollton line served 100 to 120 customers per hour. In California, customers faced waits of about 20 minutes for made-to-order items. Management is now considering converting some California stores to the format Carrollton is testing.
So the dumpling counter beside Molly Tea is more than a regional outpost. Results from Old Denton Road may shape how the chain runs its California stores.
What's Coming Next
The cluster keeps adding tenants. Chicha San Chen, a Taiwanese tea brand, opened in Carrollton in January 2025. Its announced address was 2225 Old Denton Road, Suite 130, the same address as Smoking Tiger.
Next door at 2235 Old Denton Road, Suite 280, owner Nghi Tran confirmed plans for Pho Soul, a new Vietnamese concept, What Now Dallas reported in August. Permit filings put construction work between September and December 2026.
Every newcomer named here since early 2025 landed at 2225, 2235 or 2540 Old Denton Road, within a short drive of the H Mart that refilled an empty Mervyn's plaza in 2008. Our Carrollton neighborhood page covers more of the city around it, and our DFW dining roundup has more places to try across the region.
Robert and Lisa at Alvarez Signature Group follow how new tenants change commercial corridors like Old Denton Road, and they're glad to talk about what that activity means for nearby homes and retail property. Get in Touch.
