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Meet the Mother-Daughter Duos Behind Pacific Mercantile and Truong An Gifts
The two long-standing family enterprises are at the heart of Denver’s hubs for Asian American culture, community, and commerce.Patricia Kaowthumrong •  
On a frigid Monday morning in late December, Jolie Noguchi leads me through Pacific Mercantile Co. in Sakura Square, a grocery store her family has owned for nearly 77 years. It’s 7:30 a.m. and the shop’s doors won’t open to customers for another hour and a half. Jolie walks me past refrigerator cases filled with containers of fresh miso and colorful cellophane-wrapped logs of kamaboko (steamed fish cakes). We pass by shelves neatly stacked with a kaleidoscopic array of instant udon, ramen, and yakisoba noodles, wrapped in compact single-serving packages. As we wander, Jolie cheerfully gives me a rundown of the different types of osechi, the foods traditionally eaten during the upcoming Japanese New Year. ....

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