St. Paul’s HmongTown Marketplace faces foreclosure, leaving longtime vendors uncertain

For two decades, Mai Xiong’s family has greeted and served food to many travelers, Hmong families and schoolchildren on field trips to HmongTown Marketplace. Xiong and her husband operate Annie’s Restaurant, which they took over 10 years ago from her brother. “I think everybody is pretty much rooted here,” she said of the vendors. Several vendors who spoke to Sahan Journal called HmongTown Marketplace a landmark, an economic engine and a longtime gathering spot for elders to reconnect in the Hmong community. But HmongTown Marketplace could close after St. Cloud-based Stearns Bank sued owner Toua Xiong in mid-September, seeking $6.6 million in loans, interest and late fees. “It’s the main source of income for a lot of us vendors,” Mai Xiong said of the marketplace. “It was really shocking.” Toua Xiong opened HmongTown Marketplace at 217 Como Ave. in 2004 with more than 200 vendors. Originally a lumberyard, the complex took years to convert into a shopping center with ai