The Sunset Connection - Perspectives from SF's Sunset Neighborhood

SarangHello, Sunset!

• Jessica J. Ho

Share episode

Send us a text

 There’s a K-Pop store in the Sunset District.
 Yeah, you read that right.
 In a neighborhood better known for dimsum than fandom, SarangHello has become a magnet for teens, stans, and anyone chasing joy. Jessica talks with owner Kevin Roger Teng about how he and his business partners, Pip and Ches, built a community hub out of pure love for K-Pop, and what it means when new energy moves into old neighborhoods. 

Stay Connected

📌 Listen on Buzzsprout
📷 Follow on Instagram
📘 Like us on Facebook
▶️ Watch on YouTube
✉️ Email: jessica.jasmine.ho@gmail.com

Subscribe, share, and leave a review — it helps more neighbors find the show!

The Sunset Connection — exploring the stories and histories that connect us.

Jessica:

Alright. Um, so if you've ever walked down Taravel and seen a long line of young people wrapped around the block, you might have asked yourself, what incarnation is that? Well, if you're like me, an elder millennial who still remembers Limewire and Dial-up and Napster, you might not totally understand the global phenomenon that is K-pop. But believe it or not, the only dedicated K-pop store in San Francisco is right here in the Sunset District, Sarang Halo. Since opening in 2020, Sarang Hello has been a destination. Fans drive from all over the Bay Area, from San Jose, Oakland, and beyond just to pick up some new albums, lights, and merch. But what they leave with is something bigger: a sense of community, excitement, and a sense of belonging too that feels far from sold, but somehow still connected. Kevin's store doesn't just sell things, it moves people. And what's wild is that it's all happening right here in the sunset, a neighborhood that's not exactly known for its youth culture. So today we have its owner, Kevin Tang, joining us to talk about it. We're talking about how Sarangal came to be, what K-pop culture means for the new generation of Gen Z, and how Kevin turned a niche idea into a full-blown cultural anchor on Terrible Street. Welcome, Kevin.

Kevin:

Thank you so much. And I just want to say I love the term elder millennial. It sounds so wise. And I feel I am also an elder millennial because I grew up with limoire and startup. I mean, not dial-up.

Jessica:

Yep. And dial up just died.

Kevin:

Just, yeah, yeah. And it's dead now. Yeah. And yeah, but thank you so much, Jessica, for having me.

Jessica:

Yeah, no, and so glad that you're here. Um, I don't really understand K-pop. So this is gonna be really like informative for me. Although I know it's not an age thing because my aunt loves K-pop. And I bought her a blanket of BTS for her for Christmas last year. She loved it. So I know it's not like just for young people, but like I know that's like where your crowd draws from, right?

Kevin:

Yeah, it's definitely all ages. I would I love using the term multi-generational. Yes. Uh and it's it's just like one of those things where people have very different tastes in music. Right. But I think the way K-pop music is produced in Korea is very unique and very creative, and I would say, in their marketing. And I think that's what draws a lot of people in. And it could also draw a lot of new people in. And I think it's also okay for people to not feel that resonation with K-pop because it's a different type of genre of music. And I think that's totally fine. I think that's what makes it super fun and super different and makes people very curious as to why it is now such a big thing right now compared to like five years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It used to be super niche.

Jessica:

I was watching a K-pop video at the Pots.

Kevin:

Yeah, I love the Pots, yeah.

Jessica:

Yeah, they like constantly play K-pop there. That's where I learned most of my K-pop.

Kevin:

Okay.

Jessica:

And there was like little John with the K-pop crew, and I'm like, what? What are you doing there, little John?

Kevin:

He's like, what up? Yeah. Yeah. It's just, I think, you know, K-pop, I think it's just super fun and again, it's super creative. And I think one of the best things about K-pop is its positivity and wholesomeness of the music videos. And I think that's why it's very multi-generational. You'll see families come together fanning over like armies like BTS, and because there's also a lot of backstory as to how to become a K-pop idol, and people resonate really well with that. People feel connected with that.

Jessica:

Yeah, so how did you get into it?

Kevin:

I was like a fan of girls' generation, very casual. I'm a very casual fan of K-pop, like back in like 2012, 2013. I remember 21, uh, mostly because of Sandera Park. Sandera Park um was very popular back in the Philippines when I was living there. And it was just very on and off. I would hear K-pop music here and there because of my cousin. She's a huge K-pop fan, even up to this saying age. I would say she's like generation zero of K-pop. And so it's just been on and off. And then I think it all started back in 2020, or even 2019, I think late 2019. And at that time, I was working as a software engineer.

Jessica:

Wow.

Kevin:

And with all honesty, and just like all other tech workers, felt super burnt out, felt super unfulfilled, and was not very sure about where my career is headed towards. And I wasn't feeling inspired, and I wanted to do something um that felt a little bit more fulfilling. Um, something that could actually bring my business background because I'm a business major and I have hospitality experience and also a blend of like tech skills. Then one night I was having dinner with my two housemates, Pip and Chess, who are now my business partners, and they had just come back from a trip from Florida, and as usual, in the living room, they're blasting K-pop music, K-pop content, whatever, it's just on TV, on loop, and they're both just screaming and squealing. And uh, I just remember BTS Boy with Love, I think just came out at that time, and Chess was just going nuts because she's a huge army, even up to this day. And Chess mentioned that something that really stuck with me, and she said that there were no K-pop stores here in the Bay Area. Um, and the closest thing to her getting K-pop merchandise or even K-pop albums in particular would either be Amoeba or Target, and at that time they barely had any, and so she started showing me like her K-pop albums. She was like screaming, like, Oh my god, look who I got from my photo card. It's V and I love and she loves V. And I think that was a moment where a light bulb just went off for me, and I just thought, wait.

Jessica:

People are willing to pay for this.

Kevin:

Yes, people are willing to pay for this. I'm unaware. I was unaware of this concept of photocards at that time.

Jessica:

I I am too.

Kevin:

Yeah, and I I and I was just like, wait, this is something, there's something here. And so I spent basically like the next couple of days like researching about it, doing my risk assessment, putting together a business plan. And we even went to Stonestown Mall to do like a survey. So imagine like approaching like teens with parents and be like, hey, can I ask you a question? I'm gonna give you a freebie in return. And a lot of that question was like, Oh, do you like K-pop? What do you know about K-pop? What groups do you like? And also, how would you feel if a K-pop store opened here in San Francisco? And we had like a hundred people that signed in our survey, and the results of that survey was very clear that there is a huge demand for a K-pop store in the Bay Area. But obviously the pandemic hit, so we had to make a lot of pivots and changes. We had to build our brand presence online, and you know, kudos really to Pip and Chess because they have consumed K-pop for so long and they have a creative background. So their branding and social media, it really helped pull people in from the virtual space and making people recognize who we are at that time. Yeah.

Jessica:

And when did you guys start your online presence then?

Kevin:

We started that in May of 2020. Yeah.

Jessica:

So when did the brick and mortar store then actually open?

Kevin:

The brick and mortar store opened in November of 2020. So just six months after, and it was during the height of the pandemic.

Jessica:

So, what inspired you to go and open a brick and mortar?

Kevin:

Yes, that's a great question. So it wasn't ideal for us to launch online because there's just so many K-pop stores now online at that time. Oh, interesting. And so there's a lot of competition, right? And so we were just brainstorming and thinking, well, how do we set ourselves apart from this? Well, why not we use our genuine love for K-pop as our brand to draw people in? And that actually worked. And I think at that time we were having online orders, you know, just like a startup. We were working from our garage, from a living room, from my bedroom. And we've had a lot of feedback asking us, hey, is there any way if I ordered something, if I could pick it up?

Jessica:

Yeah.

Kevin:

And, you know, I th I figured, you know, I think this is a great idea. And now that our orders are growing and our house is just getting cluttered with a lot of supplies and K-pop albums, I think it's a good time for us to find an office space to allow people to pick up their albums. Right. I was lucky enough to be referred to a space um along 1901 Terravel Street. And one of my biggest non-negotiables was to be close to a post office. And it made sense because at that time I remember there was a post office along Terravel Street.

Jessica:

So 28th and Terravell.

Kevin:

Yes. So it's a very convenient spot. It is. And we were a block away. Yeah. And it's downhill. So it makes it easier to go down, but you have to go uphill to get back. Yes, uphill to get back, but there's less load to carry when you're going up. Yeah.

Jessica:

Okay.

Kevin:

Yeah. And so I think um we were a block away. We were literally like three houses away from Dumpling Kitchen. It's super small. I think it used to be a dental office. It's now a chiropractic office. So you can just imagine how small that space is. And we intended it to just be an office space or a pickup space.

Jessica:

Right.

Kevin:

But people in our community were just asking, like, well, can I shop? If I pick something up, can I shop? And so I was thinking, okay, well, let's allow them to shop, but it's also the pandemic, so it's kind of awkward. And the only space that we have is like this 10 by 10, even no, not even 10 by 10, it's probably like a six by six space. So we were only allowing two to three people in. We decorated it up. We have like one of each album that we have, anything that they wanted, they could just ask us and we'd take it from the back. And it was just incredible because people and the dedication of the K-pop community here is on another level. Because on average, people were waiting two to three hours just to get in to shop with us.

Jessica:

That's crazy.

Kevin:

During the pandemic.

Jessica:

Wow.

Kevin:

And I think to me that was very heartwarming. And it really made me realize that um we're on the right direction here.

Jessica:

Are you still at that space?

Kevin:

Um, no. Six months later we moved into another space, which is a block away from the post office, but downhill from the post office. So now we have to every time we ship things up, we have to go uphill. This was on 1900 Terraval Street. It's right across footprint, and right beside us is um Eagle Pizza. But that space also got old really quickly. So uh this was in 2020. We were in that space till um end of 2022 as a retail store, and then eventually we moved to our current spot, which is 2050 Terraville Street, and we converted the old spot into our fulfillment center because we still have a lot of online customers that we needed to appeal to, but also at the same time, we had this vision of what we wanted Sarang Halo to be, and that's kind of what 2050 Terraville Street is right now.

Jessica:

What is your vision?

Kevin:

The vision is to create a space that people can feel safe and heard and seen, and also just a space where they could just be themselves. And so there's this story that me, Pip and Chess love to tell, and we call it the comic book store experience. And you know, growing up, at least for me, I love comics, I love cartoons, and I love anime, and felt a little bit like an outcast. And when we first walked into a comic book store, just seeing all these different comics, seeing other people in there, like that was the kind of feeling that we wanted for our customers to feel when they enter a K-pop store. Because K-pop at that time was very niche, right? Like, I think there's a bit of a judgment if you mention to people, oh, I like K-pop. And they're like, why? Like you don't even understand the language.

Jessica:

That was just five years ago, right?

Kevin:

Yeah, that was just five years ago. And it's not that long ago, yeah, yeah, yeah. Five years and we just had this vision and we just wanted to run with it with whatever resources that we had. And um, yeah, it's just a space that we wanted to people to feel connected and a space that people are able to connect with other people, even and make new friends and possibly transform themselves.

Jessica:

Uh when did you think K-pop actually became mainstream?

Kevin:

Definitely during the pandemic. K culture in general just blew up during the pandemic because I think people just didn't have anything else to do. They didn't have anything else to do. The only source of entertainment that they have is obviously the virtual space. And I think the marketing team of these K-pop agencies did a very good job of reaching out to a more international-based consumer, and I think that's just how it blew up from there.

Jessica:

I wanted to ask about bringing that energy and all of that creativity to Terravel Street. Why did he choose the Sunset District of all places to open up Sarang Halo?

Kevin:

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I used to live in the sunset actually on 22nd in Santiago, and this was back in 2013. I think the sunset just has this, it has a very different vibe, right? Like San Francisco is such a small city, it's seven by seven, and within like a mile or two that you move in whichever direction you go to, it's just a very different vibe for each neighborhood. But the sunset I feel is very cozy, very homey, it has that nostalgic historical feel to it, in all honesty. Very family-oriented. And I think we wanted to make sure that the space or the location that we chose is a space that people feel comfortable in. For me, what was important was because we are catering towards a younger audience who may not have private transportation and would rely on public transportation. I think Terrival Street in particular is very accessible. It's it's just such a vibrant neighborhood. And one thing that I learned about opening a business in a neighborhood like the sunset is everyone is just so nice, everyone is so welcoming, the community is super positive, the local businesses look out for each other, and it it just made sense. It's like one of those feelings where it just clicks when you're there. And you know, growing up, I always imagined myself to be walking along like the corridors of like very vibrant houses, and I think the sunset just encompasses that. And there's just so much to do in the sunset. Like, if you go to our store and you have plant and you don't really have plans after, you could go to the beach if you wanted to. You could go grab boba, you could go to the park. And you know, when we were choosing a spot, um, we didn't really want to change anything in the sunset with our influence. We just wanted to add into that vibrancy to it, that open and welcoming community space where people can just come and meet up. Because we do have a lot of people that meet up at our store. And it's amazing to see, yeah, it's just amazing to see be like, oh yeah, let's just meet up at Sarang Hello, and then you just see people meeting up. Like, whether it'd be a date or it could just be like a friend meetup. Yeah, yeah. We've had we had that one moment where someone was there on a date and we were really nervous because you know, they're there right in front of us, and we're under register, man under boot, and we're like hearing all the conversation. But it's such a sweet moment, though. It's like super, it's just super cute.

Jessica:

Yeah, that is cute. Opening a small business isn't just all vibes and joy, it's a lot of work, it's like a lot of sacrifice, like you said, it's learning about things that are happening outside the world and how they impact us individually, which is a lot for one person's brain to contain. So, one of the things that's happening in real time is that you know, we have a lot of tariffs that have been implemented in the past year, thanks to our current administration and the federal government. And so most of the stuff that you get is from overseas. So, how has that impacted your business?

Kevin:

It was such a huge impact, to be honest. Then just the mention of tariff already, I feel like we've lost money already in a way. Uh, because you're right. Yeah, and you know, just just just discussion of tariff, I think, just brought a lot of uncertainty and fear to consumers that people would be a little bit more conservative to what they would purchase, right? Right. We do have this business model where we offer pre-orders for um our customers to order an album before the release date. And there are perks to that where they would get uh like an extra exclusive photo card if you pre-order with us. But chances are you might not get it once it comes to the store. So this model is kind of very popular among Kpop stores, even in Korea. When we put up these listings for pre-orders, prices are already set. So if you tell us so timing, right? Yeah, the timing is just like not it, it just doesn't work for us in terms of tariff implementation. Yeah, I mean, just the mention of like, oh, the deadline for this tariff is this date, we already know we're gonna lose money. And so I think that uncertainty kind of hurt us a little bit earlier this year, and we've had to make a lot of tough decisions in how we operate, just trying to make better decisions on like what we carry. It's a little upsetting because we pride ourselves in offering variety of like K-pop albums, merchandise, um, anything that you could think of that's K culture. But because of all these drama, that's what I like to call it, it really hinders the way we plan and strategize things. And we definitely had to kind of hold back on a lot of the ideas that we've had, a lot of the things that we wanted to carry. Uh so we're very, very selective now, which is quite unfortunate.

Jessica:

So looking back so far, what's a moment that made you stop and think, yeah, this is why I do this?

Kevin:

Uh another great question. And quite honestly, it was when we moved to our current location, um, 22050 Terraval Street. This was uh late 2022, and I just remember how tired I was. I've never been so tired in my life. It was just nonstop working late nights, just trying to get everything um done uh in time because it was also my first time doing a renovation project for uh space because this the space that we're currently in right now, that used to be a Benjamin Moore, and they were in that space for I think over a decade. So there was just a lot of work to do. And you know, when we um had a grand opening just an hour before we opened, there was already a long line wrapped around the corner. And when we had people come in and we started seeing people sit down in areas unboxing and talking and trading, we're seeing a lot of joy, we're feeling that positive energy, just people being happy was that moment where I just felt like, okay, this is what we envisioned back in 2020. I want to continue keeping this feeling, and I think I feel very humbled and just very, you know, I think just very fulfilled at that time, and it's just something that I want to continue doing, continue to give back to the community because the community has given us so much, has given us so m they have given us so much love and support. So I think just being able to continue to give back and forth creates that type of ecosystem. Yeah.

Jessica:

That's really beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. I think that you know it's it's clear to me that uh you're doing something that you love and you're getting paid for it, which is the dream, right?

Kevin:

It is a dream, yeah. I think it's everyone's, yeah. 100%.

Jessica:

Would you say that you're much happier now compared to when you were in uh software?

Kevin:

I would say yes. 100% happier. Um, I think you know, it's funny because I had a conversation with my mom the other day and I asked her, Did you ever imagine I would open up a store, become an entrepreneur? And she flat out said no. And I think you know, it's Asian mom. It's such an Asian mom, exactly. And I think uh for me, everything that I do in my life, I always want to make sure that I do it to make my parents proud, and I think that's um very normal for us Asians. And I think hearing that mom that those words from my mom saying, you know, I'm proud of you for doing what you're doing right now, I think it's amazing. And it's not easy though, you know, it's not easy, it's definitely a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifices. Um, but at the end of the day, I think my mindset has changed completely on how I approach a lot of problems and how I come up with solutions for problems. And you know, being a business owner is 24-7.

Jessica:

24-7.

Kevin:

It's all about problem solving.

Jessica:

I'm so tired.

Kevin:

I am I'm very tired too, but you know, um, I am I think we're doing something. We're different. We're doing something different, right? And I think I love the flexibility of owning a business as well. I love the project, a different project. It's just different every day, it's not the same thing that I have to tackle on a daily basis. And I feel like it's nice to have um a bit of control as well as to what I do, what I want to do, and what I don't want to do.

Jessica:

So we're gonna move into trivia.

Kevin:

Trivia. I'm nervous now. Don't be fine. I'm extra nervous now.

Jessica:

Question one. Which of these K-pop groups have never performed at Coachella as of 2025? A. Black Pink, B, a T C two, N E one. Is that how you do it?

Kevin:

Uh-huh. Yeah, 21.

Jessica:

Literally the name is 21.

Kevin:

Yeah, it's called 21, yeah.

Jessica:

Or D BTS.

Kevin:

BTS. D BTS, yes.

Jessica:

Yes, they're they have not performed at Coachella, but the other three have.

Kevin:

They have, yeah, and it's amazing, yeah. And I think um the black pink uh coachel performance was very iconic. And but I mean, honestly, all three have been really good. Especially 21. I think 21 is a group that I I grew up with, and just being able to see them come back together as a group to do a coachel performance brought a lot of nostalgic feelings back.

Jessica:

That's great. Okay, question two. What Kop star statement literally means great in English? A Taong B Dragon B hot or Dom.

Kevin:

I would like to say D-R-D-Dragon.

Jessica:

Yes, yes.

Kevin:

Great, yes.

Jessica:

Okay, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. Oh, this is a good one. What's the name of the massive entertainment company behind B D S? Oh, okay. A Y G Entertainment, B J Y P Entertainment, D H Y B E form formerly Big Hit Entertainment or D SM Entertainment.

Kevin:

It is definitely um C Hive or Big Hit Entertainment.

Jessica:

Correct! Good job. Well, you are now officially the pro on T-Fox 3 out of 3. Three out of three of the ones we know that were correct. LA. Thank you so much for joining me today and talking about your business and sharing with us your journey and really excited to see how Sarong Hello is going to continue to evolve over the years and bring joy in the sunset.

Kevin:

Yeah, no, thank you so much for having me. Um I enjoyed um this conversation, just sharing, really, and thank you for giving um me the opportunity to kind of just share what our community has built.

Jessica:

Thank you so much. All right.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jessica J. Ho

Host