Eden Center: a visitor's guide

Eden Center sits on Wilson Boulevard near Seven Corners, and from the road it looks like what it started as: a strip mall with a big parking lot. Walk through the gate and it reads very differently. The center counts more than 120 family-owned restaurants, shops, supermarkets, jewelry stores and travel agents, most of them catering to Vietnamese American shoppers, and people drive in from well beyond Northern Virginia to shop and eat there.

This guide covers how the place came to be, how it is laid out, and when its two big festivals fall. It does not rank the restaurants. We list them; you pick.

From Plaza Seven to Eden

The center opened in 1962 as the Plaza Seven Shopping Center, with a Grand Union supermarket and a Zayre discount store as its anchors. Seven Corners was already a busy retail crossroads by then. The nearby Seven Corners Shopping Center had opened in 1956 as one of the first malls in the Washington region.

The change came from a few miles east. After the Vietnam War, refugees settling in Arlington opened groceries, restaurants and jewelers along Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon, and by 1979 the strip was known as Little Saigon. About 5,000 refugees had settled in Arlington by the late 1970s. Then Metro arrived. Clarendon station opened on December 1, 1979, rents rose, and the county encouraged redevelopment. When the Grand Union at Plaza Seven closed in 1984, displaced Vietnamese merchants began moving into the empty space.

A cluster of those stores took the name Eden, after the Eden Arcade market in Saigon, and put up an "Eden" sign. The name spread until it covered the whole center. The center's own site dates its present life to 1984.

The clock tower and the lion arch

The owners renovated the center in 1996 and added Saigon West, a 32,400-square-foot space. The owners also added two landmarks, both inspired by Ben Thanh Market in Saigon. The first is the clock tower. The center describes it as a reminder of the home left behind for the thousands of immigrants who settled around Washington after 1975. The arch at the Wilson Boulevard entrance is flanked by lions and, in the center's words, honors both Vietnamese and Chinese cultures.

The center flies the flag of South Vietnam, as many Vietnamese-owned businesses in the Washington area do.

How the center is laid out

Most businesses face the parking lot, with doors straight onto the sidewalk, as in any strip mall. The center's directory calls these the sidewalk stores. About 65 more stores and restaurants are inside three enclosed malls, and there are more businesses along the back.

That layout matters for a first visit. A phone map shows the address as a single point, 6751 to 6799 Wilson Boulevard, but the indoor malls hold a large share of the shops. Walk the sidewalk stores first, then go inside. The center's directory sorts its tenants by section (the sidewalk stores, Saigon West and the Eden Mini Mall) and by type (bakeries and delis, cafes and lounges, restaurants, jewelers, fashion, barbers and salons), which helps if you came for one thing.

Parking is free in both the front and the back lots, according to the center. During the holiday season it posts parking assistants and warns that traffic patterns can change at peak times. The center also asks that people using its lot stay on the property, so this is not a place to leave the car for a trip elsewhere.

What the stores sell

Food leads. Restaurants range from carry-out counters selling stir-fry and spring rolls to large pho houses and sit-down dining rooms with long menus. There are bakeries, banh mi delis, supermarkets and shops selling prepared food to take home. Beyond food you will find jewelry stores, herbal medicine shops, clothing and toy stores, travel agents, salons and a few offices.

Nothing here is a recommendation. Menus, prices, hours and tenants change. The center's online directory is the most current list of who is open.

Tet and the Moon Festival

The center holds an annual Tet festival for the Vietnamese New Year and an annual Moon Festival, both with food, performers, fireworks and lion dancing.

Tet falls on the first day of the first month of the lunisolar calendar, usually between late January and February 20. The Moon Festival, called Tet Trung Thu in Vietnamese, falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. In 2026 that was September 25; in 2027 it is September 15. The center sets its own festival days around those dates, so check its events page before you plan a trip around one.

Every September the center also hosts the Miss Vietnam DC scholarship pageant.

City or county?

Eden Center is inside the City of Falls Church, even though its mailing ZIP is 22044, a ZIP that mostly covers Fairfax County addresses. The city's own address rules list 22044 among the ZIPs where a few city properties sit. The Falls Church Police Department has kept a substation at the center since 1997.

Getting there

By car, the main entrance, through the lion arch, is off Wilson Boulevard near Seven Corners, the crossroads of Route 7, US 50 and Wilson Boulevard. Neither Metro station with Falls Church in its name is inside the city; East Falls Church station is in Arlington and West Falls Church station is in Fairfax County. The center suggests a live transit app for bus connections.

Using our listings

We list 32 businesses at Eden Center's addresses across eight of our categories: Asian, Restaurants, Bakeries, Salons and Spas, Professional Services, Shops, Coffee Shops and Bars. Each listing shows a street address and phone number. We have not eaten at or shopped in any of them on your behalf. Hours change, so call ahead, or check the center's directory, before you make a special trip.