Saraga International Grocery is set to anchor a major redevelopment of East Washington Plaza on Indianapolis' east side, planting a fourth Indianapolis location inside the aging shopping center at 7803 E. Washington St. The international grocer, ranked sixth on USA Today's 2025 10Best international food market list, plans to lease about 68,000 square feet at the west end of the plaza's anchor building, with an opening targeted between July and September 2027.
The move comes as property owner Singleton Companies pours between $20 million and $30 million into overhauling the 170,000-square-foot center, according to IndyStar. The redevelopment plan includes new roofs, updated facades, refreshed parking lot lighting and general infrastructure improvements, and it follows the recent departure of Peddler's Mall, which had occupied space at the plaza. Singleton Companies has owned and managed the property for more than three decades, and principal Doug Singleton said the firm connected with Saraga as the right anchor tenant for the site.
A Site With Decades of Retail History
East Washington Plaza sits near I-465 and East Washington Street, and it has cycled through major tenants for three decades, including Service Merchandise, Jewel-Osco and Blockbuster locations, per the same IndyStar report. The plaza's footprint dates back further still — records reviewed by Hiding in Plain Sight show the center was originally built around 1970 as a Turn-Style department store before its long string of re-tenanting cycles. Municipal filings show the property was reshaped for redevelopment years before Saraga signed on: in November 2021, the Metropolitan Development Commission's Plat Committee approved dividing the 17.41-acre parcel into three separate development lots.
The city has also thrown its weight behind the corridor's revival. In November 2024, the Metropolitan Development Commission of Marion County passed Resolution 2024-E-037, establishing an Economic Development Area covering East Washington Plaza — a designation that opens the door to tax increment financing tools for the site. Smaller retailers and restaurants have shown increased interest in space at the plaza as the redevelopment takes shape, the IndyStar report notes.
Saraga's Growing Footprint
Founded by brothers John and Bong Sung, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea, Saraga traces back to a market the pair opened in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1994 before expanding the concept into Indianapolis in 2005. The brand name derives from a Korean word meaning “living,” chosen by the founders to reflect their mission of supplying everyday essentials to diverse international communities, according to Visit Indiana.
Saraga currently operates six stores across Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, including Indianapolis locations at 2308 E. Stop 11 Road, 3605 Commercial Drive and 8448 Center Run Drive, plus Columbus locations at 1265 Morse Road, 2750 S. Hamilton Road and 3353 Cleveland Ave. The chain's Center Run Drive store in Castleton, which opened inside a former Target building in December 2022, became Saraga's largest Central Indiana location and introduced the state's first Tous Les Jours bakery franchise. The company's 62,000-square-foot west-side store on Commercial Drive also weathered an overnight electrical fire in November 2021, which forced a three-month closure and full interior renovation before it reopened in February 2022, per the Indianapolis Business Journal.
The chain's East Washington Plaza location will again pair grocery aisles with a Tous Les Jours French-Asian bakery cafe. Tous Les Jours is operated by CJ Foodville, which had grown to more than 205 North American locations by 2026 with a long-term goal of reaching 1,000 stores by 2030, according to The Korea Herald.
Serving a Dense East-Side Population
Saraga stocks more than 10,000 kinds of foods and goods, and according to the USA Today 10Best ranking, the chain combines flavors of more than 50 countries under one roof, serving Asian, Latin American, African and Middle Eastern grocery needs. Real estate firm CBRE reported that about 548,000 people live within 15 minutes of East Washington Plaza, underscoring the density of the customer base the new store would serve.
Part of a Wider Corridor Comeback
The East Washington Street corridor has drawn other significant investment beyond the Saraga project. About 15.75 acres away at 6301 E. Washington St., Tallen Capital Partners purchased Irvington Plaza in February 2026 with plans for a mixed-use development exceeding $150 million, targeting up to 500 residential units alongside a new grocery anchor, according to Weekly View. That project is designed to align with planned IndyGo Blue Line transit improvements.
Saraga's expansion strategy has also extended into Ohio. Co-founder John Sung purchased Eastland Plaza in Columbus for roughly $13.2 million in spring 2026, part of the same anchor-tenant playbook the company has used to convert large, vacant retail spaces into international food hubs, as Hoodline previously reported. With the East Washington Plaza opening still roughly a year out, construction progress and city approvals remain the milestones to watch before Saraga's fourth Indianapolis store welcomes shoppers.
