Walnut Creek's Ming Quong shop closing after decades of being a radiant light in the community

WALNUT CREEK -- A beloved mom & pop shop on downtown Walnut Creek's Main Street is closing its doors after more than five decades. It is the final chapter for the little store, Ming Quong. 

Among the specialty trinkets, clothing items and jewelry filling their shelves, Ming Quong is a place of history. Customers, like Kathy Butcher of Walnut Creek, have been touched by Ming Quong's co-owner, Nona Mock Wyman.

"An era is leaving, another thing that is out of our world," said Butcher.

Butcher made sure to visit Ming Quong with flowers in hand to give to Wyman and thank her for all she has done with the impact of the stories she shared in her published books.

"We have known this store for a long time, my daughter comes in and shops," explains Butcher. "And we came across Nona's books and we did this for book club."

In 1969, the store was originally a coffee house called "Melting Pot." It was opened by Wyman and her late husband, Joe.

"My story is, I married a Joe Wyman," she explained. "And he started the coffee house, its name was Melting Pot and it had to be changed, so it got changed to Ming Quong which means radiant light."

Joe and Nona Wyman opened the coffee house with the intention to be something different and something free for people's philosophy, politics, and perceptions.

"He wanted a place for them to be able to speak their opinions without being blasted," said Wyman. "Just an open type of conversation, that's why he had the coffeehouse. He would be proud in his own way, but I think Ming Quong has taken over but that's okay, it's a coffee house, atmosphere."

Even the name of the shop, Ming Quong, holds a piece of Wyman's past. Back in the 1920s to the late 1950s, Ming Quong homes were Chinese orphanages.

"I was brought there when I was two-and-a-half years old and usually the age is 5 years old, but they admitted me because what were they going to do with a little Chinese girl that was screaming and crying her head off," said Wyman.

Now, Wyman is looking forward to her retirement.

"Right now, rest, rest, rest, sleep, sleep, sleep, even though nature calls, and I have to get up every two or three hours," she said.

As the storefront closes, her son and co-owner, Jim Wyman, has something new on the horizon.

"It's sad but I also am going to be continuing on to mingquong.com," said Jim Wyman. "So people are like 'oh good,' people can still get there things and stuff like that. So I have a lot of work ahead of me."

Ming Quong has played a role in generations of families in Walnut Creek.

"My mom and my grandma have been shopping here since like the 80s," said Layla Nguyen of Walnut Creek. "And my mom has all these stories from coming in here."

It's a great little shop, it's very different from things around here. Our whole friend group has been shopping here for years, all the time.

For many, it is a place full of their own memories. Joyce O'Brien grew up in Walnut Creek and now lives in Vallejo. She says she used to make feathered earrings when she was a teenager and Wyman would sell them in their store.

"It's been years, since I was a kid," recalled O'Brien. "They always have the cool things you can't find anywhere else. A lot of good memories."

Jeri Clark also was raised in Walnut Creek. She now lives in Sacramento with her family but made sure to visit Ming Quong with her daughter for some holiday shopping.

"It is very different than back in the 70s but it still always has that wonderful vibe in here and it always feels like love when you come in here," said Clark.

While Ming Quong's next page is about to say "The End," Wyman hopes her message resonates with her customers.

"To be proud of who you are," she said. "And even though I was an orphan. It didn't make any difference, I came in here and did my job and got things my customers would like and it just flourished or bloomed."

Wyman will cherish all the tales that brought her light from those who came to her store.

"My customers are amazing people," she said. "I just learn everything in life from them. They are so receptive."

This little shop, named after an orphanage, is proof that you never know what kind of story you will find in a store.

Jim Wyman says they were given an option for their lease to continue but the offer came too late as decisions were already made to close.He will be transferring their products to an online store at mingquong.com.

The final day to shop at Ming Quong in-store is January 21. After six decades, the Wymans will fully move out of the property by January 31.