Carol Lee could have picked anywhere in Vancouver for her headquarters - but the daughter and granddaughter of two of the city's most prominent businessmen, and a successful entrepreneur in her own right, planned her future by delving into her family's past.
The Chinatown her grandfather helped develop in the early part of last century had, by the 1990s, become a shadow of its former self. The drug addicts of neighbouring Downtown Eastside spilled over into the once proud and historic district.
'The Chinatown I remember as a kid was a place where families gathered, everyone knew you and your parents and your grandparents,' says Lee, chief executive of Linacare Cosmetherapy, a maker of skincare products.
Vancouver's Chinatown is the second largest in North America in area, after that in San Francisco, but new immigrants are settling elsewhere while older generations watch their descendants move out.
When Lee and her business partner, Dr Henry Fung, were looking for a home for Linacare, which sells its products in North America and Asia, they were drawn to Chinatown. She chose a building that dates back to 1907 on Pender Street, a spot her grandfather would have known well.
Ronald Bick Lee, born Lee Yat-yee, was a major force in Chinatown. In 1921, 12 years after arriving, he founded Foo Hung, an importer of Asian goods. His first job had been as a dishwasher, having travelled to Canada after fellow residents of Ong Sum village in Taishan, Guangdong province, pooled their money to send one of their youths overseas.