Pizza shop holds grand opening along Oakland's troubled Hegenberger corridor

OAKLAND, Calif. - The owner of Oakland's newest Round Table Pizza franchise is hoping his shop will help play a part in stopping the bleeding of businesses fleeing the city's troubled Hegenberger corridor. 

The shop, located in the Hegenberger Gateway Center at 8450 Edgewater Drive, held a grand opening ceremony on Thursday.

"It was not an easy choice, and the thing is, we truly believe in the Oakland community," said Anjam Singh, owner of the Round Table Pizza franchise. "For the safety of our employees and our customers, what we did is we are cashless."

An uptick in crime over the last year targeting area businesses and customers, has prompted a local In-N-Out, Denny’s, and most recently the Hilton Hotel near the airport to close its doors for good. 

"We’ve been working to collectively come up with strategies and ways to help protect these businesses, and invest more deeply in them, and retain the significant sales tax generating revenue that comes from this corridor," said Oakland councilmember Treva Reid, who attended the ceremony Thursday.

SEE ALSO: Denny's shuts down for good in Oakland, citing crime concerns

Reid said part of that effort has included bringing together city leaders, agencies, and businesses for regular meetings, and bolstering police patrols in the area. Malaysia King, who works at nearby Raising Cane’s, says she’s felt the impact.

"At first I was a little nervous, but now, like seeing more cops around, is making it a better, safer place for us to just work," said King.

But one longtime resident standing nearby, disagreed.

"I’ve got bullet holes in my house," said the man, who didn't want to provide his name. "They’re not doing anything to clean Oakland up, especially East Oakland. We don’t have proper police service. They don’t patrol."  

Meantime, Jabir Faqir, who was picking up a pie, opted not to wade into the crime discussion. Faqir said he was just happy to see someone moving in and not out.  

"I mean you’ve got an empty Walmart across the street that left when they wanted to raise the minimum wage, the A's left, the Raiders left, the Warriors left. At least we have some pizza," said Faqir.