One Old Name Came Back to Hathaway Road This Fall. Another Is Packing Up.
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
On a Wednesday morning in September, the phone at 116 Nauset Street rang nonstop. WBSM's The MGM Show had broadcast from China Lantern's reopening celebration that week, and former customers started calling. "They were in disbelief that China Lantern was back," manager Jessie Mueller told the station.
On September 19, the same date as New Bedford Guide's story on the reopening, another well-known name nearby went the other way. Yesteryear Cyclery announced it was selling its building at 330 Hathaway Road.
Both businesses have spent this fall showing that a name can outlast the setup that built it. China Lantern is the same name on the same building, run by different people. Yesteryear is the same name and much of the same crew, moving to a different town. In both cases the name is the part people held onto.
The China Lantern building, near Mount Pleasant Street and Hathaway Road, sat dark for roughly 17 years, New Bedford Guide reported. Mimi's Kitchen used the space for a while after the original restaurant closed.
New signage went up last winter, and the online neighborhood talk read like a reunion, according to the Guide. Commenters hoped the gravy chicken and fried rice would taste the way they remembered. Others said chicken rice soup was the dish they missed most.
The people running it now are new. Mueller told WBSM the original owners are in their 80s and retired in Florida. Current ownership includes Ying Zhao, who emigrated from Xinhui, Guangdong, to Fairhaven as a teenager, worked in local kitchens, and built the Ying Dynasty restaurants. Those restaurants are separate businesses from China Lantern. WBSM reported that Zhao had owned the building for well over a decade before deciding to reopen. Mueller said renovations started about two years ago.
That timeline matters. The comeback is the result of years of renovation by an owner who held the property the whole time.
The new China Lantern has a new kitchen, new operators and a new style of service. Its best-known new hire is a serving robot named Ling Ling. Mueller told WBSM it does real work:
"That robot really helps. It helps especially when you have a big table, you don't have to run back and forth to the kitchen, Ling Ling can bring everything out at once. She makes the service better."
If you're going for the first time, here are the basics:
The MGM Show crew recommended the Cantonese rice with General Gao's chicken. At the bar, they picked the Dragon Bowl over the Scorpion Bowl for anyone who likes fruity drinks.
The Guide summed up how the restaurant will be judged: whether the rice still tastes like Friday night, whether the gravy still belongs on the chicken, and whether Ling Ling can keep up when the dining room fills. The two Friday and Saturday hours past 10 p.m. will help answer that last question.
On September 19, Kim Camara announced he was retiring. WBSM reported that the property, buildings and inventory at 330 Hathaway Road were for sale and that buyers were already interested. Many people read that as the end of the shop, so Camara went back to Facebook to clear it up:
"There seems to be some confusion regarding the future of Yesteryear Cyclery. WE ARE NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS."
He is selling the building and the land. WBSM's follow-up reported that three employees will open a smaller shop in Fairhaven under the Yesteryear name, which Camara said will "be run exactly the same way you've come to know and love." Adam Iacaponi, the shop's manager for 20 years, will run it.
"I could not pass the torch of my legacy on to a better human being than Adam," Camara wrote. "He operates just like me."
So China Lantern kept its name and building and changed hands. Yesteryear keeps its name and its people and changes buildings. Both times, the name stayed put.
According to the company's own history page, Adriano Camara bought the original hardware store in 1919. The business moved to its current location and took the Yesteryear Cyclery name in 1959, and Kim Camara took over in 1985.
WBSM describes the business as 111 years old. It started as a combined hardware, bicycle and pet shop founded by Kim's grandfather. The Standard-Times put it the same way on Sept. 29: "After 111 years in business along Hathaway Road." The 1919 date on the company's page works out to about 107 years. Either way, the business has existed longer than its building has carried the Yesteryear sign. The 1959 move shows the name has changed addresses before.
From today, October 10, there are roughly twelve weeks left at the Hathaway Road shop. WBSM reported that sales had already started to clear the building for a buyer. Ads were offering 10 to 50 percent off, and Camara said inventory was going "at ridiculous prices." The plan is to stop operating at that location by December 31.
Camara also said the Fairhaven shop, though smaller, will "have more than adequate current inventory to meet all your future needs." According to a comment on one of the shop's Facebook posts, it should open in early spring 2027. Unless that schedule moves up, New Bedford riders will probably go a few winter months without a Yesteryear counter to visit. If you need a bike repaired before spring, plan for that gap.
The businesses changed this fall. The roads nearby are scheduled to change later.
The planned bicycle facilities near Mount Pleasant and Nash won't be built until 2028. By then, the bike shop that served this area for decades will be in Fairhaven.
For now, China Lantern is open seven days a week at 116 Nauset Street, and the sale at 330 Hathaway Road runs through December 31.
If you own a building in this part of New Bedford and the Yesteryear sale has you wondering what a sale like that involves, Luis Rodrigues can walk you through how comparable properties are valued and how the process works, in English, Spanish or Portuguese. Schedule a Free Consultation.
Luis is here to help you throughout your entire home buying and selling process. Trying to do it all on your own can be burdensome. He will find you homes within your price range, help you find buyers, assist you with paperwork, and more.
