Pleasanton nail salon owner’s journey to opening wine bar next door

Pleasanton business owner and entrepreneur Tammy Nguyen’s journey from immigrating to the U.S. to opening her first nail salon is nothing short of an odyssey.

From getting stranded in the middle of the ocean to spending time at a detention center, Nguyen went through a lot just to get to America. And even after settling in the Bay Area in the early ’90s, she still spent the last 30-plus years working — at times seven days a week — to provide for her family.

“I wanted to help my kids,” Nguyen told the Pleasanton Weekly. “I wanted my kids to have everything I didn’t and I made it. I paid for my kids’ college as a single mom.”

But now after decades of working in the nail salon industry and opening her salon, T’s Nail Bar in Pleasanton, Nguyen is realizing a new dream: opening up her own wine bar. Dubbed Fusion Wine Bar, her new business celebrated its soft launch last Saturday. After years of planning and waiting for the perfect time, Nguyen said she hopes it can be successful just like her other nail business ventures.

“I feel like the bar is my first baby,” she said.

Nguyen was born in a war-torn Vietnam and came from a poor family. Her dad and brother left the country and she began working until she was 16 years old so that she too could escape Vietnam.

Eventually, she got on a small boat but after two days, the boat got lost at sea and Nguyen, along with the other passengers, were left without gas, food or water.

She said she and the others thought there was a “99% (chance) we don’t make it.”

But, through what she described as almost divine intervention, she said everyone on the boat noticed a pod of whales that led them through the treacherous waters, straight to a Chinese boat. And after handing over everything she had, including $100, the Chinese boat led her group to Hong Kong.

Once she arrived, she was placed in a Vietnamese detention center in Hong Kong as she awaited resettlement. She remembered the painful experience of being hosed down with chemicals because at the time, those in Hong Kong thought Vietnamese refugees brought in germs.

“They treated (us) like animals,” she said.

After some time she was able to connect with her father in the U.S. and was placed on the first ride to join her dad, brother and sister in Oakland. Once there, she spent the following 10 years working at and eventually opening her own nail salon in Livermore. 

Yet, the aspiration of establishing her own bar persisted throughout all those years.

She said at first, she sold her first salon in the hopes of opening some sort of a sports bar. Those plans fell through, however, which is why she opened her salon, T’s Nail Bar — located at the plaza at 3030 Bernal Ave.

Now, after years of not giving up on her dream, she finally gets to open the doors to her Fusion Wine Bar, which just happens to be located right next to her nail salon in the same plaza.

In addition to providing unique drinks and light Vietnamese inspired fusion food, Nguyen said she hopes to create a sense of community at the bar. One way she plans on doing so is by offering things like discounts to first responders, which is something that is very important to her.

She said she is ready to move away from the nail salon industry but still plans on keeping her shop open until the bar becomes more profitable — and she wants to thank her customers throughout the years for helping her get to where she is now with her new business venture.

“I just hope people give me the chance … and I have to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to do what I like,” Nguyen said.