Claw Machine Craze Arrives in Cleveland’s AsiaTown Neighborhood

After growing popularity overseas, claw machine arcades have increasingly popped up in the United States — and, now, one has landed in Cleveland’s AsiaTown neighborhood, with the opening of Claw Boba Snack.

The space, owned by Sai Lin and located at 3133 Payne Ave., opened on Jan. 13. It’s designed to bring a popular form of entertainment to the neighborhood, says manager Ben Lin.

“Claw machines are everywhere in Asia, but I don’t see much of it in Ohio,” Ben Lin says. “We have a few of them inside the mall, but nothing outside of those areas.”

The concept features more than 20 claw and prize machines, containing varieties of plush toys, keychains and blind boxes for visitors to try to win. Among the characters that can be clawed up are teddy bears, capybaras and smiling burgers, along with cultural fads like Labubu plushies or characters from K-Pop Demon Hunters and Minions cartoons.

While they’re playing, customers can order boba, milk tea or slushies at the front counter. They can also peruse a few standing shelves packed with imported candies, sodas and snacks, some of which are available in bite-sized servings to scoop into baggies and weigh to purchase. 

“We imported them either from China, Japan, Korea or Thailand or Taiwan,” says Ben Lin. “A lot of customers say, ‘Hey, I want to try this today,’ but they never end up doing it because they don’t want to buy a whole box of it. So our concept is having people try every little snack they want that they never tried before.”

The snacks, along with the toys in each claw machine, will rotate about every two weeks, says Lin.

Claw Boba Snack takes over the space of the former Mango Mango dessert restaurant, which closed abruptly last September. Some elements of the predecessor, including seating and lighting, remain in the current design.

Since opening earlier this month, Ben Lin says the shop has already experienced a flood of customers. The shop’s management aims to expand the concept in Northeast Ohio and to establish party packages.

For now, Claw Boba Snack is already bringing an extra element of fun to AsiaTown.

“AsiaTown, we have a lot of good restaurants out here, a lot of great supermarkets out here; I think it's more tailored to the Asian communities,” Lin says. “So our concept is to bring a lot of younger generations to come around here to see the story of AsiaTown, have them taste Asian snacks. We have something for all customers.”

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