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FREMONT — On Christmas Day, the pews were filled, but so were the Asian-themed shopping centers and the Indo-American movie theater.

The Bay Area’s fourth most-populous city is one of the few with a plurality of Asian-American residents, many of whom are Hindus, Muslims or Buddhists.

While Fremont isn’t thought of as a destination city, its religious diversity helps make it a hot spot on a day when most shops are closed.

Mostly Chinese-American shoppers flocked to a shopping center in the Warm Springs district Friday where several restaurants, a supermarket and a beauty salon were open.

In the Centerville district, which has a large Afghan-American population, shoppers could buy groceries, eat kebabs and even sign up for cell phone service at a Metro PCS on Fremont Boulevard.

And at the NAZ8 Cinemas, which sold out its shows Thursday evening, moviegoers lined up shortly after noon Friday to buy tickets for the 1 p.m. Hindi-language shows.

“Pleasanton is dead today — there’s no activity at all,” said Yash Bannur, who drove to Fremont with his wife to take in a movie.

But just because people might buy groceries and get a perm on Christmas doesn’t mean they’re not celebrating the holiday in their own way. Most of those interviewed, especially immigrants from India and China, said they had a tree and exchanged presents before hitting the town.

“I look at this as an American holiday,” said Vikash Patel,

of San Bruno.

Patel grew up getting presents on Christmas and plans to do the same for his kids.

“I guess (my parents) did it for us because it was such a big deal in school,” he said. “They didn’t want us to feel left out.”

Lily Zou isn’t Christian, but her Christmas Day sounded nearly Dickensian — except that she was in a supermarket Friday morning instead of in church. Her children had already opened the presents she’d left under their artificial tree, and the afternoon was going to be spent with family members.

“The kids love it,” she said of Christmas.

Zaky Elseudy, 29, drove from Alameda to the Centerville district to see relatives. As an observant Muslim, he see Christmas as a Christian holiday, not an American one.

But even though he doesn’t have a tree or exchange gifts, Elseudy, a native of Egypt, still has a soft spot for the music, gift-giving and merriment of the holiday.

“I give it to them,” he said. “There’s no one else who celebrates their holiday like that. It’s beautiful.”

Reach Matthew Artz at 510-353-7002.