After 16 years on Lincoln Avenue, owner Carole Demkowski is closing the Three Sisters boutique in Willow Glen at the end of this month after her rent more than doubled.
“Everybody is demoralized,” Demkowski said of his regular customers’ reaction to the news. “It seems like all the little mom-and-pop shops are closing down.”
In the narrow space off Minnesota Avenue, which was once an alley, shoppers could admire an eclectic collection of chandeliers, lamps, jewelry, decanters and glassware. Not to mention the popular Willow Glen honey, produced by her beekeeper husband, Steve Demkowski.
Three Sisters’ last day of business in Willow Glen is July 31, but Demkowski said this weekend will be the real last day off for customers looking to score sale items. She’ll start packing up her belongings starting Monday in preparation for the move.
But Demkowski also has a comeback plan. She will have a space to sell her wares at Montebello Road, the antique store on Bascom Avenue in Campbell, starting the first weekend in September. She also plans pop-up events at Willow Glen during the holiday season, when shoppers are looking for gifts.
Part of the problem, she says, is the general trend toward brick-and-mortar retail. Online shopping is big business, but the Valley’s younger generation, who may not have as much space as their parents, has a different sensibility when it comes to spending their disposable income.
“They don’t want material things. They want experiences,” she said. The revitalization of Lincoln Avenue over the past two decades has certainly brought new restaurants and retail options, with mainstays like Hicklebee’s, Thrift Box, Willow Glen Collective and La Villa de Bertucelli still retaining their old-world charm.
BRILLIANT BEGINNINGS: Jim Angelopolous couldn’t believe the number of people who showed up Friday for a free burger and fries at Campus Burgers, the new downtown San Jose restaurant opened by the owner of the popular breakfast joint Scrambl’z. People began lining up on the Paseo de San Antonio more than an hour before Campus Burgers opened, and Angelopolous said he hoped his kitchen staff could handle the surge. “I didn’t expect anything like this,” he said.
San Jose City Council member Omar Torres came by to congratulate the owners and grab an early morning lunch. He attributed the huge response to the San Jose Foos social media account. Torres said he expects Campus Burgers to do well, especially when nearby San Jose State University begins classes in August. By the way, the regular price for a standard 2-ounce “smashburger” from Campus Burgers is $1.99 — not free, but still a bargain these days — with higher prices for cheese, extra patties and fries.
HOLIDAY CALENDAR: It looks like Sunday, August 18th will be a big day in Saratoga for several good causes. Cancer CAREpoint has already sold out of tickets for its annual Garden Party fundraiser at the Montalvo Arts Center that evening, with a dinner hosted by Le Papillion.
But if you missed out, you can support students from Sacred Heart Nativity Schools in San Jose at the Ladies of Charity BBQ fundraiser at Redwood Grove in Saratoga Springs that evening. Tickets are $125 each and include homemade hors d’oeuvres, a buffet dinner, dessert and complimentary wine and beer, with proceeds benefiting Sacred Heart Nativity School for boys and Our Lady of Grace School for girls. More details are available at www.ladiesofcharitysanjose.org.
JAZZ CATS: The Jazz on the Plazz concert series continues to fill Los Gatos Town Plaza with music every Wednesday, with the great Nicolas Bearde and the Full Spectrum Jazz Band set to perform on July 31. There has been a change in the lineup for the upcoming series, with Ricardo Lemvo canceling his August 14 performance due to a scheduling conflict. Salsa band Bembé will perform instead.
And Los Gatos Music and Arts has announced that multi-instrumentalist sensation Gunhild Carling, who played the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest a few years ago, will perform at this year’s gala on Sept. 22 at the Los Gatos Hotel. Tickets for the swanky gala, with appetizers and drinks provided by Dio Deka, are $225 each. You can get full details — and the rest of the Jazz on the Plazz program — at www.jazzontheplazz.com.
BREATH FROM THE PAST: Some readers were probably surprised when they saw a New York Times article about the election that quoted San Jose resident Anna Ayala, a Democrat who had said she would vote for Donald Trump this fall. If that name rings a bell, it’s because Ayala was the woman at the center of a 2005 fraud lawsuit in which she claimed to have found a human finger in a bowl of fast-food chili.
Ayala served four years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted robbery, and the New York Times later removed Ayala’s quote from the article after discovering her past. I doubt the Trump campaign will rush to put her in any ads.
