Almaden Resident

News

New mom-and-pop market replaces longtime anchor at Redmond Plaza

By Eli Segall

Local Almaden businesses will soon get a boost, thanks to one of their own.

M&J Market, in the Redmond Plaza shopping center at the corner of Redmond Avenue and Almaden Expressway, opened its doors for business Nov. 14. The locally owned convenience store replaced 30-year neighborhood staple 7-Eleven, which closed in August.

Shop owners close to M&J eagerly anticipated its arrival, which comes on the heels of a slowdown blamed on the previously empty space.

Charlie Major, who owns Charlie's Cheesecake Works two doors down, said 7-Eleven's closing crippled foot traffic and put a dent in his retail business. Walk-in cheesecake sales were down 46 percent in September and October as compared to those same months last year.

"This is not a shopping center; it's a destination center," Major said. "When moms drove their kids to get a Slurpee, moms walked by and came in to buy a cheesecake. That spillover is now gone."

Since the 1970s, 7-Eleven has been the mall's anchor, a popular chain store that drew in locals and passersby alike. Whether for morning coffee or an afternoon snack, 7-Eleven reeled in customers all day long, Major said. Corporate officials from 7-Eleven once told Joe Kovalik, co-owner of Maple Leaf Investments, a realty group that owns Redmond Plaza, that the center's 7-Eleven performed in the top 1 percent of stores nationwide. Corporate officials from 7-Eleven could not be reached for comment.

According to Kovalik, the developer who first rented the space to 7-Eleven threw in a slew of incentives to ensure the anchor would come on board, including the right to veto any proposed eatery for Redmond Plaza. That lease stayed intact as part of the deal when Maple Leaf purchased the plaza.

Smashing any potential competitors, 7-Eleven has exercised this right repeatedly, much to the frustration of Maple Leaf.

"We've been waiting for some time for their lease to expire," Kovalik said. "They once denied a Chinese restaurant application because both served soft drinks."

Kovalik had a laundry list of complaints about the store, including a rental rate one-third below market value, and vetoed applications for Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins and a host of restaurants. Kovalik said at one point, 7-Eleven officials told Maple Leaf that the company would renew its lease only if Maple Leaf evicted Ernie's Liquor Store, located on the opposite side of the mall near Almaden Expressway. Kovalik refused.

Ernie's Liquor Store owner Manny Singh owns M&J Market as well.

Kovalik said there are no vacancies at the plaza at this time, but Maple Leaf will try to encourage restaurants to move to the plaza if and when there is a vacancy.