Market Place

City chamber is sponsoring OctoberFest event at center

By Michelle C. Crowe

Before December arrives, businesses seeking to participate in the Campbell Chamber of Commerce's annual OctoberFest on Oct. 20-21 should attend a special alcoholic beverage control volunteer training session on Sept. 20, at 6-8 p.m. at the Campbell Community Center. "We'll cover how to identify people under 21, among other things. Anyone involved in a business serving alcohol, especially for festivals, is encouraged to participate," says Chamber Executive Director Betty Deal. The session is free to Chamber volunteers. Call 408.378.6252 for additional details.

Campbell's own Pruneyard Shopping Center received the unique honor of being considered a place worthy of the "Very San Jose" title in San Jose Mercury News columnist Joe Rodriguez's column Aug. 25. "It's very suburban, very popular, very much in Campbell and yet Very San Jose. What do you say we throw our symphony, opera and ballet into the deal? Think Campbell will go for it?" Rodriguez wrote.

Not surprisingly, most Campbell citizens informally polled at the Pruneyard didn't feel like trading in their treasure, although maybe if San Jose threw in the Tech Museum ... Nah, the city that nurtured the inventors of fruit cocktail (Herbert Grey, Ainsley Packing Company, 1926) and the Koosh ball (Scott Stillinger, OddzOn Products Inc., 1987) could always build their own.

A second transplant from a former San Jose landmark location at San Tomas Expressway and Stevens Creek Boulevard, Avery's of California, (the first was Kiddie World) has also made its way to Campbell. President Nancy Trainor welcomes the public to the grand opening of its permanent store at Kirkwood Plaza. After a rough nine-month "pregnancy" in temporary quarters, the new store opens at 1600 W. Campbell Ave. Sept. 7 at 10 a.m.

Trainor anticipates the expansion (after last year's abrupt contraction) to once again return Avery's to its status as the largest china gift store in the South Bay. In addition to fine china, casual dinnerware, crystal and silver, shoppers can also hope to see the return of special features, such as the appearance of the Steinbach Factory's Herr Christian Steinbach. Steinbach typically comes to autograph new design releases in time for Christmas giftgiving.

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Got a local business news tip? We'd love to hear it. Call us at 408.364.2640, x.200, or email us at campbellreporter@svcn.com.

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