Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Chalk this good advice up to a bittersweet memory

By Frank Stagnaro

ACCENT ON SEASONS at 318 N. Santa Cruz Ave. will be closing its doors sometime between June 1 and July 1 after one year in operation. Proprietor Dee Garcia says her husband retired, and they are thinking of moving out of the area, possibly to Lake Tahoe.

"It was always my dream to own a small shop offering objets d'art, gifts, and collectibles, but it hasn't been an easy task," she says. "I think the town should do more to help small merchants at this end of Santa Cruz Avenue. Providing more parking space would be a good place to start, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to erect store directories along Santa Cruz Avenue similar to those in shopping malls."

Garcia says her favorite--if bittersweet--story about her experience at Accent concerns a young girl about 8 to 10 years of age who overheard two women shoppers praise the store highly as they were leaving.

"If it's such a good store," the young girl said, "how come you didn't buy anything?" Trust the younger set to tell it like it is.

WITH OLD TOWN'S first phase due for completion in August or September, the power-lunch set is looking forward to the reopening of the new and improved California Cafe. Completion of the second phase late in the year, or perhaps early in 1999, will bring the move of Steamer's to its new location across the street.

ACROSS THE BRIDGE, the delightful little retailer of collectibles and antiques at 210 N. Santa Cruz Ave., was the latest casualty of rising commercial rental rates when it closed its doors on May 15.

"We'd been here in Los Gatos since 1982," owner Marie Hochman says. "We moved six times after the 1989 earthquake. This time the move was out. We just couldn't negotiate a rental figure with the landlord." Hochman wanted to thank those who have been her customers over the years. "Los Gatos is a great place. So are the people. We're sorry we had to leave," she says.

However, there's a possibility that Marie and the Nutcracker Vendor company will join forces on a temporary three-month basis during the Christmas season.

"I'm looking for about 1,500 square feet of retail space in the Los Gatos/Saratoga area during that time period," she says. "If everything works out, I'll be able to serve my customers one last time."

Hochman requests that anyone knowing of space availability call her at 395-2001.

ELEANOR'S DISCOUNT Fashions had been accepting women's wardrobes on consignment at its University Avenue site behind Vasona Park for nearly 30 years before moving to the Cambrian Park Plaza in 1993.

"It was a beautiful piece of property back then," present owner Diane Holt says. "Eleanor [Nilsson] had planted flowers everywhere, along the street and around all the bungalows."

The familiar old wooden structures remained after the move, but now they also will soon be gone, replaced by an office building still in the planning stages.

Holt says she helped get Eleanor's dress shop started, managing both the flower shop and the children's consignment outlet, which were located on the premises. "Thirty years ago I never dreamed I'd end up owning the business," she says.

Original store owner Eleanor Nilsson now lives in Santa Cruz, where she prepares and distributes Eleanor's VF-11, her popular plant food that gardeners in the know seek out in shops throughout the Bay Area.

TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES moved from 461 N. Santa Cruz Ave. to 214 N. Santa Cruz on April 24, where it will share space with The Stencil House at least until December.

Kim Martin, co-manager of Ten Thousand Villages, said the move was made to increase sales by a greater exposure to foot traffic shoppers. "During the time we were setting up," Martin says, "I was aware of more people walking by the store in one day than I saw in an entire month at the old address."

Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit program of the Mennonite Central Committee that enables artisans in Third World countries to sell their handicrafts at a fair price. Since its opening in September 1996, the Los Gatos outlet alone has created nearly 200 full-time jobs in 30 countries throughout the world.

"As a nonprofit organization, we couldn't exist without the assistance of our volunteers," Martin says. "We currently have from 30 to 40 people contributing their time, which can be as little as eight hours a month."

Volunteers receive a 10 percent discount on all their personal purchases and have the pleasure of handling over 1,500 different creative items.

Anyone interested in participating in the program should call the store at 395-9306.

Monte Sereno resident Pamela Bancroft, who has been serving as manager of community relations for The Terraces of Los Gatos, has been named director of sales and marketing and community relations. Although still responsible for special-event planning and marketing assisted-living and nursing services, Bancroft now also directs all sales and marketing services for The Terraces.

Bancroft is a former mayor of Monte Sereno and was a member of its City Council from 1992 to 1996.

Wondering what's going up on a specific corner in Los Gatos or whatever happened to a local business that suddenly disappeared? Have a hot tip about local business? Frank Stagnaro reports in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times once a month. Call him at 374-5881.

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