Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorial

Small-town merchants face a daily struggle

Whenever a mom-and-pop store dies in Los Gatos, the community responds as if there's been a death in the family. As well it should. Family businesses and one-of-a-kind shops are as much a part of the character of Los Gatos as its historic homes.

Inevitably, when an independently owned business, such as Richard's Natural Foods, shuts its doors forever, talk in the community turns to the struggle independents face against large chain stores.

In unrelated opinions in today's Op/Ed pages, three Los Gatos business people give us some insight about the passion with which they struggle to keep their businesses alive.

John Moore is concerned about how proposed changes on Los Gatos Boulevard might affect his business, the auto dealership his father started in downtown Los Gatos; Janice Benjamin nostalgically celebrates the 25th anniversary of The Indian Store even while her store is temporarily closed for renovations at Old Town; Richard Jones, who ran a natural food store not so long ago, exhorts Los Gatans to support independent businesses if they want to maintain the unique character of the town.

On a philosophical level, practically no one likes chain stores. By their nature, they are regional or national in character, not local. When our reporters try to get a comment from a chain store manager, they get referred to corporate PR departments nowhere near Los Gatos.

On the other hand, some chain stores are simply mom-and-pop stores that grew with success. Any Mountain, the outdoor sports store, opens a mega-store, complete with rock-climbing facilities, at Westgate mall this week. The company owns eight stores and anticipates expanding the chain. Twenty years ago, Any Mountain started as a weekend flea market on DeAnza Boulevard in Cupertino.

Should Any Mountain have continued putting out its wares on tables every weekend to maintain its mom-and-pop character?

The popular Andale restaurant, which started in Los Gatos, has expanded to other communities, and Kurt Lemons, who owns Upstream Flyfishing, the quintessential small-town shop, is about to add a Palo Alto location. There's also a new Dolce Spazio in Willow Glen.

The Los Gatos Roasting Co. has expanded to Aptos, Carmel and Palo Alto.

And the Los Gatos Weekly founded in 1982 on Royce Street, evolved into Metro Newspapers, a company that owns 10 newspapers around the Bay Area, while remaining locally owned and operated.

The fact is that Whole Foods Market, whose appearance on the scene was the beginning of the end for Richard's, started out as a mom-and-pop store.

Do we really want to wish our local merchants success--but not so much success that they expand and become better able to compete with the big chains?

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