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Quito Village shops are full while Argonaut still empty
Construction proves boon for neighbors
By Steve Enders
And then there were five.
Citibank, Second Act, Safeway, Longs Drug and Olympic Pizza are the only remaining tenants in the nearly completed Argonaut Shopping Center.
There's a parking lot there now, and the dirt where the sidewalks will go looks ready to accept concrete.
The storefronts are nearly ready to accept tenants. Saratogans already know where Jamba Juice and Starbucks are going, and now rumors floating through the construction air at Argonaut tell of a bagel shop on the way.
There's also a spray-painted sign that reads "Blockbuster," presumably of the video sort, near Safeway.
But, while some diehard shoppers remain, the lot is still largely filled with construction trucks and equipment.
Down Cox Avenue close to Saratoga Avenue, locally owned stores are lapping up business as it escapes the tenants at Argonaut.
According to Gene's Fine Foods grocery buyer Terry Giomi, business has never been better. He won't give away how much it's gone up, but he said sales receipts have dramatically increased, and Argonaut's construction can be thanked.
"We've gotten more customers as a result of what's going on over there," Giomi said. "Our business is up, period."
Giomi said that's good news for Gene's, which will undergo its own renovation within a month. He said the entire interior of the store is going to get a facelift.
"But the store will be open, and we'll have parking available," he said.
Charles Marsh, president of Western Investment Management and the manager of Quito Village Shopping Center, said he can't say whether there's been more business at Quito because of Argonaut, but he couldn't deny it, either.
"Gene's is the bellwether tenant here. I don't have any sales figures, but I can say that we're full," he said, adding that Quito's rent is lower than Argonaut's because he only tries to attract local shops and boutiques.
"I love it here," says Marsh, noting how easy it is for him at work to get all the goods and services he needs within close walking distance.
He said Quito got its own big makeover two years ago, and since then business has been nothing but good.
Marsh acknowledges the big differences between the two shopping centers. Quito doesn't have as good a location as Argonaut, nor does it have the visibility from a busy street that Argonaut has.
Mollie Choate, a representative of Argonaut's managing agency, said that construction should be wrapped up by the end of August or early September.
She said that the agency has secured a number of high-profile tenants and is in negotiations with others. Choate couldn't reveal which ones, because of confidentiality agreements, but she did say that she expects the center to be full of tenants.
But it's not full now. Jennifer Ritter, owner of Second Act, luckily secured a five-year lease before construction began and has been able to stay. That's despite business being down about 30 percent in her "next to new" clothing and consignment shop. She's looking forward to the construction finishing up, and shoppers and tenants coming back.
"We've been lucky. We've got very loyal customers, but we're scraping by," Ritter said with a relieved sigh.
"Business has certainly gone down. But we're one of the lucky ones. But you see it all over the place--when a shopping center gets remodeled, business goes up."
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
