Some say leave downtown alone; it doesn't need anything but Murphy Avenue. Some say a large development would do Murphy Avenue in. Some say the town needs the Forum development to create a thriving city center that would only help Murphy Avenue.

Murphy Avenue is, of course, the heart of Sunnyvale, the place no one wants to hurt.

So here's something to consider.

Recently, my husband and I visited our son in Los Angeles. We decided to go for a walk around a new instant downtown—The Grove—that had been plopped down just south of West Hollywood, right next to the famous Farmers Market, a couple of years ago. The Grove looks like Main Street, Disneyland—two- and three-story buildings, a theater, many big-name chain stores—and it's booming. It's the kind of walkable downtown that everyone seems to want these days; it's certainly the current trend in instant downtown developments.

I figured The Grove would mean the demise of the Farmer's Market, an old Los Angeles icon that hadn't been doing so well in recent years. Other developments in the L.A. area had been drawing tourists away from the Farmer's Market.

For those who don't know, the Farmer's Market is a permanent rustic structure of kiosks, booths and stands, mostly under one roof. It houses mainly food venders, with a few stores for trinkets, some clothes and touristy things. Dupars delicatessen/restaurant, another old Los Angeles icon, is there.

My husband and I wandered around the market, where people sat at outside tables sipping their morning tea or coffee, reading the paper and filling up on bagels or donuts. There were juice bars, candy vendors, meat vendors, pretzel stands, coffee stands, exotic food stands and vegetable stands and more.

We stopped to buy some fruit and struck up a conversation with the man ringing up our sale.

I asked if the Grove had hurt business for the market. "No," the man said, "business is much, much better now, more people."

For a nostalgic nut like me, that was reassuring.

A woman in the managing office of the Farmer's Market said that what the Grove has done is give people more choice, which is why they are coming back.

So the idea that putting in a new booming center would hurt an old icon might not be true.

Take Los Gatos.

When the town council considered importing some chains—the Gap, Banana Republic, Chicos, Sur La Table—Los Gatans who loved their mom and pop stores were upset, figuring the bigger stores would ruin the small-town feel, drive out the small shops.

In truth, the locals were doing their own shopping outside of town anyway at places like Valley Fair and at many of those very same chain stores. They wanted the small-town feel but were not patronizing the stores there.

The town council decided to add the chain stores with a tasteful old town extension on University Avenue. The problem they faced was that the old town shops would face each other and thus create a sense that that they were separate from downtown. There was a lot of concern about this. So the city built steps that take the old town shoppers up to the parking lot, which they can cross to go into the N. Santa Cruz Avenue shops. Instead of two separate shopping areas, there's more of a feeling of one big shopping area.

As it stands now, Murphy Avenue has a limited draw.

On a Saturday morning, the Farmer's Market draws a crowd. People wander along the street, buy some fruit and vegetables and olive oil, maybe stop in for a latte at one of the coffeehouses. But the reality is, when that market closes up, there is little other than restaurants and a few specialty shops, not enough variety and choice to bring in a large walking, shopping crowd to feed the small specialty stores.

Bringing a real downtown center to Sunnyvale with some of the popular chain stores, the theaters and more housing would draw people downtown for more than a once-in-a-while meal or a festival. With sensitive planning that incorporates Murphy Avenue into the downtown experience, this could bring more business to those mom and pop shops everyone loves.

Sandy Sims is the editor of The Sun. Contact her at 408.200.1055 or via email, ssims@svcn.com.