Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Clothesing Their Doors: Deanne Westen, right, and her daughter, Danelle Wilson, have owned and run Panache, a women's clothing store, for the past 12 years. When the store closes, Deanne plans to spend time golfing and traveling with her husband.
It's closing time for owners of two Lincoln Avenue stores
Panache is leaving in March; Feb. 28 is Bill Shaheen's last day at Willow Glen Liquors
By Kate Carter
Two Willow Glen fixtures are leaving Lincoln Avenue in the coming weeks and months, and the goodbyes are already beginning.
Regulars at Panache women's clothing store and Willow Glen Liquors have been popping in for last visits with the proprietors of both stores.
Panache owners Deanne Westen and her daughter, Danelle Wilson, arrived on the avenue in June 1989, to help women find clothes they would like for years to come.
"We both love fashion and we both have great taste," Westen says. Wilson had worked at a woman's boutique in Los Gatos, and Westen had been a medical transcriber for a psychiatrist when they first thought about opening a fashion store in their home neighborhood.
The steps from idea to reality went quickly, Westen remembers. Almost before they were ready, the mother-daughter team was renting space at 1345 Lincoln Ave., soon after Hicklebee's Children's Bookstore moved across the street.
Westen says unexpected events made their first years of business difficult.
Soon after they opened, construction began on a parking lot and streetscape along the avenue. Then, a few months later, the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. The temblor didn't do any damage, but it forced Westen's landlord to retrofit the building, she says. So they were back in construction mode.
Westen says she tried to have fun with the challenges by dressing her storefront mannequins in hard hats. And she says the number of customers they attracted actually went up.
"You don't realize how curious women are," she says. "We did more business because they wanted to see what was going on."
Meanwhile, there was a war in the Persian Gulf and a recession at home, and longtime Lincoln Avenue shops such as Bergmann's department store were closing their doors.
"We had all of that to contend with, but we still had a clientele," Westen says.
Business began to really take off, however, when Westen discovered a line of clothes that was to define her store and her style.
Isda, a Boulder Creek women's fashion designer, is the label that people go to Panache to buy. Westen was one of the first stores in the county to carry Isda when it first appeared in the mid-'90s, Westen says.
"That's exactly the line we've been waiting for," Westen says she thought when she saw the clothes. "It sure has worked for us."
She says the classic style and high-quality fabrics appeal to women of all ages and many body types, and are timelessly nontrendy. That's what Panache is all about, she says.
"If I was to stay in business, I would probably have just an Isda store," Westen says.
Instead, Alta, across the street, will probably begin to carry the clothes that Isda only retails in one location per ZIP code, Westen says.
The store has seen its own changes. Westen says when they first opened, they tended to sell clothes as parts of ensembles, often in preparation for special occasions, such as weddings and graduations. Over time, however, customers have bought more single items and often at the last minute.
Panache's clients could expect assistance in choosing the right pieces and accessories. Westen says their staff would sometimes send clothes to customers who didn't have time to come in themselves. She even accompanied some women looking for the proper undergarments and cosmetics for special outfits.
Her experience with people and their problems also made her a good listener to all of her regulars' problems and avoided any conflicts with her customers, she says.
But Wilson has only worked part time at the store since her son was born eight years ago. And Westen's veteran shop assistant left last summer.
Since then, Westen says she's spent a lot of the time at the store, when where she really wanted to be was with her recently retired husband on a trip, on the golf course or at one of the second homes.
It was her older loyal clients who finally convinced her to close the store and enjoy her health and husband while she had them.
"I finally decided a few months ago that it was time to let the store go," she said. "I was giving up a lot of things I really enjoy just to hold onto the store."
But Westen says she will miss the work and her customers after the store closes, which is scheduled for sometime in March.
The building owner, Tony Aprile, says the store is available for lease and he hopes to find a retail boutique shop to fill the space.
"The ideal would be another clothing store," he says.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow: Willow Glen Liquors owner Bill Shaheen and his store have been fixtures in the neighborhood for 25 years. At the end of February, Bill turns the store over to new owners so he can spend more time with his family.
Down the avenue, Willow Glen Liquors will remain at 1110 Lincoln Ave., as it has for more than half a century. But after 25 years in Willow Glen, the current owner, Bill Shaheen, is leaving.
Shaheen first bought the landmark store 23 years ago. Two years before that he was located where the dining room at Bill's Cafe on Willow Street is now.
"I've been in the business a long time," Shaheen says. "It's so fun to say hi to everybody. I like to talk, I guess."
Shaheen's clients are mostly regulars whom he knows by name and calls by endearing nicknames such as "sweetie" and "honey," when they come in for a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a bottle of wine.
He has seen a lot of changes, not only in Willow Glen, but in the Bay Area since his family first moved here in the 1960s. His parents, John and Jasmine, immigrated to Pennsylvania from Palestine in the 1950s, but they found the Valley of the Hearts Delight to be just like the home country.
John Shaheen owned the old Fairmart Market on the corner of Bird and W. Virginia avenues, and worked hard to provide for his family and buy up property throughout San Jose.
Bill was able to provide for his own family through his liquor store, and would work 12-hour days, with help from his wife, Vicky, and other local family members. Shaheen's three daughters, Andrea, Nicole and Jaclyn, all attended St. Christopher's School and Presentation High School in Willow Glen.
But while it was a good little business, Shaheen was beginning to get bored with it. And then he discovered a new passion.
"I wouldn't have stayed in business if I hadn't discovered wine," he says.
He began wine tasting for fun years ago, and found that a lot of his opinions on wine matched those of the "experts." He began to bring more wine into the store and make recommendations to customers, who were often intimidated by choosing the right bottle.
Shaheen says he tells his clients they "have a palette as good as anyone else's," and to "drink what you like."
"It's a nice class of clientele," he says of his loyal wine customers.
And he stopped having to work from opening to closing. After he sold Fairmart Market, Shaheen's father, John, would open his son's store every morning, to let Bill grab a cup of coffee and chat with friends on Lincoln Avenue.
But John died about a year and a half ago, and it just hasn't been the same, Bill says.
"You don't know what you have until you lose it," he says. "It threw my life out of kilter. It's been a traumatic couple of years for us."
Without his father's help, running the store has been difficult. And, as the oldest son, Shaheen is in charge of his father's property and investments, which are large enough to demand a lot of his attention.
Shaheen says he has mixed feelings about leaving. He will now be able to relax and renew old friendships, take vacations with his wife, and pursue his interests in real estate and yoga.
But he says, "Part of me will always remain here. I just love this area and the people."
Shaheen's last day on the job will be Feb. 28. On March 1, the store will open under the new ownership of Chuong Doan and his wife, Lan Chu.
Doan has worked in retail for 15 years, and has managed a Los Gatos 7-Eleven convenience store for 10 years.
He says he may rearrange Willow Glen Liquors' interior, but people can expect most of what's there to remain.
And Doan says he wants to respond to his customers' needs by providing an ATM machine, a Western Union and other financial services. He may also add other convenience items as people want them, he says.
But mostly, he says he's looking forward to the independence of having his own store and becoming a part of the Willow Glen community.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
