Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Family Affair: Nancy Biagini, bottom left, and her daughters Meg Yeargain, top, and Katie Goforth, right, opened Willow Glen's Casa Casa nine years ago. Nancy B, their second home-furnishings store, opened eight months ago.
Casa Casa led renaissance
Lincoln Avenue was home to consignment and thrift shops when Biaginis took a chance
By Moryt Milo
It's Saturday morning and Casa Casa on Lincoln Avenue in Willow Glen is bustling. Upbeat Italian music fills the store. Customers, spotting familiar faces, stop and chat. The atmosphere is inviting and a desire to linger hangs in the air.
But eight years ago, locating an upscale store on Lincoln Avenue was considered a "pioneering" move, according to Ted Biagini, the behind-the-scene partner of the storeowners, his wife Nancy Biagini and her daughters Meg Yeargain and Katie Goforth.
Ted Biagini describes the area back in 1992 as "marginal." It was lined with consignment stores and thrift shops, so many that the city of San Jose passed an ordinance prohibiting any additional stores from selling used merchandise. For Nancy Biagini and her daughter Yeargain, it meant their original plans to open a consignment store had to be modified.
"We realized that we couldn't do exactly what we wanted," Biagini says. "So we decided to add new merchandise to make the old merchandise look nice, and give people ideas how they could incorporate the old with the new."
Both openly admit they were nervous about Lincoln Avenue, because it looked so "abandoned." But the Biagini women wanted to stay in Willow Glen. Yeargain recalls the first time her mother showed her the current location, a run-down department store, "I thought she was crazy," Yeargain says. "But it turned out my mom and Ted had vision."
Vision, innovation, flair, style and integrity are often used to describe Nancy Biagini and her daughters. It's a combination of attributes that brought Willow Glen a very unique store--a store many say is responsible for the renaissance of the street.
Biagini smiles when hearing this. "We were such beginners," she says, recalling their early days. "We thought it was about cuteness, and about shopping and all the things we enjoyed doing."
But loyal customers such as Mary Goulet say, "Their arrival in Willow Glen was the beginning of an awakening. They created a really friendly neighborhood store. And their merchandise was of the quality you'd see in the city."
Nancy Biagini acknowledges that people were fascinated by a somewhat upscale store coming to Willow Glen. But it took a confluence of events for the store to become a success. This included an upturn in the economy, working with a retail management consultant group, and gaining experience before their instincts kicked into gear.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Sister Stores: Biagini and her daughters opened Nancy B just a few doors down from their first store on Lincoln Avenue.
Biagini and her younger daughter Katie Goforth attribute "the style" to older daughter, Meg Yeargain. "She is the person behind the look of the store," Biagini says. "She has always been good at responding to what she sees the customers buying and what they want."
Goforth, who joined her mother and older sister three years ago, says she "gets chills" seeing some of the displays her sister puts together and remarks, "God, that looks great!"
Customers also appreciate the store's innovative look. "Meg has the eye," Goulet says. "She has such a flare. It's a gift. I believe it's why they were successful." Heather Hoffman, another longtime customer agrees, "I was attracted by the store's good taste. The merchandise is very eclectic. They have things in there that would go with any style."
For the Biaginis, being eclectic is very much a lifestyle. "When my children were growing up, Ted and I had a very large extended family," explains Nancy Biagini. (There were a total of nine children through former marriages). "We'd buy a house and furnish it with a little bit of my mother's, a little bit of my sister's, flea market and garage sale," Biagini says. "We'd redo things and I loved doing that. We never had the luxury of going out and buying a whole set. So we developed this flair for mixing."
It's this flair for mixing that Biagini believes gives the most personality to people's homes, and why Yeargain has an itch to always keep the merchandise fresh. "I choose it all and love it all," Yeargain says. But she credits her love of interior design to growing up with a grandmother, who constantly made things look pretty, and her mother, who always encouraged her to express her opinion.
Being observant and having an "eyes-wide-open" way of seeing things, is an integral part of Nancy Biagini's philosophy in merchandising. "I encourage my daughters to take their days off, because things happen when you are out in the world," she says. "When your brain has new stimulation and you get away from everyday life, you start to see things. It's during these moments that inspiration happens."
This is what keeps Yeargain inspired to change the merchandise and rearrange the displays. And it promotes open-mindedness when evaluating inventory. "If customers are saying this doesn't work for me, you have to take action," Goforth says. "I think a lot of times shopkeepers are too proud of, or too sentimental with, their merchandise. They don't want to mark it down or are embarrassed that it doesn't work. It's happened to us. But what creates success is admitting your shortcomings and trying something else."
The importance of listening to customers and making them feel welcome is taken very seriously by owners and staff alike. "Nancy has such a presence in the store," Goulet says, "the way she treats everyone the same no matter what their buying status."
Goulet finds Biagini very intuitive, "sensing every customer's need," and the employees at Casa Casa very responsive. Hoffman says the store is extremely sensitive to their customers and remarks, "If you should have a complaint, they handle it so well."
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Mangiamo: Casa Casa offers a wide selection of kitchenware, mostly from Italy.
Other customers, like Janet Wright, are heartened by how "neighborhood friendly" everyone is. "They are just wonderfully warm people," Wright says. "There is never any pressure. They're just really welcoming."
All the customers comment on how the Biaginis have managed to blend upscale taste with affordability. Nancy Biagini acknowledges, "We are very approachable and you are not afraid to come in." She believes this is another reason for Casa Casa's success. "We don't have any preconceived ideas about our price range. We want our price range to be wide open. But we've learned we can't go to the real high end. That's not the market we are in." Many customers comment on how they've seen similar or the same items elsewhere for more.
Casa Casa views itself as mainly an accessory store. Although they have furniture pieces in teak and pine, they sell a lot of hostess, wedding and teacher gifts. One of their biggest sellers is their topiary arrangements, which were originally part of the store to give it a homespun look.
While the furniture at Casa Casa is "less serious" and more "impulse" buying, half a block down, their new store Nancy B has a different focus. The store, which opened in August 2000, was opened as an outgrowth of their customers' need for what Biagini describes as " a more serious" look.
In Nancy B, located near the corner of Minnesota and Lincoln avenues, customers will find furniture at a higher price. Store manager Carmen Grande says, "While Casa Casa focuses on accessories for the home, Nancy B is about design and furnishing a home."
Walking into Nancy B, a customer will find a quiet elegance. On any given day, a client and in-store consultant might be looking through the upholstery rings for a special fabric to fit a sofa being purchased. The consultation may also include customizing the stuffing and the style of the arms.
At Nancy B, consultants often work with clients to assist in the whole look. James D'Ambrosio, an internal designer for eight years and Grande's "right-hand man," makes "house calls" and "helps pull the client homes together." Grande says, "All the furniture at Nancy B has a coordinating catalog." She also points out that the store has "lots of miscellaneous smaller furniture lines."
Although the store name is a tribute to Nancy Biagini, both stores are still overseen by all three Biagini women. Both stores work in tandem, making sure the customers at each location are steered towards a solution that works best for their home environment. Understanding their customers beyond the purchase is the priority in both stores.
For customers frequenting Casa Casa and Nancy B, their shopping experience has become synonymous with personalized style and tasteful affordability. And many feel as Mary Goulet does, when she says, " I can't remember what it was like without Casa Casa."
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
