The Willow Glen Resident

Letters

Willow Glen's joy is in its diversity

I'm hoping that Demetri Rizos' reference to "sameness" buoying up the chain stores' influence in Willow Glen ("Independents stay nimble to compete with the big chains," The Resident, May 20) was simply an unfortunate misquote. After all, I can't imagine the manager of the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association inflicted with such narrow vision.

Willow Glen's popularity is not based on house after house looking the same. It's certainly not the appeal of the signage downtown--sometimes because of those big shade trees, you can hardly read the signs.

And the restaurants? Most of those are independently owned businesses. You're taking a chance when you step into Willow Street Pizza, La Villa Delicatessen, The White Dove Cafe or Aqui, for that matter. Who knows what specials they're liable to add unexpectedly to the menu?

And sometimes you go into the Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company and there's music playing, or sometimes not.

People call Hicklebee's from across the nation for advice on books for their children. Surely they have the big chains close by. Why not ask them? When people drive from San Francisco and Oakland and Gilroy to visit Hicklebee's, it's not because it gives them the comfort of the familiar chains.

There's only one Hicklebee's. You'll never be sure what happens unannounced: which author has stopped in to see the newest titles, whether children will be reading in the window, or if Walter the Giant storyteller is bellowing out a new tale. You just can't be sure. It's been there since 1979 when the shade trees didn't exist. Before you could count on the chains.

Yes, you can count on the merchandise being the same from box to box in the chains. But customer service? Like any business, each will vary with the folks who work there. How important to Willow Glen is sameness? Talk to the folks who rely on Alta, Casa Casa and Victoria's Theatrical--just to mention a few--whose unique styles and inventory add to the success of the Avenue.

I not only own a business in this fabulous area, but I live here. And the joy of downtown and of each turn of a neighborhood corner is in its diversity, not in its adding to the cloning of America's small towns.

For sameness, go to the chains or to the malls, where shopping is convenient and you can count on exactly what to expect. But please, leave Willow Glen as diverse as possible--so those of us who live, work and shop here are able to continue to have pride in an area that is clearly Willow Glen.

Valerie Lewis
Co-owner, Hicklebee's Childrens Books

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