The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Hot Doggin': Every day Adelina Rojas and her husband, Frank Lazaro, sell sodas, chips and hot dogs in front of Wells Fargo Bank on Lincoln Avenue. The pair are among the few street vendors to have set up shop on the Avenue.

Vendor finds a home on the Avenue

But cart operator says business is less than booming

By Cecily Barnes

On the streets of New York City, where competition is stiff and location rules the market, carts with boiled hot dogs, soft pretzels and salty peanuts can be found at almost every street corner--even in the dead of winter. But in Willow Glen, one cart rules the neighborhood, a hot-dog stand in front of Wells Fargo Bank.

Adelina Rojas and her husband, Frank Lazaro, push their cart onto a small red trailer each morning and drive from their downtown San Jose home to Willow Glen. They arrive at about 11 a.m. and usually stay until 5 p.m. Lazaro says they chose Lincoln Avenue because there's too much competition downtown.

"Downtown, there [are] too many pushcarts," Lazaro said in broken English. "Here, there is only my cart."

For two months, another cart rolled in front of the Garden Theater, selling Guatemalan purses and jewelry, but the woman vendor has since moved on to the Great Mall in Milpitas. Now only the hot-dog stand remains, and with winter coming, Lincoln Avenue might be cart-free for a long stretch.

"When it's wintertime, she can't stay out here because it's too cold," Lazaro says pointing to his wife. "And when it's cold, we just sell a little bit."

According to Lazaro, business isn't that great on sunny days, either. The hot-dog cart averages a $38 profit each day, he says.

Despite the fact it's not doing huge volumes of business, some nearby business owners are upset that the hot-dog cart is there at all. One merchant, who asked that his name not be used, is very upset about the cart's presence on Lincoln.

"It's not OK with me that it's there. It takes business away from my lunch," he said. "Lincoln Avenue is like 50 percent restaurants; we don't need another one. We can't have another one, or we're all going to be broke."

Other merchants, however, don't seem to care about the cart one way or the other. Willow Glen Business and Professional Association President Kathy McDonald says one or two street vendors make little difference in Willow Glen.

"I'm not against street vendors," McDonald said. "I don't think there's any huge objection so long as we don't make it a flea market out there."

And some people actually enjoy the hot-dog cart, saying it adds flavor to the Avenue and is a convenient spot to grab a bite.

"It's nice for tourists when they're walking down the street, so they can get a drink and not have to go to the store," Wells Fargo Bank manager Donna McChesney said. "And it's convenient. My employees go out front and get a drink. They like the food. We've had no complaints."

Although owners of outdoor carts evade overhead fees, they have to deal with whatever weather happens to be overhead. They must also secure a business license, a single-location sidewalk permit and more papers from the health department. Hours of operation are limited to sunup to sundown, and peddlers must remain at least 200 feet apart from each other.

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