Willow Glen Resident

Cover Story

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Curl Up: Treasure Chest employee Eric Tafoya is comfortable handling a red tail boa constrictor. The employees handle all the reptiles so they become socialized.

Animal Magnetism

Treasure Chest owners started in flea market

By Laura Rheinheimer

Treasure Chest owners Frank and Bart Cortez Jr. do a lot more than give fish-care advice and sell aquarium equipment. The brothers also provide entertainment for people traveling on Lincoln Avenue, with an employee dressed in a shark suit holding a sign that reads, "Come see our shark."

After 14 years of running a successful Alum Rock pet store, Frank Cortez, 30, and Bart Cortez Jr., 34, decided to expand and open a second store at 1064 Lincoln Ave. The business that started as a way to make extra money has also created a strong bond between the brothers.

"My thinking was that we'd been in business 14 years," Frank says. "We wanted to expand to a different area of town, more centralized in the city," he says.

Frank began his career with pets at the now-closed Davey Jones' Locker on Story Road, where he worked as a teenager for three years. Cortez said his boss fired him when he suggested selling fish at the Capitol Flea Market as a way to promote the store.

Cortez thought his idea was sound. So he and a friend went to the flea market sold goldfish, betta fish and basic fish tank equipment.

"We had our own little canopy," Cortez says. "We used to have to sleep in the truck to get a good spot."

The efforts paid off, and after six months at the flea market, the 18-year-old knew he was a big fish in a small pond. He decided to open his own pet store. He asked for help from his father, Bart Cortez Sr., a retired car salesman who ran his own business for 40 years.

According to his father, he agreed to help his son if Frank brought his older brother, Bart Jr., then 21, on board.

"I knew they would be successful," their father says. He wanted both sons to be involved.

The Cortez brothers, with the help of their father and mother, Martha, put in long hours, sometimes working all night to install tanks and set up equipment in their rented retail space on White Road.

In November 1993, the sons opened their first store, financed by personal credit cards and money borrowed from their parents. The business opened with a minimal amount of equipment.

"We couldn't really afford a lot at the time," Frank Cortez says.

The brothers started the business with basics; they didn't have any fancy lights and couldn't afford tops to the aquariums.

"Sometimes we would come in the morning to find a fish that jumped out," Bart Jr. says. "It's not as easy as people think." The brothers quickly discovered that running a business that sells live animals requires daily maintenance.

From their first days as owners of Treasure Chest, Frank and Bart took a hands-on approach. They designed the store, including the signature turquoise paint on the walls, and decided which animals and merchandise to carry.

"I designed everything to the exact square foot, and Bart's the one that put it together," Frank says

The brothers relied on their father as the store's general manager and frontman.

During those years, the sons also learned how difficult it was to qualify for a loan as a small business. Frank Cortez recalls being turned down for a $2,000 loan.

"For the first two years, they struggled," Bart Cortez Sr. says.

But the sons were patient and hard-working, and they finally started to see sales increase. The brothers were itching to expand their inventory, but they couldn't get a big enough loan to make their vision a reality.

The brothers finally caught a break when a lending company recognized the shop's potential and loaned them $17,000. Lenders for Community Development, a San Jose-based company that gives loans to businesses and individuals to help boost low-income communities, has since blossomed into the largest micro-lender in Silicon Valley. In 1994, the company gave its first loan to the Cortez brothers. Since then, like Treasure Chest, the lender has expanded into a blossoming enterprise; next year it hopes to make 500 loans to residents of Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda and San Francisco counties.

Eric Weaver, the company's founder, says the Cortezes' success story is somewhat of a legend for the company.

"We had just opened our doors, and they fit the profile of the people we wanted to help," Weaver says.

Weaver recognized their entrepreneurial drive and was confident it was a good investment.

"They just came across as people with good character and had everything they needed to succeed," he says.

Weaver took a leap of faith.

"The only collateral for the loan was some fish tanks," Weaver says.

But the Cortez brothers proved to be a safe bet when their business continued to grow with the infusion of capital.

The brothers renovated the store and offered new types of animals, including birds and reptiles.

"It increased business a lot," Frank says. The store was just starting to thrive, and the loan helped them stay in business, Frank says.

Two years later, a $50,000 loan from LCD helped the brothers move their operation to its current location on Alum Rock Avenue, where the brothers say business has improved ever since.

The second loan was the catalyst to bring the store to its full potential, Frank Cortez says. The money allowed them to offer a diversified selection of animals and merchandise to meet customer demand. Along with selling critters and supplies, the brothers also install and maintain aquariums in homes and businesses.

In July 2005, the Cortez brothers started to talk about further growth. This time, they financed everything themselves, and in December 2005, the men had opened their second store on Lincoln Avenue.

It was the old-fashioned neighborhood feel of Willow Glen that lured the brothers to their second location.

"People want to go to their local shops instead of the big stores," Frank Cortez says.

That philosophy is part of the Cortezes' own business ethic, which puts customer care at the top.

After spending less than a year in the area, the brothers are embracing local events, such as Dancin' on the Avenue and the downtown sidewalk sale. They have also become involved with the neighborhood organizations, such as the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association, all of which they see helping to boost business, while they get involved in the community.

For Dancin' on the Avenue and the recent sidewalk sale, the brothers gave away free betta fish. Frank Cortez also serves as a Willow Glen Business and Professional Association ambassador for the Lincoln Avenue businesses between Coe Avenue and Willow Street.

"It's good to get to know your customers and business neighbors," Frank says. "Some of the customers are business owners themselves."

Customer care

From selling goldfish at the Capitol Flea Market to installing expensive aquariums in offices, the Cortez brothers continue to build strong customer relations. The brothers credit their father for teaching them this.

"The advice I gave them was treat every customer with dignity and respect," Bart Cortez Sr. says.

Yet the sons are not big about sharing the spotlight. Unlike their father, they prefer to operate behind the scenes, even though their father has encouraged them to enhance their publicity. But the brothers say they are private people who prefer to run their business without advertising their ownership.

The two complement each other as partners. Frank Cortez is a driven businessman who knows what needs to be done and does it, and Bart Cortez Jr. focuses on connecting with the customers and addressing their needs.

Bart Jr. is the one who fixes the tanks when they break down, and Frank is the one involved with the local business associations and the community at large.

One thing they both excel at is their knowledge of reptiles, fish and animals that are in the store. The two readily share this with inquiring customers.

Whether it's saving a bird that is ill or giving advice on cleaning out a cloudy tank, Frank Cortez says it's gratifying when customers come back to report that they are problem-free.

Store manager Joe Ayala, who has been with the company for six years, says when people come into the store to seek advice, he takes the time to listen before suggesting a solution. Most people are not knowledgeable about pet products, Joe says, so he makes sure store employees can answer most questions about pet care.

To accomplish that, the employees have hands-on experience with animals. They handle new snakes for two to three weeks, Joe says. This socializes the reptile before a customer buys it.

"Something the bigger stores don't offer," Frank Cortez says.

Then there's the Treasure Chest mascot.

The Australian reef black-tip shark doesn't have a name, but it has a reputation. It lives in a 1,000-gallon tank in the middle of the turquoise store. There is a shark in the Alum Rock store, too, which is also nameless.

"It's bad luck to name your fish, because then he'll die on you," Frank says.

The shark came as a surprise one day after the Cortez brothers ordered the giant display tank meant for small fish. When the supplier mentioned that the tank could house a shark, Bart Cortez Sr. told the man to send one right away.

The brothers embraced the idea, promoting the special pet with large plastic sharks that hang from the ceiling of the Willow Glen store and a blow-up gray shark that greets customers in front of the store.

Feeding time is Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The shark chows down on trout and other fish, to the delight of young customers.

And for a few days each week, for an hour at a time, employee Eric Tafoya throws on a fuzzy shark costume and stands on the sidewalk. He says people love it. They talk to him and take pictures with him.

"People aren't used to seeing a shark out there holding a sign," Bart says.

Just Swimming: Owners Frank and Bart Cortez Jr. of the Treasure Chest have an unusual store mascot, an Australian reef black-tip shark that lives in a 1,000-gallon in the middle of the turquoise-painted store.

With the Flow: For Frank Cortez and his brother Bart Jr., it all began with fish. The brothers later expanded their pet shop to include birds, such as the African gray parrot (above) and a variety of reptiles.