Store mix on the Avenue worries some – Corporate outlets, upscale restaurants seen replacing independent businesses – San Mateo Times
BURLINGAME In the spot of two local eateries and a barber shop, a colorful and sleek Middle-Eastern restaurant opened Wednesday, a reflection of Burlingame Avenue's tony transformation. The long-awaited restaurant Mijana represents a major tug in the ongoing facelift of "the Avenue," where rising rents are driving out mom-and-pop stores. While Mijana spreads its wings on one end, several buildings near the corner of Lorton Avenue remain in their cocoon phase, awaiting new tenants that include a taqueria and a wine bar. Councilman Russ Cohen said the developments in the 1100 block of the city's downtown artery serve to illustrate the importance of balancing small, independent businesses and corporate outlets. While new businesses bring in more tax revenue, the city is also interested in preserving its small-town character. "We as a council need to look into what we can do to keep the mix of retail, restaurants and services downtown," Cohen said. "If we don't keep track of the store size, we will lose opportunities to keep that vital mix." Cohen's comments echoed the results of an economic study of downtown Burlingame released in May by Economic Research Associates, which concluded that the balance between national chain stores and independent retailers "is a very important factor in downtown Burlingame's success" and that preserving this mix "should be a priority."
But some residents and business owners think there is no longer any balance to maintain. "There are no mom-and-pops anymore," said Rino Betti, owner of Sam's Italian Sandwich Co. "It's all corporate." Sam's is one of three stores that were emptied and consolidated to make room for Mijana. Betti had been at 299 California Drive since 1972, but his rent more than tripled to $10 per square foot per month between 2001 and 2005, he said. "For me to absorb that kind of increase, I would have had to raise the price of a sandwich by two bucks," Betti said. "I was basically working for the landlord. Whatever profit I used to have went to the rent increase." Sam's left Burlingame Avenue in 2005 and is now located at 1080 Howard Ave., in the old Greyhound bus depot. Betti said the city helped him out by leasing him the property, which is more than twice the size of his old shop. Cheese Please was one of the other two stores combined to make room for Mijana. John Linderman, who owned the restaurant, said he was forced out by building owner Karim Salma, whose real estate company, Salma and Associates, owns several buildings on the block. When his lease was up, Salma didn't seem interested in negotiating a new contract, Linderman said. Cheese Please continues to run a catering business on 12th and B streets in San Mateo. Salma was out of the office Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. Linderman said Burlingame Avenue is becoming "a strip mall" and regularly hears from customers who don't shop there anymore and instead go to San Mateo, where "the parking's better and it's not such a corporate atmosphere." But City Planner Meg Monroe said the mix on the avenue remains healthy. "I think that the downtown area certainly enjoys a mix of types of retail businesses: Those that are not part of a chain, those that are part of a small chain and those that are part of a larger chain such as The Gap," Monroe said.
MacGeraghty's Estate Jewelry, which sits at the corner of Park Road, is one of the small businesses that remain on the avenue, cohabiting with Apple and Banana Republic. Owner Tara MacGeraghty, whose mother founded the store about 36 years ago, said that despite some financial hardship, she hopes to hand off the business to her daughter, Shalyn. "It's getting hard; business has been slower and rents have been going up, but we're hanging in there," said MacGeraghty, who added that she's lucky to have an empathetic landlord. Down on the 1100 block of the avenue, more changes are on the way. The space at the corner of Lorton where La Salsa used to stand is now vacant, while a wine bar is set to move in along Lorton in the former location of White Dove Jewelry Exchange. La Corneta Taqueria will be replacing Sweet Treats on Burlingame. Like Pancho Villa, which has a satellite restaurant on B Street in San Mateo, La Corneta is a San Francisco-based taqueria
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Other Burlingame businesses say the same thing – if you have an empathetic (use your own word) landlord you are VERY VERY fortunate because you can continue to do business in Burlingame. Otherwise your rent may be tripled, as happened with Sam's.
What ACTION is our council TAKING "to preserve the mix" which "should be a priority?" (Economic Study)
– Written by Fiona
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