Longtime Burlingame retailers' futures uncertain (by Tim Simmers /MediaNews)
After 25 years of operating her All That Glitters jewelry store, Isabelle de Paz is having a hard time thinking straight. With the lucrative Christmas shopping season under way, she has been told she has to move from her longtime storefront in downtown Burlingame because the building has been sold. Normally, she would be designing one of her eye-catching holiday window displays, but now she is hanging up "leaving sale" signs.
A number of other hair salons and skin-care retailers in the Primrose Road building are also in limbo. Their leases have expired, and they're paying month-to-month rents with no word on how long they can stay. Half of the 20 shop owners who occupied the building have already moved.
"They're throwing a landmark out, and I'm really upset," said an emotional de Paz. Her colorful jewelry store has been a shining star in the downtown Burlingame retail scene. Her flamboyant windows stood out for years, and her lively personality also added color to the local landscape. Now, de Paz is scrambling to gather her merchandise, put it on sale and move what is left to a new location at 1454 Broadway in Burlingame after the first of the year.
The handsome, 60-year-old Tudor-style building she occupies now was sold last year to Kirk C. Syme, owner of Woodstock development in Burlingame, by longtime owner G.W. Williams Co. Syme has submitted plans to the city of Burlingame to reconfigure the building, but the plans are on hold, according to Burlingame city planners. Syme noted that he is still in the process of planning the space. "It's an iconic, signature building, and I'm delighted to own it," said Syme, adding that he plans to remake the ground floor into one space and lease it to a single retailer. The ground floor has been home to a half dozen retailers. He prefers to lease the floor to a local retailer, but if a national tenant wants to look, "that's all right, too," he said. He'll move his company upstairs in the two-story building, where a handful of small businesses have been left in the lurch but are still operating.
The shop owners are convinced the reworked ground floor will go to a chain store, further boosting rents that are squeezing small retailers in the downtown area. Burlingame already has its share of large national retail chains, including The Gap, Baby Gap, Sharper Image, Pottery Barn and Bebe's women's clothing store.
The shop owners who are left are playing a waiting game, looking for new digs in their spare time. Denise Spanek, owner of the makeup and skin-care studio Visage, is in the process of moving after 24 years in business. She grew up in Burlingame and started her business when she was 23. But Spanek said she could see the writing on the wall as downtown rents climbed. She realized she could no longer afford to stay in the city and is moving to San Francisco near the Potrero Hill district - she got nearly twice the space for less than she pays now. "Burlingame's turned into a corporate, high-end mall without ceilings," Spanek said. "That's not what my business is about or what I want to compete with."
Syme would not reveal how much he paid for the building, but the shop owners believe it's about $6 million. Syme founded Woodside Development in 1996 and owns buildings in San Mateo, Redwood City and Foster City. The shop owners know he'll need to charge higher rents to pay for his Burlingame acquisition, and they don't figure they're in his plans.
William Boudreau runs a hair salon in the building with his partner. His lease expired, after 10 years and he has been put on a month-to-month basis. "We don't feel secure here anymore, and we've got to keep looking," Boudreau said. "It's not easy picking a place, because most aren't set up for what we want."
After 25 years of operating her All That Glitters jewelry store, Isabelle de Paz is having a hard time thinking straight. With the lucrative Christmas shopping season under way, she has been told she has to move from her longtime storefront in downtown Burlingame because the building has been sold. Normally, she would be designing one of her eye-catching holiday window displays, but now she is hanging up "leaving sale" signs.
A number of other hair salons and skin-care retailers in the Primrose Road building are also in limbo. Their leases have expired, and they're paying month-to-month rents with no word on how long they can stay. Half of the 20 shop owners who occupied the building have already moved.
"They're throwing a landmark out, and I'm really upset," said an emotional de Paz. Her colorful jewelry store has been a shining star in the downtown Burlingame retail scene. Her flamboyant windows stood out for years, and her lively personality also added color to the local landscape. Now, de Paz is scrambling to gather her merchandise, put it on sale and move what is left to a new location at 1454 Broadway in Burlingame after the first of the year.
The handsome, 60-year-old Tudor-style building she occupies now was sold last year to Kirk C. Syme, owner of Woodstock development in Burlingame, by longtime owner G.W. Williams Co. Syme has submitted plans to the city of Burlingame to reconfigure the building, but the plans are on hold, according to Burlingame city planners. Syme noted that he is still in the process of planning the space. "It's an iconic, signature building, and I'm delighted to own it," said Syme, adding that he plans to remake the ground floor into one space and lease it to a single retailer. The ground floor has been home to a half dozen retailers. He prefers to lease the floor to a local retailer, but if a national tenant wants to look, "that's all right, too," he said. He'll move his company upstairs in the two-story building, where a handful of small businesses have been left in the lurch but are still operating.
The shop owners are convinced the reworked ground floor will go to a chain store, further boosting rents that are squeezing small retailers in the downtown area. Burlingame already has its share of large national retail chains, including The Gap, Baby Gap, Sharper Image, Pottery Barn and Bebe's women's clothing store.
The shop owners who are left are playing a waiting game, looking for new digs in their spare time. Denise Spanek, owner of the makeup and skin-care studio Visage, is in the process of moving after 24 years in business. She grew up in Burlingame and started her business when she was 23. But Spanek said she could see the writing on the wall as downtown rents climbed. She realized she could no longer afford to stay in the city and is moving to San Francisco near the Potrero Hill district - she got nearly twice the space for less than she pays now. "Burlingame's turned into a corporate, high-end mall without ceilings," Spanek said. "That's not what my business is about or what I want to compete with."
Syme would not reveal how much he paid for the building, but the shop owners believe it's about $6 million. Syme founded Woodside Development in 1996 and owns buildings in San Mateo, Redwood City and Foster City. The shop owners know he'll need to charge higher rents to pay for his Burlingame acquisition, and they don't figure they're in his plans.
William Boudreau runs a hair salon in the building with his partner. His lease expired, after 10 years and he has been put on a month-to-month basis. "We don't feel secure here anymore, and we've got to keep looking," Boudreau said. "It's not easy picking a place, because most aren't set up for what we want."
- Written by Fiona
Now that the kumbaya council is done for everyone in city hall is waitin' ta see how the new business friendly council will work. The breath holding is to see if JD (and AK) are big business friendly or small business friendly. We know about ROM. With all the new professional design expertise and years and years of PC experience can someone do something to help the Mom and Pops. Who knows maybe all the change and MM going too will mean progress.
Posted by: In the Know | November 26, 2007 at 10:35 PM
Remember this....
"...This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing in from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such a violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress."
Walter Benjamin
Posted by: | December 03, 2007 at 07:39 PM