CBS Video on Downtown Retail

Below is a short video featuring Adam Mayberry (from the DH Company) talking about his concept for a pop-up retail district in Downtown San Jose made up of shipping containers. This would be great in a number of open parking lots that we currently have.

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) – Looking to revive retail in Downtown San Jose, one entrepreneur is hoping to create a pop-up shopping mall created out of shipping containers.

Adam Mayberry had big ideas and just a little cash. So he built a small store into a shipping container and placed it in Downtown San Jose for the holidays. It worked, well enough for him to make a go of it year-round, selling custom designed sports apparel.

“The idea behind the shipping container store is that businesses could test the waters such as myself in downtown,” Mayberry told KPIX 5.

Now he’s thinking bigger. Mayberry wants to take his single concept store and blow it up, creating a sort of pop-up shopping district made entirely of shipping container stores with built in cafes and sitting areas.

“If you string four or five of these together, in our case we want about 15, then you have a critical mass of businesses, advertising to their customers and in turn bringing customers to their neighbors,” Mayberry said.

He’s now trying to sell the idea to downtown landowners, including operators of parking lots that could be flipped into the city’s newest mini malls.

“With pop ups, there’s a lower barrier to entry, a lower cost to get in,” said Daniel Harris of the Knight Foundation.

The idea has some big supporters, including the Knight Foundation and the San Jose Downtown Association.

“This could be a step into a potential brick and mortar establishment,” said Scott Knies of the association. “It has promise. You could see this happening really easily with some of the open space that we have.”

Retail has been one of the big missing links in Downtown San Jose for about the last 45 years, ever since the big suburban shopping malls like Valley Fair started gaining in popularity. There are blocks and blocks of vacant store fronts in downtown, and the stores that are open are often spread out making window shopping difficult.

They are not the most attractive things. But backers say they don’t have to be, they just have to be better looking than the blighted closed up shops that downtown has now.

New Panda Mural in Downtown San Jose (UPDATE)

Cardinal2007 from the San Jose Development Forum snagged a bunch of great photos of the new Panda Mural on 1st Street between San Fernando and Santa Clara Streets. Since we won't have retail on this side of the street anytime soon, it's a brilliant design to entertain diners along 1st Street. This may now be my favorite mural Downtown.

UPDATE: For more information on the artist and the mural, check out the PandaBloggin site over here!

Bonobos Guideshop Santana Row Now Open

The first Bonobos Guideshop in Silicon Valley is now open at Santana Row. Bonobos is a menswear e-retailer that is know for personalized/tailored fits and great customer service. While you try on the clothes in the store, you can have everything shipped to your home for free. Check out the description below of how the process works. Sounds like the perfect business model for Silicon Valley!

About the Bonobos Guideshop:

The Bonobos Guideshop brings Bonobos’ personalized and comprehensive shopping experience to life with a physical e-commerce store. The brick-and-mortar Guideshop offers men the opportunity to look, feel and try on current collections from Bonobos before purchasing, guided throughout the process by a skilled Bonobos Guide.

Once fit for style and size, customers can make a purchase at Bonobos.com while at the Guideshop, through help from a Guide, or later at home. Sizing + order information is saved to an online customer profile for easy access later, and product arrives (with free shipping + returns!) 1-5 days after the order is placed.

How the Guideshop Works:

• Make an appointment for a one-on-one fitting with a Bonobos Guide at www.bonobos.com/guideshop; walk-in appointments are also welcome
• Once you’re fit, check out at Bonobos.com either during your Guideshop appointment, with the help of a Guide, or place your order at home later
• Shipping is free and items are delivered to your doorstep in 2-5 days
• Bonobos offers easy returns (free return shipping) and guarantees 100% customer satisfaction

South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk Tonight!

SoFA's monthly art walk is happening tonight, and there are two new venues joining that will bring the roster to 20 participating locations. Vyne Bistro on Paseo de San Antonio and Third Space CrossFit (next to MACLA) are the additions. The event starts at 7pm and runs until 11pm. For a preview of the art on display tonight, have a look here.

Sourisseau News: Whatever Happened to the Corner Market?

In the latest edition of Sourisseau News, you can see what San Jose's food markets and original supermarkets looked like. I really wish the Palace Market was still around--that would have been something very interesting to see. The video is only 2 minutes long and you can watch it below:


Whatever Happened to the Corner Market?” from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

Rockage 4.0: February 6-8 at the SJSU Student Union

Do you love video games? How about indie music? Rockage 4.0 combines the two all weekend long! In addition, this event has industry panels, classic arcades, and video game vendors. It's well worth checking out and is a great example of some of the unique events San Jose should be focusing on. Below you can see the music/panel schedule. For more info head here and for tickets head here.

Silvery Towers have BROKEN GROUND!!!

Two new high-rise residential towers are now officially under construction in Downtown's fastest-growing neighborhood!

Source: Robertee from the San Jose Development Forum

Think Bigger San Jose: "Retail... in Downtown San Jose?"

Think Bigger San Jose has a great post about creating a continuous retail district in central Downtown San Jose. Commercial vacancy is below 10% and several high-density housing projects are about to come online... is now the time to turn Downtown into a retail destination? Mark proposes creating a retail paseo in the area outlined below where parking spaces could be turned into unique retail parklets, perhaps using shipping containers. It's a must-read for visitors of this blog, so please check out the post over here.

On a slightly related note, we may soon have drawings for a temporary retail project consisting of multiple shipping containers that is being proposed for Downtown.