December 4, 2007

A vibrant presence

Willow Glen Business Association helps turn Lincoln Avenue into a vibrant downtown

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Time and scenery have a habit of changing and that’s exactly what’s happened to downtown Willow Glen. The strip of shops on Lincoln Avenue today offers a vibrant presence, quite different from the surfeit of empty storefronts visible five years ago.

A new event on the Avenue this year was the rebirth of the Founders' Day parade combined with the Italian American Heritage Festa, due to the innovation of the Business Association. Lincoln, between Willow and Minnesota, closed on Friday afternoon for set up and remained closed through Sunday evening for clean up. The event attracted thousands of people all of whom hope to see it again. Photo by Dan Miranda

Most of the changes can be attributed to the Willow Glen Business Association, which has changed along with the Avenue. Over the past five years, the group has expanded its members and now has a board that includes not just business owners but members of the community, many of whom own business outside the strip of shops from Minnesota to Coe along Lincoln Avenue.

Norma Ruiz, executive director of the business association, attributes many of the changes to the infusion of new energy that started about five years ago. One thing was to hire a staff instead of just a business manager. The staff, including Ruiz, gave a presence to the association and provided a means to run the events and activities on the Avenue. It also helped to build credibility among the members, and that’s the only way to get things done, she said.

“The new board is very focused and intent on getting things done, which I find very exciting,” Ruiz added.

The first thing happened about five years ago after hiring Ruiz, when the membership realized that they were having two board elections every year. While the turnover brought in new ideas and people, it did not lend to any consistency. The group decided to revise its bylaws and extended board terms to two years with 12 board members taking staggered terms.

“This idea left half the board as members allowing us to have goal continuity,” said Ruiz.

The board’s next step was to look at and develop a strategic direction. The board developed an eight-year plan. New board members provide the means to build on accomplishments, she said.

Board members in the past few years have been quite committed, offering their time to bring Willow Glen’s Avenue to new levels. Others just volunteer to help out, and Ruiz says there are hundreds of these people that support everything the association does, especially the events. Without them, the success of Dancin’ On the Avenue and the more recent Founder’s Day and Italian American Heritage Festa would not be possible.

The association also created a mechanism to get input from the member businesses. The board developed surveys and other methods of communication to determine what is important to the Avenue’s businesses. Working with volunteers and business and property owners, the board was able to develop plans and make decisions about where the association would be going and how to spend the money collected through the business improvement district.

This has led to specific changes such as clean sidewalks and working to get customers to view the Avenue as they would a mall like Valley Fair or Santana Row. That means that Ruiz and a part-time student, Cynthia Gutierrez, spend much of their time in marketing and promotion. “We are trying to treat the business district as if it was a mall, as if the business and property owners are an entity,” Ruiz said.

This is being done in two ways—through the Internet and by marketing with a logo, which didn’t exist five years ago.

The Web site also wasn’t available five years ago. Over the years it has improved and today it’s information is changed almost daily. But it’s not just business events, it also has become interactive with the community with many residents using it to submit events and activities for themselves and for charities.

Besides the huge Founders’ Day parade, the first in the past four years, and the success of Dancin’ on the Avenue, storefronts don’t remain vacant.

Linda Waltrip, who’s Park Place vintage store has been on the Avenue since 1983, also sees farsighted changes that benefit both the association and the community. In the past few years, she says, things have been getting done. The streets are clean and there’s more parking, she said.

“I think it started about five years ago when we added a staff and stronger and more involved boards. I think today Willow Glen is the place to be for a small business. This is a premier neighborhood where the residents support the downtown shopping district and it makes it desirable to be here,” she added.

Nowhere is that more apparent than the number of shops on the street. Five years ago empty storefronts were the rule rather than the exception. Today, a store closes and there is little transition time. For example, last summer Fleurish owner Natalie Thompason moved next door from her narrow store to the much larger store vacated by Victoria’s. Once Thompson moved out, Alchemy Hair Studio began renovating to open a second salon in that vacated area.

The same thing has happened more recently down the street where the furniture consignment store, Fine Consign moved out and almost immediately Home & Garden took over the space. When the Nest moved, a new children’s store opened with little transition time.

“The Avenue is becoming a highly desirable place,” said Ruiz.

Current board president Michael Mulcahy attributes a number of factors to the street’s current success including a dedicated customer base that is offered a broad range of shops in which to spend their time and money.

“I also think that people realized that neighborhood businesses are the distribution centers of commerce. New paint and clean storefronts, maybe a new awning, create a tremendous amount of activity and that leads to new energy, reinvesting in business and new businesses coming in,” he said.

The business district is not about one person, the board must be engaged and involved with both businesses and residents, he added.

“I’m lucky, as president I have an active board that has a collective vision on how to make things move forward. Everyone plays their part. For example, while Norma and I ran the front line, Fred Oliver got the [Founders’ Day] parade going and Sophia Niu worked on the Ambassador Program. Kevin Swanson, who owns a financial service on the Avenue, is bringing in local residents that are looking at the budget in different ways.”

Such success is leading the association to look into expanding its businesses into the midtown area, but Mulcahy says this can be somewhat tricky.

“One of our biggest challenges is competing with the malls,” he told the Times. “Even though local residents are loyal, this is not yet a one-stop shopping environment.”

He also sees new businesses coming and others flourishing and moving to other areas. Domas will soon move into the corner store at Lincoln and Minnesota vacated by the flower shop. Bella James, which opened a store a couple of years ago in the Garden Theater Building is now expanding and will open a new store in Campbell in March. Aqui’s success has led it to open a new restaurant in Campbell and eventually another on the Avenue.

And, while he and others are happy to see such a low vacancy rate on the Avenue right now, he says it could pose a problem. “It’s desirable to move to the Avenue right now; it shows that it’s a good place for retail. However, that’s a double-edged sword because it limits the ability for new businesses to come in.

However, that’s not a huge concern right now, “I’m energized and excited and really optimistic,” he concluded.