Hi Council Members,
I have been a Menlo Park resident for 45 years and my children have gone to our public schools with your children. I was a retail store owner in the Bay Area for 25 years and have a perspective on what influences the success of a retail store and even restaurants. My first menswear store was in Vallco Fashion Park when it first expanded to be a higher end mall. I operated there for 15 years and over that time I observed several trends. The first notable event was when Nordstrom came to them and asked for a lease on some land owned by the mall to build a new store. The mall responded with a very high counter offer and Nordstrom opened in Valley Fair instead. The loss of a quality department store precipitated the demise of the center and many shoppers went to Valley Fair instead. The management then decided to lease to lower price merchants and placed lower priced kiosks in the center of the mall. Although foot traffic was maintained, it further eroded the higher end traffic that my business and the "Fashion" part of Vallco Fashion Park depended on. Thus, many of the stores and restaurants that built the malls first 10 years of success were forced to close because of lack of volume, not lack of foot traffic.
I opened a store on the main floor of the San Francisco Shopping Center when it first opened and the same process occurred there. Over time, they leased to lower priced stores and the lack of higher end buyers caused my store and eventually even Nordstrom and Bloomingdales to leave. The mall opened with no parking lots but because the surrounding areas deteriorated, the quality customer did not want to walk across Market Street and found other places to shop.
Now, what does this have to do with downtown Menlo Park? Foot traffic is not the only issue for Menlo Park. The argument is that new local residents will fill up the stores and restaurants, but most of the successful businesses are built on higher priced merchandise and food. The quality of product and prices of restaurants needs the higher end consumer to support them. How often will a family of 4 with an income below $80,266 visit Vida or Left Bank for a $35 entree and a $200 meal for a party of 2? Or visit Draegers for a $7 avocado? It is not just about the parking lots and easy access to stores or traffic jams that already plague the center of town at noon.
I encourage you to determine if there are better places to build additional housing in Menlo Park.
Sincerely,
Peter Keller
650-248-4190
pkeller409@gmail.com
