In February I pointed out that construction would soon begin of a couple of custom homes near downtown Lafayette on Moraga Rd, and the progress is coming along nicely. Looks like it should be finished soon, and they look great.
In February I pointed out that construction would soon begin of a couple of custom homes near downtown Lafayette on Moraga Rd, and the progress is coming along nicely. Looks like it should be finished soon, and they look great.
Back in June I noted the opening of the new Lafayette Farmer’s Market in the BART parking lot which was supposed to be open year-round, but instead will be closed until May due to poor attendance. Thanks to a reader for pointing this out. So what happened? Is it due to not knowing about the market? Or something else like higher prices or less variety? Read the reader’s note about the Lafayette market:
Just a quick email to lament the seasonal closing of the Lafayette Farmer’s Market, which was new to the city in its expanded form and location at the back parking lot of Lafayette Bart. It was really a very high quality farmer’s market with excellent vendors and prepared foods. The original intent was for it to stay open year round, but because it was so poorly patronized, they decided to close up shop for the winter and it will now reopen in April. When it opened in June, the entire parking lot was full of vendors from end to end. By the time it closed, I’d estimate about 2/3 or maybe 1/2 of the vendors remained. All of the vendors my family regularly patronized said that it just wasn’t drawing the crowd they needed to justify staying open year round. One vendor said that the city of Lafayette prohibited signage that would have encouraged people to wander in off the street. However, I never really saw a lot of advertising effort from the market’s promoters in publications or city associations that I’m familiar with, so I’m not sure what the reason is for the low turn out
I am so disappointed about this because it was really a stellar market and a great Sunday morning family activity — head and shoulders above the Orinda and Moraga markets. In my opinion, it ranked up there with the Claremont DMV market in Oakland. I thought it brought a level of sophistication to Lafayette that wasn’t there before in large part, and it made me miss living west of the tunnel a little less. I do really hope that people patronize it in droves come spring time, so we don’t lose it altogether.
Venture Men’s Goods is hosting an open house on Thursday, November 29th from 7pm – 9pm featuring the founders of Taylor Stitch, “makers of well-crafted shirts and jeans made in San Francisco. We will have libations and bites to kick off the holiday season.” Venture is located at 3571 Mt. Diablo Blvd. a few doors down from Patxi’s Pizza.
From the Lafayette Art Gallery website:
Started your holiday shopping? We invite you to shop locally and support the arts this season at Lafayette Gallery’s annual holiday show. We are proud to present original artwork, jewelry, ceramics and sculptures created by our 23 members. We have an extensive collection of affordable gifts crafted exclusively for holiday gift-giving.
Thank you for the continued support of both the public and local businesses. We hope that you visit our Gallery on Lafayette Circle and see our the many different gifts of original artwork. And stop by the Sculpture Garden for our last show until April.
Join us at our holiday reception on Friday, November 30 from 6:30 to 8:30. Meet the artists, enjoy refreshments and music.
From an email:
Today at 5:00 we are having our ribbon cutting ceremony with the Chamber of Commerce. At the ceremony, we will also be partnering with DoGood Vines to promote Venture as an official Drop Off site for Central County Homeless Outreach. Customers that drop off socks, hats, gloves or blankets now through end of December will receive a 2-for-1 voucher to Town Hall Theatre’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
It’s good to see Venture in Lafayette helping out with local charities.
From the Lafayette Library and Learning Center website:
Designed for: All Ages, Kids (5-11)
Come celebrate with the Lafayette Library & Learning Center as we welcome DRUMMM and their “One Beat” Rhythm Drums! Meet us in the Amphitheater for a great afternoon of Hands-on-Noise-Making Family Fun! Generously sponsored by the Friends of the Lafayette Libary & Learning Center.
With the news this week that the women’s shoe and handbag boutique Footcandy is closing this year due to competition from larger retail stores in Walnut Creek, that got me thinking about where is the best location for a small independent retail store to set up shop, in Walnut Creek or Lafayette?
Walnut Creek has big department stores like Nordstrom, Macy’s and Neiman Marcus, along with mid-tier retailers like Pottery Barn, H&M, Barnes and Noble and Apple, with smaller independent retailers mixed in such as Atlas and Norf London, while Lafayette is home to many independent retail stores such as the recently opened men’s clothing store Venture and children’s store Tulip. It seems to me that Walnut Creek would bring in more foot traffic, but competition would be greater with more choices available. The question is whether the increased foot traffic is worth being overshadowed by the larger stores. If you were going to set up shop as a small independent retailer, where would you choose, Walnut Creek or Lafayette? I also have Orinda on the list but I think it will come down to Lafayette and Walnut Creek. I didn’t bother adding Moraga to the list, because well, cows don’t shop. 🙂
The women’s clothing store Francesca’s Collections will be opening at the Clocktower in downtown Lafayette right next to the men’s clothing store Venture which opened in September. Looks like a great match to me. Francesca’s has a store in the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton, anyone shopped there?
From Francesca’s website:
Shopping at Francesca’s is like finding a gem. Because we’re a boutique, we only carry limited quantities of specially handpicked items so you don’t have to worry about bumping into someone at a party with the same dress as you. The best part is that our prices make everything easy to say yes to, so you know you’ll always find something ah-mazing!
Francesca’s Collections will be located at 3569B Mt. Diablo Blvd. in downtown Lafayette at the Clocktower.
I finally had a chance to drop by the newly opened SusieCakes bakery in downtown Lafayette where everything looked amazing, both in terms of store design as well as bakery items. They even offered free doggie treats out front which you can see in the bottom left of the photo. Nice touch. I noticed a cake sample right away and it was excellent. I bought a chocolate chip cookie as I always do when trying new bakeries out for comparison purposes, and it was superb as well.
However, I have a bit of a pet peeve that I want to see how others feel about. As I was browsing their display case, I noticed there were no prices. When I’m deciding what to order I tend to take price into account. When I go to a cafe I look up at the board and check the prices, when I shop at a clothing store I check the price tag to help me decide what to buy, when I shopped at the Walnut Creek Baking Company (RIP), I looked at the prices listed next to items. Helpful information before deciding to get a snickerdoodle, or mini-cupcake, or frosted holiday cookie.
At SusieCakes, as you can see from the photo, it was rather crowded. A friendly person behind the counter asked if she could help. I looked at her, then looked at the display case to double check that I’m not losing my mind and that indeed there were no prices listed, then looked at her again, and started asking her how much things cost. Not wanting to hold up people as the employee told me the prices, she mentioned that there was a menu with the prices. So now I’m going back and forth between the menu and the display case trying to figure out what to order.
Then I get to the cashier and noticed a postcard mentioning Thanksgiving pie pre-orders. Again, there is no price listed. I ask the cashier why there are no prices listed and she explained that they want to engage us the customer. I was smiling incredulously as people were waiting behind me. So I asked her how much the pies were. She explained that the pumpkin pie and pecan pie are $18.95 and the apple pie is $24.95. Now am I expected to remember these prices as I bring the postcard home to show my wife? Why couldn’t they just put the price on the postcard? I already know it’s going to be delicious I know it’s going to be made from scratch. What’s there to engage about? I just want to know the price! So I took a pen that’s used to sign credit card receipts and wrote the price for each pie on the postcard. Meanwhile the people behind me are probably wondering what the hold up is. Frankly, it felt very awkward.
So for Friday’s question of the day, should bakeries post prices on a board or next to the items for sale à la WCBC, or are prices passé and not really relevant in this day and age?
Now that SusieCakes in Lafayette is open has anyone had a chance to try them out yet? Any recommended bakery items? As you can see in the photo the signage is now up and when I peaked inside I could see sign mentioning Thanksgiving Pies:
Yum, they all sound really tasty! I can’t wait to drop by and try something.