Downtown

Hampton Court has been on 4^th Street about 20 years; its street-facing window crowded with intriguing bottles of body wash, lotion, perfumes, soaps in pretty paper wrappings, puffy pastel body-scrubbers, spa mitts, sachets and jewelry.  Now they have put up a sign that says, “Lost our Lease and Closing.” They invite people to sign up in their guest book since they will be continuing the business via the web. 

It’s surprising to me that a landlord would let an established business go in this real estate market, when everyone knows commercial properties are the next implosion.  When I say “everybody,” I don’t mean just the so-called experts, I mean people like me.  I can walk around and count the number of vacant storefronts and office buildings everywhere, just like everyone else can. 

I talked to the clerk in Hampton Court today and she said, “The landlord told us he has a customer who is a better fit for the space.” 

A better fit.  I see.  I wandered down the galleria.  There are three or four hair salons, one nail salon, a day spa, a handbag shop, and a hot-dog restaurant.  (By the way, on a sunny, rain-free Saturday afternoon, the handbag place?  Closed.) Thematically, Hampton Court, with its scented lotions, powders, soaps and olive-oil-and-clay masques, fits right in.  In fact it’s the hot dog place that’s jarring.  I’m not advocating for the hot dog place to go, I’m just saying. 

I’ve only heard one side, but I have to say, it seems like it would be hard to find a tenant who is a “better fit” than a bath and body place.  I wait with interest to see what moves in.  A smoke shop?  Tattoos and piercings?  Knitting? Sporting goods? And if this new business that is a “better fit” doesn’t make a go of it?  Nothing says “we’re going under” like a gaping open storefront right on the most commercial street in town. 

I was in Santa Rosa because I brought in lunch for the downtown staff who were working overtime.  There was some event in Courthouse Square. I never figured out exactly what it was, but this choir was singing for part of it and they were a wonder!  They did three songs a cappella that I listened to.  The songs were religious in nature—and I think they might have been from the Rio Lindo Academy in Healdsburg.  There was a banner reading “Open Table:  At the Open Table, Everyone is Welcome.”  It was not, apparently, the website used for making restaurant reservations. The young woman with the microphone was the lead singer.  She was a little nervous and her voice was a bit throaty a couple of times, but overall, she had a sweet pure voice with a lot of warmth. It felt like a bonus or a gift. 

I stopped at Treehorn’s.  Treehorn’s is the used/antiquarian bookstore.  Lots of other stores have a good selection of used books.  Treehorn’s has atmosphere.  It looks like a used bookstore.  It smells like a used bookstore.  Shelves go almost to the ceiling and you have to climb up on the library ladders to explore those top shelves.  The space is long and narrow with several rooms branching off on the right—and somehow this creates the illusion that the shop is actually bigger than it is.  New and remaindered books, calendars, cards and specialty items are up at the front—including Comic Books for a Dollar Each, right now. When the economy was booming, whenever I went into Treehorns’ there’d be four or five people in there.  Now, there are usually seven or eight.  I don’t know if the recession has made people to decide to shop used book prices first, or whether I just end up there more on weekend—or perhaps both. 

Mendocino Avenue has a bar called Stir.  A few doors down in a place called Sift, which sells cupcakes.  It’s billed as a “cupcakery.”  On 4^th Street, there is a shop called Cupcakes.  It sells. . . cute baby clothes.  If you weren’t careful, this could get confuing.