A number of businesses in downtown San Jose have closed up shop in recent years, but on a regular basis now new businesses are taking the leap and moving into those vacant spaces.
One such business is opening up this weekend. Ice cream shop Paleta Planeta is taking over 4th Street Pizza across from city hall.
Owner Luis Salazar is ready to welcome new customers.
"Excited, eager, scared at the same time," Salazar said.
In Silicon Valley fashion, the Salazar family started their small business in the garage. They were street vendors, but thanks to training and mentoring from nonprofit Prosperity Lab, Paleta Planeta said why not to downtown, even while old neighboring businesses remain padlocked.
"The reason I think we can make it in downtown San Jose is simply because we offer a different product," Salazar said. "We offer traditional Mexican paletas, but we offer it with a twist."
The shop will serve up a mixture of Mexican flavors, some blended with flavors from other countries, Salazar said.
The San Jose Downtown Association helped Salazar cut through the red tape, and it paid to have the store windows redone.
Prosperity Lab gave the family the financial training to move from street vending to their brick and mortar location. CEO Mimi Hernandez has no doubt Paleta Planeta will succeed downtown, as many other small ethnic businesses have been doing.
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"A lot of the franchises read the tea leaves and abandoned us," Hernandez said. "But our local residents, that’s who’s going to bring back downtown San Jose. And it’s going to come with a punch, with a lot of color and flavor."
Sueños Boutique is one example. Their downtown experiment last year is going so well, the store is expanding.
"For us, we do see people downtown who do like supporting small business," Zanna Castrejon at Sueños Boutique said.
