Shoppers hit the streets on Small Business Saturday in the Bay Area to show support for local establishments. The weekly Saratoga Farmers’ Market was no exception.
“I want a beautiful wreath for my door,” Maria Foss, a San Jose resident, said at the market Saturday morning while holding a $100 handmade wreath with flowers grown by Ruvalcaba Nursery out of Monterey County.
Foss told this news organization she shops for flowers and produce at the local market every Saturday, and Small Business Saturday was no different.
“This is California. This is what we’re all about,” Foss said. “I want to keep all our local vendors and farmers supported. … We all have to participate.”
Phil Ruvalcaba, who normally runs the flower stand with his wife, Molly, on Saturdays, said business has been good this year. But, he added, because they sell seasonal flowers, he has to “get creative” to keep customers happy when some aren’t in bloom.
The bright, colorful blooms of spring and summertime are gone, and now other products hit the market. He said his team tries to balance affordability with the price of raw materials in order to keep people buying flowers and to keep the lights on at the farm.
“I think it’s tough for everybody. The market really helps us. It gives us an avenue we may not otherwise have,” Ruvalcaba said. “You don’t have to be a farmer to know things are pricier.”
Destiny Badal, a San Jose resident and florist, said she continues to be a regular customer because Ruvalcaba’s selection and customer service is “excellent.” She walked away Saturday with about 18 bunches of multi-colored calla lilies, cosmos and stock flowers – some of which she’s using to make a birthday bouquet for a client.
Elsewhere in the market, farmers sold goods such as almond butter, fresh fruits and vegetables, artisanal bread and more.
Cindy Price, a Sunnyvale resident, said she’s been coming to the Saratoga market for at least the last six years. On this occasion, she walked away with a batch of pioppini mushrooms from Far West Fungi, a mushroom farmer based out of Santa Cruz.
As a nurse, she said it’s important for her to get fresh produce to maintain her health and because she likes to try things she’s never had before. Pioppini mushrooms were totally new to her on Saturday.
“When I haven’t seen something before, I ask about it and try something new,” she said.
This weekend, Price was planning to use her new fungi to make spaghetti with mushroom and squash in a tomato sauce.
Amy Wessner, a Mountain View resident, bought fresh vegetables from Swank Farms, a cultivator from Hollister. She’s spent the better part of the last eight years going to the market on Saturdays, preferring the Saratoga location to the Mountain View market on Sundays because the latter is more crowded, she said.
“I just like fresh food and supporting the local farmers,” Wessner told this news organization.
She said she buys about 80% of her weekly vegetables and other produce from the market.
“I know it’s a little more expensive, but it lasts longer and it’s good quality,” Wessner said.
Brian Moreno, a worker at Swank Farms, said their business largely depends on customers every Saturday for their livelihood.
“The markets are what keeps us mostly going,” Moreno said. “We come whether it rains, whether it’s good weather or bad weather. If no one comes, we can’t be here.”
Other small businesses in the region also depend on regular foot traffic to keep their doors open, such as Black and Brown, a vintage clothing shop in San Jose.
Maryam Handley, a Fullerton resident, stood first in line beside her daughter, Sarah, at Black and Brown on Saturday morning, waiting to dig for some gems in the courtyard piles. She was visiting her daughter for the holiday, who lives in Mountain View, and has shopped at the store before.
“If we do any Black Friday shopping, it’s at small businesses,” she said, who said she previously operated a small handmade jewelry business. “It’s personal.”
On Saturday, owner Monisha Murray hosted her biggest event of the year – a Black and Brown “courtyard sale.” Shoppers waited in a line in the late morning that stretched down half a block of San Carlos Street for their turn to dig through piles of clothes, shoes and accessories to fill a brown paper grocery bag and pay $10 for the entire haul.
Starting her business in 2005, Murray opened her shop in other locations, such as one in the Alameda neighborhood of San Jose, before landing on San Carlos Street a few years ago. She recently expanded into another building on the property, but despite clear growth, she said being a small business owner continues to prove a “struggle.”
Patrons come to her store to shop – sometimes searching for deals on like-new designer brands such as Prada, Yves Saint Laurent and more – but they also come to sell clothing and merchandise, because she is also a buyer of vintage clothing and accessories.
“It’s tough. … It’s survival, but I have a great team,” Murray said. “I’ve never had a Plan B. I’ve just had to be creative and keep it going.”
She said she often competes with other vintage clothing resale websites and stores for business, but added that, thankfully, her market is no longer a “niche” business, such as it was two decades ago when she started. People are shopping more often for vintage clothing, she said.
But, as a San Jose native, she said she started her shop with a specific mission that keeps her coming to work every day.
“The community really supports us. They want us here as much as we want to be here,” Murray said. “I just always wanted to be the staple in San Jose.”
