Melanie Mendes and Susanne Arata are co-owners of downtown
Morgan Hill’s newest business, Berriez Parlor, where customers can
get facials, waxing and peels beginning today.
MORGAN HILL
Melanie Mendes and Susanne Arata are co-owners of downtown Morgan Hill’s newest business, Berriez Parlor, where customers can get facials, waxing and peels beginning today.
The pair are also proponents of the uniform operating hours in downtown.
“Anything that can bring more foot traffic to the downtown area is great,” said Mendes, a Morgan Hill resident who for years worked in the real estate industry.
The Sunday hours were instituted as a result of a collective decision by a group of downtown businesses earlier this year. In part as response to facing increasing competition from Target and other brand-name stores going in at Cochrane Commons and in part to better accommodate shoppers, they decided to stay open through at least 4 p.m. on Sundays. The agreed-upon hours kicked in Oct. 7, and the “businesses are seeing an improvement in traffic,” said Theresa Kiernan, executive director of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association.
“Anything that happens outside of the downtown area is definitely going to have an impact,” Kiernan said, referring to the competition, but “this is where you’re going to find the unique.”
To further their push to retain customers and get new ones during this holiday season and beyond, many downtown businesses also agreed to buy “we are open” flags and hang them in front of their locations, Kiernan said. The flags are being made by Make It Mine, another local business, she said.
Kathy Long, owner of Violet clothing boutique, said she’s hired two part-time employees to help staff the store on the weekends. The boutique, which caters to to women with brands such as BB Dakota, Spanx and the denim line Hudson, had been open to 3 p.m. on Sunday but now stays open until 5 p.m. or later.
“If there are people shopping, we stay until there’s nobody out on the streets,” she said.
Business has been “pretty good,” Long said, and it has picked up as of late after a “slow period during the summer.” Although she is concerned that stores such as Target will drive away some customers, she is optimistic they’ll come back.
“I am concerned that people will go over there, but I think everyone will go over there and see that it’s actually more convenient to come downtown,” she said. “Our product is awesome. We have unique things that you’re not going to find at Target or Wal-Mart.”
At Berriez, Mendes said Arata, an esthetician who has practiced for more than 10 years, had been looking for the right space to open the business for years and the spot they found on East First Street “was quite perfect.”
Vacancy is generally low in the downtown area, Kiernan said, adding the city council, members of which comprise the Redevelopment Agency, have focused their efforts on revitalizing the area. More than $20 million has been budgeted by the agency for the cause, she said.
