GILROY
– After just a month and a half in business, “Garlic town’s”
newest and largest furniture retail store – 5 Day Furniture
Warehouse – could be completely shut down by next week. An
administrative hearing between city officials and the operator of
the 180,000-square-foot warehouse at 500
E. Luchessa Ave. has been set for Feb. 19. City attorneys and
City Manager Jay Baksa could revoke the store’s business license if
they find co-owner Hai Tran is operating illegally.
GILROY – After just a month and a half in business, “Garlic town’s” newest and largest furniture retail store – 5 Day Furniture Warehouse – could be completely shut down by next week.
An administrative hearing between city officials and the operator of the 180,000-square-foot warehouse at 500 E. Luchessa Ave. has been set for Feb. 19. City attorneys and City Manager Jay Baksa could revoke the store’s business license if they find co-owner Hai Tran is operating illegally.
The hearing will culminate a weeks-long zoning dispute between the city and Tran who says he is being “harassed” because his business threatens competitors, including Rosso’s Furniture, a longtime furniture retail store owned by Gilroy School Board Trustee Jaime Roose. On at least two occasions, multiple police units were used to issue Tran’s citations which required him to cease all retail sales at the site.
Rosso, a well-known member of the community, says the city is just doing its job.
“We’ve inquired about that area before because this is a matter of fairness and equity in business, but I don’t think we’re the only ones who have concerns,” Rosso said Monday. “This nonsense about them being a wholesaler who does a little bit of retail is a bunch of bunk. They are a huge retail operation.”
Rosso stopped short of saying his company was one of the three anonymous complaints made to city staff over the last several weeks. Gregg Polubinsky, the city’s zoning code enforcement officer, said staff received three separate complaints – an anonymous phone call and two complaints made at City Hall. Staff does not take down names when complaints are made at City Hall in person, Polubinsky said.
5 Day Furniture Warehouse, which is in the midst of a multimedia advertising campaign, uses less than a quarter of its square footage (roughly 30,000 square feet) for retail, the co-owner said. Its parent company, Pacific Century Furniture, is a furniture manufacturer based in China which sells wholesale furniture throughout the Bay Area.
Tran says 5 Day does retail because occasionally shipped containers get broken and furniture is damaged. The retail profits help offset wholesale losses, Tran said.
On Friday, several Gilroy police officers served Tran with citations for business license and building permit violations. The police also videotaped the store operations and alleged code violations.
“I have people, even some customers, telling me this is harassment. We didn’t go in the back door, we went through the front door. Our business license says retail use is OK,” Tran said. “They always do this on a Friday so we can’t open up for the weekend. I’m tired of this. We’re going to fight it.”
If the city decides to revoke the business license for 5 Day Furniture Warehouse, the company can make an appeal to the City Council.
