Best City in the Bay Area to open a small shop (Walnut Creek vs San Mateo vs Freemont vs Palo alto etc.) (San Francisco: fit in, rent)

[wave9x]

If I had to make a generalization, I'd say Walnut Creek downtown is more retail shopping oriented and San Mateo's is more restaurant oriented. I think a travel store could work with either.

[ttocs99]

Originally Posted by kingsitaliano

ttcs99: thank you very much! I am starting to thinking that Walnut Creek is the best option too! I am now also still considering San Mateo because I do not have a lot of info about it! Do you have any info about it compared to San Mateo? So far as I know, It sounds more expensive and with a downtown not as vibrant as Walnut Creek.

Also, when you have time, I would greatly appreciate I you can give me your opinion regarding the question I just posted in the previous post. However I will re-posted here below:

I have one more question: during the week, are there a lot of people in these cities commuting to downtown SF therefore making the downtown very empty during the day? Or are still many people going around downtown even during the week (even though of course not as much as weekends?)

Thank you so much!

I was one those guys commuting, BUT, I was unemployed for a while, and I noticed, as Jade said, lots of non working Moms in the area. Obviously the street traffic will be significantly lower during the week, but also as Jade said, there are office buildings in downtown WC. so there will be business people walking around as well. Corporate Travel might be something you might want to look into as well.

I'm sorry I'm not much help to you as far as San Mateo, think I've only been there once in my life, so I couldn't give you a good comparison.

Best of luck to you, I hope wherever you wind up, you are super successful.

[kingsitaliano]

Jade408: Great! Thanks! Word of mouth and involvement in the community is exactly my plan. Great to hear that the downtown is still busy during the week. I was only worried that will all those people commuting, the downtown traffic was going to decrease drastically during week days. Happy this is not the case!

wave9x: Thanks for the tip!

ttocs99: Thank you! I will definitely research about working with those corporations. No worries about San Mateo, you have already been a great help!


Would you suggest me to take also a quick look at Palo Alto, Cupertino and Mountain View or they definitely do not fit with what I am looking for?

Thanks!

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by kingsitaliano

Thank you for your suggestion!

Yes I did and it work very very well. It does not necessarily have to be a very large city but it has to have as much as possible this community/small town feeling while still being adequately large.

I have one more question: during the week, are there a lot of people in these cities commuting to downtown SF therefore making the downtown very empty during the day? Or are still many people going around downtown even during the week (even though of course not as much as weekends?)

Thank you all for your help!

You're welcome!

I asked because all these cities are expensive, so I thought you might want to rethink your plans if this was your first go at it.

In that case, Walnut Creek, San Mateo or some parts of San Francisco would be your best bet. You definitely will need to get word of mouth out there. I think only a small part of your business will be from foot traffic.

Walnut Creek is more retail orientated, while San Mateo is more restaurant orientated. I'd say Walnut Creek has more foot traffic, but is a bit isolated. San Mateo has less foot traffic, but is surrounded by other thriving communities and people from SF would also not mind driving down to you, where as most wouldn't be open to driving to Walnut Creek.

I'd look into both areas and see what you commercial space is available.

[Shadow Dude]

Heyo, just by looking at your requirements in the OP I'd say Walnut Creek or San Mateo. Stay away from Fremont. I live in Newark, an enclave of Fremont, and there isn't much of a small shop culture down here. A lot of get-in, get-out Walmart, national chain store vibe down here. If I were going to open a shop in the Bay Area it would be Walnut Creek. If I remember correctly since I barley use the service but BART doesn't run to Cupertino or Mountain View.

[kingsitaliano]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

You're welcome!

I asked because all these cities are expensive, so I thought you might want to rethink your plans if this was your first go at it.

In that case, Walnut Creek, San Mateo or some parts of San Francisco would be your best bet. You definitely will need to get word of mouth out there. I think only a small part of your business will be from foot traffic.

Walnut Creek is more retail orientated, while San Mateo is more restaurant orientated. I'd say Walnut Creek has more foot traffic, but is a bit isolated. San Mateo has less foot traffic, but is surrounded by other thriving communities and people from SF would also not mind driving down to you, where as most wouldn't be open to driving to Walnut Creek.

I'd look into both areas and see what you commercial space is available.

Thank you so much!
A lot of my previous business was based on word of mouth (especially community involvement), foot traffic, people driving and looking at my store sign and advertising. Do you think that those parts of San Francisco would have the same level of community feeling like WC/San Mateo?

Thank you so much for looking!!!

Shadow dude: thank you! I looks more and more Walnut Creek vs San Mateo vs a specific area of SF.

[wave9x]

As someone else mentioned, I think Burlingame downtown might be a good fit for your travel business. There are many higher-end shops and boutiques drawing in an upscale clientele from the (very expensive) nearby neighborhoods, and lots of foot traffic.

[Tallysmom]

I'd vote for Walnut Creek, too -- because WC is not just retail oriented, it's also the financial and business hub for Contra Costa County.

[HockeyMac18]

I, like most here, think Walnut Creek and San Mateo would be your best bets.

I live in San Mateo and have visited Walnut Creek many times, and I feel they are pretty equally-vibrant, and they are both similarly-sized in population/feel. San Mateo is more restaurant-oriented, while Walnut Creek does have more retail.

Like bmw335xi mentioned, San Mateo is a bit more expensive, but has the advantage of being surrounded by many other affluent towns, and does get a lot of people driving into the downtown from outside the town many days of the week. Walnut Creek will be a bit cheaper, but might seem a bit more isolated comparatively. They're both located at major stops on their respective transit lines (BART for Walnut Creek, Caltrain for San Mateo), so both are well-connected to the rest of the Bay Area.

I'd recommend visiting both and seeing what the available rental space situations are for both. I personally don't think you could wrong with either, to be honest. Two of my favorite towns/downtowns in the Bay Area.

As an aside, while checking out San Mateo, I'd also recommend checking out downtown Burlingame, which is just a ~mile down the road.

[sav858]

Downtown is bigger and has more going on all around than Downtown San Mateo. I don't really get the whole "it's more isolated" part as it's not much further from SF than San Mateo is and is arguably better connected as BART has much more frequent service than Caltrain. Plus the East Bay simply has far more people than the Peninsula. WC is a fairly large destination for people all over Central/Eastern Contra Costa County as well as parts of Alameda County to the south.