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The COVID-19 pandemic hit San Jose tourist attractions hard, but some have found creative ways to bring back visitors. The Children’s Discovery Museum, Tech Interactive and Winchester Mystery House all closed during last year’s shelter in place, and have yet to fully recover. But through rainy day funds, donors and online programming, they stayed afloat despite...
South San Jose liquor store shut down after 36 years
Faisal Gowani still can’t believe his family business has shut down. Owned by Gowani’s parents, Southgate Liquors was a fixture in South San Jose that provided one of the largest selections of craft beer and liquor in the area for the last 36 years. The shop went out of business on Labor Day after being...
San Jose Chamber of Commerce is diversifying—slowly
The newly-minted San Jose Chamber of Commerce has big plans for diversifying its mostly white executive board and attracting more minority-owned businesses as members. But some stakeholders are skeptical whether the chamber can match rhetoric with action following last year’s scandal over a racist advertisement that nearly tanked the organization. Derrick Seaver, who took over...
San Jose businesses struggle as state safety net unravels
California’s safety net is unraveling and San Jose residents and small business owners are at risk. That’s because San Joseans are part of the 2.2 million people in California who have or will completely lose unemployment benefits this week. The federal government ended four pandemic-related benefit programs to help Americans get through unemployment last week. That...
Study: Privatizing San Jose airport could solve debt problem
San Jose could cash in upward of $2.47 billion by leasing its airport to a private investor or company, a new study suggests. The study, conducted by Los Angeles-based think tank Reason Foundation and published last week, projects that 31 cities with medium to large airports could generate as much as $131 billion through leasing. Cities could...
San Jose shops fined for COVID violations can’t get grants
Over the last year, Santa Clara County has cited hundreds of businesses—big and small—with fines that now add up to more than $5 million for violating COVID-19 restrictions. The county put that money into a grant program to help struggling businesses—but those with violations say they’re not getting financial help. Dung “Calvin” To has cut...
SVO rebrands to San Jose Chamber of Commerce
San Jose’s largest business organization got a facelift with a new CEO in the spring. Now it’s changing its name too. The Silicon Valley Organization, a business chamber that represents more than 1,000 companies in the city, will now be called the San Jose Chamber of Commerce—bringing the city’s name back into the organization for the...
Facing displacement by Google, San Jose businesses seek financial help
As Google begins the early stages of development for its 80-acre campus in downtown San Jose, businesses in the tech giant’s footprint face an uncertain future. More than a dozen small businesses that operated for years in the area have little choice but to move—or shut down. “We don’t have a plan as far as where...
San Jose worker protests heat, wage theft at Burger King
A San Jose worker is blowing the whistle on Burger King for forcing employees to work in dangerously hot conditions and denying them rest breaks. On Friday, Rosa Vargas protested in front of a Burger King on Almaden Road for allegedly failing to protect her and other employees from excessive heat and wage theft. Vargas,...
Art installation could bring economic growth to downtown San Jose
San Jose is counting on a new art installation to help spark economic growth downtown. City officials hope the Serpentine Pavilion, a curvaceous, temporary structure constructed of fiberglass blocks, will revitalize the downtown area by attracting art shows, speaker series and other performances. Originally designed by Bjarke Ingels for the annual Serpentine Galleries architecture competition in London, developer...