For a nice stroll in San Francisco, it’s hard to beat Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights. Cheerfully crowded sidewalks offer enticing choices, from the comforting interior of the venerable Browser Books, to the rose-colored L’Occitane en Provence, with its selection of skin-pampering creams and lotions.
Ask any passerby, “What’s new in the neighborhood?” and you’ll likely be directed to the yellow-and-red colors of a little Vietnamese diner called Bun Mee (from the Vietnamese word for sandwich, buhn mi). A popular stop these days, the eatery has a tasty range of sandwiches, including grilled five-spice chicken with caramel aioli and a “Sloppy Bun,” which is a Vietnamese version of the Sloppy Joe made with red curry ground beef.
The Peruvian Connection is another recent arrival. “We’re known for our sweaters, hand-knit by Peruvian ladies,” says manager Brenda Burns. “It’s like wearing art on your back. People stop you on the street and ask you about what you’re wearing. The sweaters are perfect for this climate because they’re woven from pima cotton or alpaca, which is very luxurious and practical. We have lots of layering pieces in here.”
Brenda is especially happy with the store’s location on Fillmore Street, which she feels offers a nice mix of both tourists and locals. “This whole street is a little shop zone. There are many tourists here, and our neighbors are always out, walking to the stores, walking their dogs.”
Cotelac, a French retailer of men and women’s apparel, opened in November in the space once occupied by the old Fillmore Hardware Store. “We’re the first Cotelac on the West Coast,” says manager Jen Dimovich. “We felt that San Francisco was just the city for us. Cotelac sells really practical easy-to-wear clothing, so we like a practical, easy-going neighborhood. People no longer have to travel to New York or Paris for our line.”
Mudpie, a family-owned store, which sells children’s clothing, toys, and furniture, is a newcomer to Fillmore Street, but not to San Francisco. Owner Cheryl Perliss ran the store with her daughter, Sarah, for 35 years on Union Street before moving into the old Fillamento space last April. “We’re in a beautiful store from the 1880s, two stories, with more space and light. This is a very alive area. There’s foot traffic, neighbors, old and young, people walking their dogs.”
“We love sunny days when everyone goes out with their babies and their dogs,” says Patti Cazzato, owner of Clary Sage Organics, a Fillmore Street store that offers sustainable products and apparel. “Fillmore Street is the first place you think of that’s community-building, a place where people hang out at the coffee shops. You know the merchants and the merchants know you. We also get a nice array of tourists, because we have a brand that they really enjoy. We’re unique, and they don’t have a store like ours where they come from.”
That uniqueness is tied to Patti’s commitment to local production. “People need to know that you can produce in the United States. My entire line is produced in San Francisco, and I use all-organic and eco-sustainable fabrics. I opened my store to show people that you can do this and still have beautiful clothing and competitive pricing. I left the retail corporate world and started my own business.” In addition to apparel, the store offers skin care and bath products from companies based in Northern California.
Since her store opened in 2008, Patti has had a close-up view of the ups and downs of our economy. “It was horrible timing. The credit markets crashed in October of the year we opened. We had to extend our brand in ways that I didn’t think we would need to do. I started a little wholesale business and collaborated with other companies, so now I have pop-up shops in New York and Malibu. We did what we needed to do, and it kept us afloat.”
One hurdle she sees for retailers in today’s economy can be summed up in one word: unpredictability. “It’s hard to plan your inventory when you don’t know what’s going to happen from one day to the next.”
Still, she considers herself lucky. “Things are good. I wouldn’t say they are great, but things are fine. We’re all optimists, or we wouldn’t be in this business.”
Born in New Orleans, Pamela Troy graduated from the University of North Carolina, with an MFA in writing. For the past 25 years, she has lived in San Francisco, where she works as the Events Assistant and CinemaLit Coordinator at the Mechanics’ Institute Library.
