Nak's is closing!

This is very sad. I was not a regular shopper at Nak's (I live about a 20 minute drive away so it would have been impractical) but I always knew I could go there to find that unusual ingredient in an Asian recipe that nobody else had.

I agree it would be nice to see some kind of financial incentives for local family-owned businesses. These unique and special places are what give our towns their character, not to mention that local businesses have a real interest in the local economy, which national chain stores don't have!

Did you notice Tokyo Subway closed in December? And Manny's shoe store must have closed in the last 2 weeks when I was on vacation. It is disturbing that the city can find ways to encourage large developers and investors to join us. But is not able to support the family owned businesses who have been the fabric of our community for so long and created an atmosphere that is so highly desirable. Shame on Menlo Park Business Development for letting these fine establishments leave us! We are all much poorer for the loss.

These businesses close primarily because they do not generate enough revenue.

The problem is that local people have not supported these businesses not that the City did something wrong.

I agree in part with Peter. Local residents have patronized other establishments. While Santa Cruz Ave does have some attractive businesses, the City and property owners havn't really cultivated a business attractive environment. One on-going problem seems to be the inability, regardless of the reasons, to implement any kind of plan for Santa Cruz Ave and El Camino.

I'm not saying that MP should replicate RWC or PA, but these two cities are much more vibrant. If MP, as a whole, is comfortable with the existing environment, that's OK. If not, then the City, merchants, and residents need to come together to develop a positive solution.

The previous owners were actually Seikichi Kurose and Ikie Kurose (née Nakamura) who took over the business from Fred Nakamura (Ikie's brother) in 1980. It was Seikichi (nicknamed "Sam") and Ikie who warmly ran the business for 30+ years. Ken is their son.

There are more details in this Mercury News article (March 2015): Web Link

Basically the business had been running at a loss for years, its finances being covered by a reverse mortgage on the Seikichi and Ikie's Menlo Park house. Seikichi suffered a heart attack in 2013. The Menlo Park house was sold, the couple moved to Nevada, and Ken took over a failing business.

I'm sorry to see this store close, but Peter is correct. This business did not generate enough revenue to cover costs.

As a forty-year resident of Menlo Park, it is so sad that Nak's and Manny's have closed. I suspect all of the Santa Cruz Ave stores have decreased revenue due to the change in the way people shop. Perhaps, now that the City coffers are healthy again with the tax revenue generated by Facebook and other vibrant "now" businesses, the City might consider what they might contribute to encourage small and/or family owned businesses to stay. Perhaps, use strategies that they use when courting large, mega-sales tax revenue businesses.

The downtown parking limits (1 hour on the street and 2 in the lots), quick issuance of parking tickets (I know people who have gotten one after being 5 minutes late)and "fix it tickets" for things such as lack of a front license plate don't help encourage people to shop downtown. I read somewhere that Menlo Park generated $1 million in parking ticket revenue last year, I don't know if that number is accurate but if they wrote tickets for even half that it explains why a lot of people don't come to downtown.

You are very right Brian. The MP police do issue parking tickets at what seems a much higher rate than surrounding cities and they will not only issues tickets for time violations, but for many other reasons. I received a ticket downtown for parking too far away from the curb even though I was still within the painted lines on the street. I do think this may discourage people from shopping downtown except for a quick errand to the bank, etc. What is the parking ticket revenue used towards?

Wow, I am never driving to Menlo Park again!

$1 million in parking ticket revenues? Let's say a parking ticket is $50, that would be 20,000 parking tickets. Over 8 hours for 220 days, that 11.36 tickets per hour, or basically one ticket every five minutes. That is one busy meter maid!

I'm going to stick to Mountain View or take Caltrain (although the latter is a $6.50 roundtrip fare).

Men-No Park!

Well, yes, the businesses aren't generating enough revenue but let's face it, the costs are going up dramatically because landlords charge market rents even when they don't spiff up their properties to make them more attractive (and cheaper to operate) for their tenants. This is their right.
If Menlo Park wants to retain or attract small family businesses, what tools does it have? Subsidies?
BTW, as long as retail space can be replaced by non-retail uses, the market rents may be too high for retail. THAT is something the city can manage, by restricting space to a particular use. Menlo Park does this on first-floor on Santa Cruz but not elsewhere.

Menlo Park issued over 25,000 parking tickets. This is in a city in 30,000 residents......shameful.

So a high number of parking tickets, no EV Car Charging Stations, send many of us to PAO for meals.

Roy Thiele-Sardina