Santana Row restaurant, retail openings buck trend
SAN JOSE >> Santana Row is readying new restaurant and retail openings, an array of additions that defy the slump for brick-andmortar merchants.
Retail shops Native Shoes, Fjallraven and Everything But Water, along with SoulCycle and restaurant Ozumo, are among the newest commercial sites at the mixed-use complex in west San Jose.
Developed by Federal Realty, Santana Row is a village of retail, restaurant, hotel, residential and office uses across the street from the Valley Fair regional mall.
“Santana Row is the epicenter of what is current and extraordinary in Silicon Valley,” Collette Navarrette, West Coast director of marketilng with Federal Realty, said in a prepared release.
Here’s a rundown of the newest merchants with sites in Santana Row:
• Native Shoes is a Canada-based footwear brand, founded in 2009, that chose Santana Row as its first U.S. storefront.
• Fjallraven, a Swedenbased retailer of outdoor and hiking equipment, is opening its third California store this June when it launches its Santana Row site.
• Ozumo, a contemporary Japanese restaurant, is due to open May 7. The award-winning restaurant will total 4,500 square feet and include an outdoor Japanese beer garden.
• Everything But Water, the nation’s largest specialty retailer of swimwear and resort wear, is due to open its doors sometime in May.
• SoulCycle, a new fitness studio, will open a 3,200-square-foot site on Saturday. SoulCycle will feature a 55-bike studio and a lifestyle boutique. The retailer’s cycling classes attempt to create a nightclub atmosphere for cycling classes by offering the lessons in candlelit studios.
The 1.7-million-squarefoot Santana Row includes 376,000 square feet of offices, a movie theater, more than 50 shops and 30 restaurants, 615 luxury apartments, 219 owned condominiums and a boutique hotel called The Valencia.
“With every new merchant that opens, we are solidifying our commitment to offer our customers what is new and exciting,” Navarrette said.
In a late 2017 interview with this news organization, Jeffrey Berkes, West Coast president of Federal Realty, suggested Santana Row has been able to beat the slump that has engulfed a growing number of retailers amid the boom in online shopping by being a unique destination that entices people with more than stores.
“What people want now is a good retail experience when they go out to shop, or dine, or hang out with their friends,” Berkes said. “So they look for places like Santana Row.”