What Should Go Here? Former Yoppi Yogurt & Sessions in Downtown

When we started working on Palo Alto I was surprised to see so many vacancies on University Avenue.  I don’t live in Palo Alto, but I did live and work in Mountain View for a couple of years.

There are a couple of vacancies on the 400 block of University.  One at 435 University and one at 429 University Ave.  I spoke with the broker that’s leasing these two spaces.  He says one of the challenges with leasing these two spaces is the owner of the building doesn’t want to sign a lease beyond three years.  The owner is considering doing some major renovations to the building around that time.  That can be a problem for a lot of businesses because it may take a couple of years to turn a profit so they may not have enough time to make back their investment.

Because of the short-term requirement, the broker is also considering popup stores.  For those who aren’t familiar with this concept, it’s basically a very short-term lease anywhere from a day to a few months.  But in this case it’s generally a few months.
The space at 435 University was rented as a popup to Sessions, a skateboard and snowboard apparel brand.  Previous to Sessions, Kitsch Couture a women’s apparel store, was here.  They closed this store in 2012 but they still have a store in Los Gatos.

The space next to it at 429 University was previously Yoppi Yogurt.  The broker says they were here for about two years and closed in late 2012.  He says downtown Palo Alto became a bit oversaturated with frozen yogurt shops and there wasn’t enough room for Yoppi.  They have three stars on Yelp which isn’t bad, but probably not good enough when there are two other frozen yogurt shops within walking distance.

As you would probably imagine retail space in downtown is expensive.  Some have suggested there’s a bubble in commercial real estate here, but broker Mike Cobb wrote a blog about it last December and isn’t convinced there is one, yet.

What would you like to see in either of these spaces in Palo Alto?

Submit your ideas on Spotmojo using this link: http://www.spotmojo.com/openspot/435university/ 

Palo Alto Patch is working with Spotmojo to collect your ideas for filling vacancies.  Michael Hsueh is the co-founder of Spotmojo.  Spotmojo is a website where you can suggest the businesses you want where you live, work, or play.  The suggestions are used to help new businesses find the perfect location.  This gives you a voice in the businesses that open in your neighborhood and it helps local businesses succeed.