Business owners and shoppers celebrate new stores on El Paseo

Business owners and shoppers alike are celebrating a boom of business on El Paseo.

We first brought you this story last week when we learned a slew of new stores were coming to the area.

Jamba Juice, Organge Theory Fitness and Saks Off Fifth are just a few of the stores planned to fill the empty space at the corner of Highway 111 and San Pablo.

Elyssa Goldberg is on the El Paseo Business Improvement District Board and said it’s nice to see the area continuing to grow.

“Any full street is always a plus and we don’t want to see any empty spaces on the street and it’s exciting to see all the empty spaces being filled,” Goldberg said.

Goldberg has been on El Paseo for nearly 25 years and said the new growth is on par with the area.

Commercial real estate company Cushman and Wakefield advertised the average household income for people living within a 3-mile radius of El Paseo is expected to grow by nearly $15,000 dollars by 2020.

“Of course we want the big stores because of the dollars for our ads. The bigger the store the more money we can get for someone like me who doesn’t have to put in that much,” Goldberg said.

More stores means more jobs and shoppers said the more the merrier.

“I think it’s fantastic because there were some places shutting down. So I’m glad there’s new places coming,” said Gary Burns.

“I think it would just add more to the whole area and it’s great for the economy,” said Amy Clark.

Goldberg admits she hopes there’s room to grow for small businesses too.

“Love all the businesses, of course being an independent business owner I would love to hopefully open that up to other businesses not necessarily just being majors. Because a lot of my customers like to come to small specialty stores,” Goldberg said.

The Saks Off Fifth outlet will open in late 2016, less than a block from Saks Fifth Avenue.

Habit Burger Grill and Blaze Pizza are expected to open this summer and Orange Theory Fitness should open before June.

Another store confirmed to fill an empty space is jewelry store Pandora.

It will replace the former Cold Nose Warm Heart on El Paseo next to New Balance.