Diaz Men’s Wear on E. Santa Clara Street…how many times have you walked or driven by? It’s in the beautiful Saratoga Capital building between Second and Third Streets. I have purchased jeans there once or twice, maybe a jacket several years ago. It has survived nearly 40 years, operated by a friendly married couple.
My daily activity includes walking, often early or late which requires me to wear a beanie for warmth. Some wear the beanie as a fashion accessory, looking very cool. In my case the function is simply to keep my head warm. I recently lost my favorite beanie so I defaulted to Amazon, carefully selected the one that would fit perfectly into my fashionable wardrobe, placed the order. Within a nanosecond the auto-reply message informed me that this hat would be delivered in less than 24 hours, almost as quick as going to a local store to make the purchase. I sat on my couch and reflected on this transaction; I thought about where I could go locally to buy a similar item. As I reflected on this purchase and forgoing the Diaz alternative, it was symbolic.
I returned to the big dot-com store and cancelled this purchase. Then I walked down to Diaz Men’s Wear, carefully looked at each of several beanie caps that they had in stock and completed the transaction. The owner was friendly and carefully handed me each one to try and commented thoughtfully on each. A nice, human alternative to an algorithmic “you might like this one”.
“No bag necessary, I will wear it home” and off I went. Then I was stopped at the door and engaged in a conversation with the friendly owner, he thanked me and mentioned that many come in to view items, photograph the tags, then go home to purchase the items online. He talked about how much his rent had risen recently and how people like this not only took up his time and costly space, but it was worse than simply not buying, as this tactic was using his resources and abusing his inventory to make the decision to purchase from an online retailer, something he found particularly offensive, and simply not cool.
The Levi’s jeans that you have in your dresser may be the same brand and variety that Mr. Diaz proudly folds on his display tables throughout the day, and maybe he charges a few dollars more (although Diaz has reasonable pricing and “sales” often). The difference is that funds spent at Diaz Men’s Wear stay in the local economy, Mr. Diaz lives in San Jose, buys groceries, pays bills, and yes pays his rent on the historic Saratoga Capital Building. In a perfect world Mr. Diaz would spend my $20 locally, thus is the cycle.
I took the time to look through his store for items that I have in my closet, jeans, jean jacket, Pendleton shirt, socks, undergarments, boots, and so on. Costco will survive. The Gap will survive. And yes, Amazon will survive. Will Diaz Men’s Wear survive?
Take a walk down Santa Clara Street (or any other) and see the dozens of empty retail spaces, many formerly leased by local retailers. Big picture: online sales continue to grow exponentially faster than in store sales, cities are seeing closures, consolidations, and contractions. What future for neighborhoods will this trend produce?
10th Street pharmacy vs. Walgreens
Starbucks vs. AM Craft
City Auto Care vs. Jiffy Lube
Ace Hardware vs. Lowe’s
I was recently in Hoboken, New Jersey, a lovely town of maybe 40,000 across the river from New York City. As I walked Washington Boulevard they have 4-5 grocery stores, shoe and clothing stores, pharmacies, bookstores, all vibrant and busy.
From the neighborhood I stayed in, one can drive 3-4 miles to Whole Foods and some days that is the right answer. But in doing so you are driving by and passing up a half dozen nice, clean, owner operated markets, each with a friendly face such as Mr. Diaz, eagerly awaiting your arrival.
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