Footcandy, the women’s footwear and handbag boutique located at 1365 N. Main St. in downtown Walnut Creek will be closing by the end of the year. They opened back in 2005, and were known for carrying high-end brands like Jimmy Choo and Manalo Blahnik in addition to cool window displays. Did anyone see that spirderweb display for Halloween, how cool was that?!
It looks like Footcandy was squeezed out by Nordstrom’s liberal return policy combined with its (along with Neiman Marcus) foray into higher end shoes. It’s too bad that a small independently owned boutique wasn’t able to compete. The good news is that prices are 30-60% off but the remaining stock is going fast so I would check them out ASAP if you’re interested. They may not even last through the end of the year if they sell off their stock early. I have heard that a boutique in Danville may be interested in taking over this location. Stay tuned…
The 15th annual California Independent Film Festival is taking place at the Rheem Theatre in Moraga and the Orinda Theatre from November 8th through 11th. You can check out the complete schedule here. The films that will be playing are listed here. More information is available at the film festival website here.
Back in March I noted that Mika Specialty Salon closed, and now a new hair salon called Stem Salon has opened in its place. Stem Salon is located at 1325 Locust St. across the street from Anthropologie.
Today are the elections so please get out and vote! You can find your closest Contra Costa County poll location here. An explanation of statewide ballot measures is here. Information about which candidates are running in Contra Costa including the President of the United States is here. The Walnut Creek Council Member election information is here, Lafayette here, Orinda here and Moraga here.
Spotted in Walnut Creek, the sign on the back of the car says, “BABY ON BOARD KEEP DISTANCE”. Please tell me this is coming from first-time parents. I remember those yellow “baby on board” signs in the 80s but haven’t seen them lately.
Continuing its coverage of the sex abuse scandals in Moraga during the 90s, the Contra Costa Times reported over the weekend that:
“Carelessness and negligence on (Cunnane’s) part proximately contributed to the happenings of the incident and to the injuries, loss and damages,” they claim.
How on earth can anyone, let alone a school district claim that a middle school student is careless and negligent when it comes to sex abuse is beyond me. If they’re posturing in order to lower any future settlement amount I think they’re taking the wrong tack as this might make the victim less likely to settle. Maybe I’m just misunderstanding how the legal system works in terms of strategy, what am I missing here?
European Kitchen & Bath has closed in downtown Walnut Creek recently. According to a sign in the window:
We are moving our showroom
to a new location.
Sorry for any inconvenience
As soon as new showroom is
established we will inform our clients
Thank you!
www.accenteuropean.com
They were located at 1571 Botelho Drive across from Men’s Wearhouse. Their website has no information about the closure.
The women’s clothing store Francesca’s Collections will be opening at the Clocktower in downtown Lafayette right next to the men’s clothing store Venture which opened in September. Looks like a great match to me. Francesca’s has a store in the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton, anyone shopped there?
Shopping at Francesca’s is like finding a gem. Because we’re a boutique, we only carry limited quantities of specially handpicked items so you don’t have to worry about bumping into someone at a party with the same dress as you. The best part is that our prices make everything easy to say yes to, so you know you’ll always find something ah-mazing!
Francesca’s Collections will be located at 3569B Mt. Diablo Blvd. in downtown Lafayette at the Clocktower.
I finally had a chance to drop by the newly opened SusieCakes bakery in downtown Lafayette where everything looked amazing, both in terms of store design as well as bakery items. They even offered free doggie treats out front which you can see in the bottom left of the photo. Nice touch. I noticed a cake sample right away and it was excellent. I bought a chocolate chip cookie as I always do when trying new bakeries out for comparison purposes, and it was superb as well.
However, I have a bit of a pet peeve that I want to see how others feel about. As I was browsing their display case, I noticed there were no prices. When I’m deciding what to order I tend to take price into account. When I go to a cafe I look up at the board and check the prices, when I shop at a clothing store I check the price tag to help me decide what to buy, when I shopped at the Walnut Creek Baking Company (RIP), I looked at the prices listed next to items. Helpful information before deciding to get a snickerdoodle, or mini-cupcake, or frosted holiday cookie.
At SusieCakes, as you can see from the photo, it was rather crowded. A friendly person behind the counter asked if she could help. I looked at her, then looked at the display case to double check that I’m not losing my mind and that indeed there were no prices listed, then looked at her again, and started asking her how much things cost. Not wanting to hold up people as the employee told me the prices, she mentioned that there was a menu with the prices. So now I’m going back and forth between the menu and the display case trying to figure out what to order.
Then I get to the cashier and noticed a postcard mentioning Thanksgiving pie pre-orders. Again, there is no price listed. I ask the cashier why there are no prices listed and she explained that they want to engage us the customer. I was smiling incredulously as people were waiting behind me. So I asked her how much the pies were. She explained that the pumpkin pie and pecan pie are $18.95 and the apple pie is $24.95. Now am I expected to remember these prices as I bring the postcard home to show my wife? Why couldn’t they just put the price on the postcard? I already know it’s going to be delicious I know it’s going to be made from scratch. What’s there to engage about? I just want to know the price! So I took a pen that’s used to sign credit card receipts and wrote the price for each pie on the postcard. Meanwhile the people behind me are probably wondering what the hold up is. Frankly, it felt very awkward.
So for Friday’s question of the day, should bakeries post prices on a board or next to the items for sale à la WCBC, or are prices passé and not really relevant in this day and age?
