‘A Senes Of Camaraderie’: San Jose Businesses Bring Life To Downtown

By Elena Neale-Sacks, San Jose Spotlight:

When Wendy Neff heard a knock on her downtown San Jose brewery door, she was greeted by a tall stack of plastic quart containers. Tomoyo Yoshinaga, the co-owner of neighboring bar Cash Only, was dropping them off as part of the businesses’ container exchange program.

Fox Tale Fermentation Project, which Neff co-owns, and Cash Only are two new businesses thathave popped up around Fountain Alley, which is located downtown near the intersection of East Santa Clara and South Second streets. In an area that has historically lacked a range of diverse business owners and has faced a rising number of vacancies, Urban Community cofounders and developers Jeff Arrillaga and Gary Dillabough bought about $300 million worth of downtown properties over the past several years. Their goal: revitalizing downtown San Jose.

Neff and her partner, Felipe Bravo, opened Fox Tale in 2021 after spending the early days of the pandemic brewing beer and making sauerkraut at home. They found the brick-and-mortar space after meeting Arrillaga, who owns the building, and they lease the space.

Although Neff said she trusted Arrillaga almost immediately, the space itself wasn’t exactly what she and Bravo were looking for as first-time business owners. Neff said it was small and narrow for a brewery, but Arrillaga reassured them he had a bigger vision to make the space and surrounding community more lively.

“So when he showed us this space, he was like, ‘I know it’s not exactly what you’re looking for, but we’re going to put a lot of cool stuff here soon. If you guys just kind of hold out for it, it’s going to work out,’” Neff told San José Spotlight. “And you know, I’m glad we did.”

Several Fountain Alley businesses—including Fox Tale, Hula Bar and Kitchen, Scratch Cookery and Goodtime Bar—are run by women, people of color, young entrepreneurs and first-time business owners. These businesses work to support each other through cross-marketing and sharing goods, among other methods.

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