Pleasanton-Based Specialty’s Café & Bakery Calls It Quits – Blames Losses Caused By COVID-19
Pleasanton-based Specialty’s Café & Bakery will close its 50 locations in three states – a prominent local victim of conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery is closing after 33 years of business. Current market conditions attributed to COVID-19 and shelter-in-place policies have decimated company revenues,” company officials wrote on the chain’s…
Another “Terrace” Project Shaping Up In Lafayette
While still in the study session (i.e. very preliminary) stages, a plan to demolish most of the 81,000 square feet of professional and medical offices in the 3400 block of Mt. Diablo Boulevard in favor of condos and low-income housing has already started local war drums beating. Owners Miramar Mount Diablo Boulevard, LLC would like…
County Health Department Orders Temporary Closure Of Danville Lunardi’s Store – Rodent Infestation
Locals out shopping for their evening meal tell us the Danville Lunardi’s store is closed – apparently for a couple of days – while workers deal with an apparent rodent infestation. Notice of the closure has been pinned to the front doors and people are at work inside but initial information is that the store…
Developer Runs The Numbers, Decides Against Lafayette’s Park Theater Purchase
From the City of Lafayette: LAFAYETTE, CALIF., Aug. 29, 2018—A developer previously interested in purchasing Lafayette’s Park Theater, Madison Park Financial, informed the City late Monday that it has decided not to move forward with the purchase of the theater and instead focus on a smaller scale project on a property it owns in downtown…
Orchard Supply Hardware To Close Moraga Store, And All Others, By February
Internet news of the impending closure of all Orchard Supply Hardware stores began to trickle out Tuesday – was confirmed as store employees got the news Tuesday night – and has begun to dawn this morning, Wednesday. Some patrons contacted outside the store Wednesday morning said they had not heard the news and appeared puzzled…
Parking, Finance Issues Pull The Pin On Lafayette’s Park Theater Proposal
Hopes that a locally generated effort to purchase and rejuvenate Lafayette’s landmark movie house have evaporated like film in a hot projector after the trio of locals behind the drive let the city know they are pulling out. The rub appears to be the lack of available outside financing – any hint of which dried…
Movies, Al Fresco Dining Part Of Grand Vision For Saving Lafayette’s Park Theater
Three locals with sufficient financial heft and a vision for what they say it will take to revive the city’s favorite – and fading – downtown movie house are asking the city council and the public for support of their plan. The trio, couple Fred and Cathy Abbott together with family friend and physician Alex McDonald, say they have…
So Long, Jack, It Has Been A Long Ride… Moraga Jack In The Box Closes
Moraga’s Jack In The Box outpost, a mainstay fast food dispensary for almost half a century – has closed its doors, as this site reported last week. A thin stream of disappointed customers pressed their faces up against the plate glass doors Wednesday to read a brief notice entreating customers to visit the franchises other locations.…
Biz Buzz: Fast Food Moves Afoot In Moraga
Don’t tell anyone, because apparently this is as closely guarded a secret as the Royal Romances at Westeros, but a Game of Thrones-style shuffle is underway for some mainstays of the Moraga fast food and coffee scene. Rumors have been circulating for days, “no comments” are being issued as furiously as during a dungeon interrogation,…
Former Lafayette Realtor Charged With Orchestrating Mortgage Fraud Scam
An East Bay real estate broker and former Lafayette resident surrendered to federal investigators Monday after his indictment for an elaborate scheme to defraud homeowners and mortgage holders during the sale of two properties in Danville and San Francisco. Robert Jacobsen, 67, was charged in an indictment returned Monday with wire fraud and with engaging in financial…