A little chardonnay with your feature presentation? Berkeley’s last remaining commercial movie theater, the Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, bets on a beer-and-wine license to lure back movie-goers.
Joanne Furio
Joanne Furio is a longtime journalist and writer of creative nonfiction. Originally from New York, she has been a staff writer, an editor and a freelance magazine writer. More recently, she was a contributing writer at San Francisco magazine for a decade, covering design, culture and style. Over the years, her work has appeared frequently in The New York Times, New York Newsday, The Village Voice, Ms., Dwell and Landscape Architecture.
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: Retail vacancy rates remain high; ‘Barbarella’-inspired hair salon has moved
Berkeley’s ground-floor commercial vacancy rates didn’t budge from 2021 to 2022, according to a new city report. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
Posted inBusiness
Quilts, corsets and yarn bombs: 8 Berkeley needlecraft shops catering to the crafty
Stores serving sewers, crocheters, dressmakers and other needleworkers form a tightly knit community in Berkeley.
Posted inArts
In new memoir, Berkeley union rep reveals painful secrets in her family and the labor movement
Yvonne Martinez’s stories stretch nearly a century from her Mexican American family’s Utah roots to her time as a union organizer in Berkeley and Oakland.
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: Company that grows gardens on walls is blooming on Ashby Avenue; dream over for Siamese Dream
Barge North has also closed on College Avenue. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
Posted inBusiness
Berkeley’s 2 pole dancing studios each slide their own way
Berkeley Pole & Dance aims to become “the Soul Cycle of pole dancing.” A mile down University Avenue, newly opened Flux boasts a 197-seat theater.
Posted inArts
The final curtain for the Regal UA, Berkeley’s 90-year-old art deco movie palace
Generations of movie-goers are mourning the loss of a cinematic and architectural treasure, which closed around Feb. 3, weeks before anticipated.
Posted inBusiness
Pharmaca closing all its stores after Walgreens buys pharmacy chain
Closures include the pharmacy on Solano Avenue in Berkeley as well as the branch in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood.
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: Beloved Berkeley pet food store loses dogged battle to internet retailers; Modena Salon is moving
Animal Farm Discount Pet Foods was a mainstay on the corner of San Pablo Avenue and Cedar Street for 35 years. Even the owner’s parrot felt it was time to go.
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: Burned-down West Berkeley tattoo shop reopens in new spot; Fourth Street boutique Aiken is closing
Philthy Clean Tattoo paints itself a new future downtown. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
Posted inCommunity
Berkeley’s Ohmega Salvage, famed spot for ‘cool, funky stuff,’ is closing after 49 years
When architectural salvage was cool, Ohmega ruled. Its closing symbolizes the end of an era and changing tastes.
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: New Berkeley company sells gender-neutral kids underwear; a backyard dojo
Melanie Dunn created Breaking Stereos after several difficult shopping trips with her daughter. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
