First Staples, Now Peet's: City Continues Chain Store Debate

On the eve of the heated Staples debate, news that another chain might be coming to town has spurred discussion about the future of corporate brands in Sonoma.

Peet's Coffee & Tea, a coffeehouse chain with 192 stores across six states, may be the first retailer to sign onto Sonoma's "Old Firehouse" development, a 10,500 square-foot-building located a few blocks from the Plaza, at the corner of Broadway and Patten street.

"Yes, Peet’s is interested in the project," said Douglas Wiele, a founder of Foothill Partners, the developer linked to the project. Though no formal agreement with the coffee giant has been reached, Thad Logan, the retailer linked to the project, regularly works with Peet's, opening and expanding new stores.

On the Foothill Partners website, a pdf of the "Old Firehouse" floorplan shows a Peet's logo in one of the units. According to Wiele the logo serves "as an example of the kind of business we’d like to have there," as a way of attracting similar brands, not as a definite sign the coffee house will take up residence.

"I’m one who has great affection for local businesses, and I draw a great distinction between startups – but they’re very hard to do business with," said Wiele, who says he became a Peet's customer in the then-indie coffeeship's original Berkeley location. Wiele has worked with Peet's in other developments, describing them as "a great merchant - and I've done my share of independent coffee houses."

The city hasn't yet finalized an agreement with Foothill Partners - who must fill 50 percent of the units before the city can sell them the building - but since the mix-use project was put before the planning commission last year, the city has begun the environmental review process and commissioned a traffic study, according to Planning Director David Goodison.

The preliminary agreement specifies requirements for types of business, according to Wiele. "We must have a coffee house, we must have a restaurant, and we must have not more than 30 percent of the units occupied by businesses that don’t generate sales tax revenue.” But, there's no rule on the brands of those occupying businesses - and no limits to whether they might be chain stores.

"Do we control if a chain or non-chain comes in [to the units]? My answer, at this point, is no. We don’t have a non-chain ordinance," said City Manager Linda Kelly.

There is change in the works: a May 2 Sonoma City Council agenda item, recently added by Citycouncilman Steve Barbose, will revisit a chain store ordinance.

"We’ve got to get narrowed down on what exactly it is we want to regulate," said Kelly. "'Chain stores' is kind of a broad topic – do they want to focus on just chain stores of a certain size, or just on the Plaza, or just in the historic issue. And what about the ones that are already here?"

Still, even if a regulating ordinance doesn't come before September, Wiele says he is committed to keeping big-box business out of the development, and a suitable mix of local business and good chains in.

"What we really look for are local all-stars - people who have a great record of operating businesses well," said Wiele. "This would be a terrible location to line up Denny’s and 7-11; that’s not what we’re about. We've given the redevelopment agency a commitment that we're not going to go in that direction."