Okay, so I have some bad news and some good news regarding the SoFA Market. Let's start with the bad news. The Falafel Bar is closing down and they are going to temporarily shut down all of the SoFA Market except for Vero's coffee on February 1st. Okay, now the good news. The reason why they are shutting down the space is to accelerate construction for 4 new vendors. These will include Downtown's first Ramen shop, Japanese tapas, Hawaiian Poke and Burgers, a top secret dessert place, and the long awaited Fountainhead Bar. Let's call it SoFA Market 2.0, and the ETA is late March - April.
Here was the official announcement post from the
SoFA Market Facebook Page:
When we bought this building at the end of 2011, it had been vacant for more than a few years. There was little street life in the neighborhood perhaps with the exception of the San Carlos and 1st St corner. The idea of a a communal space or a neighborhood market came about as a way to help activate a street devoid of retail businesses. We envisioned a group of like-minded vendors committed to creating a vibrant urban scene and interested in locally-sourced and organic products to come together and make something out of this empty space.
It's been a long road. Building downtown has never been easy and it wasn't easy for us. The financial risks were huge and finding tenants for an unproven concept was especially challenging. But we have made significant progress, albeit slowly.
A couple of pioneering vendors signed up from the start and have weathered the pains of opening a new venue with us. Falafel Bar will soon leave the market, unfortunately. But Veros Coffee, with its affable owners Omar and Veronica Quinonez, will keep marching on (if you haven't had their highly-crafted, artisan espresso-based drinks or pour-over coffee, you really ought to try; just watching them make a joe is a joy in itself).
4 more vendors have signed up late last year and with this opportunity, we are going to push the reset button. Except for Veros Coffee at the front, we will shut down the rest of the market temporarily for a couple of months starting on February 1. This allows the construction of these new businesses to proceed in the fastest way possible.
When we reopen, you will see a new SoFA Market. There will be a diverse offering of quality food: ramen and Japanese tapas (with beer and sake to wash them down), hawaiian poke, burgers and skewers, and some very interesting dessert products (this last one we can't yet divulge). And of course, there will be The Fountainhead Bar.
Look for our re-opening in the late March - April time frame.
Please bear with us. We believe in downtown San Jose and the SoFA neighborhood in particular. We are in this for the long run, and if this were easy, everyone would have done it already!
