January 15, 2009

New stores bring value to Almaden Valley

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Two new stores have opened in or near Almaden Valley neighborhoods that are bringing value to residents. Cleaners 4 Less opened off Almaden Expressway near Cherry about six weeks ago, and just before Christmas, Almaden Market opened at Old Almaden Plaza near Bloomsters and Sonoma Chicken Coop.

Essi Mansoori’s first cleaning shop in Evergreen proved such a success with customers that he decided to open a second Cleaners 4 Less location near Almaden.

Cleaners 4 Less is located in the strip mall between Best Buy and the Classic Car Wash, just off Cherry. Essi Mansoori’s first cleaning shop in Evergreen proved such a success with customers that he decided to open a second location near Almaden.

He’s found success because his cleaning business is unique; he uses biodegradable Green Earth detergents for his dry cleaning instead of the chemically based solvents that can harm the environment. The Green Earth detergents don’t seep into the ground and the water table, they crystallize into sand and don’t harm anything, he says. He also uses biodegradable detergents for laundry.

Mansoori is a Texas native who graduated from the University of Texas with degrees in mechanical and chemical engineering. After college, he worked for Mobil Oil Company before moving to the Bay Area to work for Sun Microsystems. After leaving Sun, he worked in a dry cleaning store to learn the trade and later that year with a friend opened cleaning shops in Sausalito and Belmont.

His entire Almaden shop is computerized and the cleaning machines—for wet and dry cleaning and for laundry—are all programmed. For example, dry cleaning can go into the dry cleaning machine and buttons are pressed for the types of fabric and depth of cleaning necessary. Some items need to be wet cleaned in order to remove specific stains, here again, buttons are pushed noting fabrics and other factors to provide the best cleaning possible.

There is a special dryer for wet dry cleaning that offers moisture controls that sense when items are dry to prevent shrinkage.

Items such as pants, skirts, shirts, jackets and blouses are typically cleaned for $3.99 each, although some decorative women’s blouses with poufy sleeves may cost more. There is no extra charge for fabrics such as silk or linen.

Customers are notated in the computer and regular customers receive a green bag with each order with their names and a bar code. The bag is returned with the clean items and can be dropped off without waiting in line eliminating time and work for both parties.

Besides the different machines, Mansoori has several methods of ironing; a shirt machine to do men’s or large shirts for women, another machine that irons pants and a regular iron for decorative items or hard-to-iron sleeves.
The shop also offers alterations for between $10-15, depending on what needs to be fixed. There is also a fitting room to allow customers to try on the clothes.

Cleaners 4 Less is located at 5029 Almaden Expressway. It is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Almaden Market
Almaden Market is nestled between Alliance Title and Almaden Valley Aesthetics Skin Clinic and Spa in Old Almaden Plaza, near where Trader Joe’s used to be.

Almaden Market offers a unique variety of features from Mediterranean delicacies to an extensive lineup of coffees and teas.

The new store, which opened just before Christmas, offers a unique variety of features from Mediterranean delicacies to an extensive lineup of coffees and teas and from fresh fruits and vegetables to various breads and cheeses. It also offers sandwiches and other lunch items as well as a vast number of cold drinks and an espresso machine for coffee drinks.

The store is the brainchild of Robert and Lolita Nazari, who have lived in the Almaden Valley for 28 years. Robert previously worked in high-tech and fiber optics, but the store was something Lolita had always wanted to open, and the couple lives just across the street.

Open seven days a week, the two have ordered a variety of items that you typically don’t see in a regular market—but they also offer things that people run out of and don’t want to run out to a grocery story where they have to look for parking and wait in lines to pick up milk, bread or an onion, for example.

In addition, the store appears to be clean as a whistle, in fact, it looks like you could eat off the floors. There are several tables in one corner for people that want to eat in. The checkout line also houses fresh Boar’s Head lunchmeat and some salads and cheeses. One of the salads, which resembles potato salad, has chicken and vegetables in it and offers quite a unique taste.

Behind the counter is the espresso machine and some pastries. Eventually Nazari would like to order Kosher pastries. “I used to live next door to a family of

Jewish people, and the pastries are wonderful,” he said. He also plans to offer Passover items in the spring. In the future he also hopes to offer meats.

There are several tables in one corner of Almaden Market for people that want to eat in.

The store contains items from around the world including Russia, Bulgaria and Greece. There are juices from all over the world including sodas from America and yogurt sodas from the Middle East. There are can goods from Israel and Greek and Armenian coffees as well as teas from all over the world. There are both stuffed grape leaves and also grape leaves to stuff. The store also offers various varieties of olives, canned, bottled and fresh.

The bread aisle includes everything from white Italian bread to Arabian cracker bread and Lavosh. You can also buy a number of starches from Basmati rice to couscous and other packaged rice dishes. There are Persian vegetables for stews, filo dough from Greece, cold smoked white fish, nuts and seeds in bulk, olive oils and spices that would rival an Indian grocery store. The fruits and vegetables come in from local farmers in Watsonville.

In the future, Robert hopes to offer call-in and delivery, but he adds that people who are unable to drive can call the store and he will deliver the groceries after 8 p.m.

Almaden Market is located at Old Almaden Plaza where McAbee meets Almaden Expressway. Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, phone (408) 997-7901.