A native of San Jose, Monisha Murray’s journey in the buy-and-sell world of vintage clothing began long before she opened her own storefront, Black & Brown. Over the last 21 years, the business has grown from a 2,000-square-foot startup to two side-by-side stores showcasing women’s and men’s classic clothing stretching back to the 1940s.
“I feel like I try to hit every angle and stay true to the eras and the times,” Murray told San José Spotlight. “I believe that if you have a good product, people will keep coming back. I don’t have a plan B — this is what I do.”
Fresh out of high school, Murray started working for a local buy-sell-trade shop called Crossroads, part of a 40-store chain. Over the next seven years, she became a manager, opened the store’s Santa Cruz location and became a buyer trainer.
“I’ve always thrifted,” she said. “I was a little raver kid, and when Crossroads came here, it was exciting. We didn’t have many vintage stores, and it had an alternative vibe that made me feel like I needed to work there.”
Sweaters on display at Black & Brown. Photo by Robert Eliason.
She then took her Crossroads’ knowledge east. Murray moved to New York for a job at Beacon’s Closet, an upscale buy-and-sell with locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan, which lasted a year and a half.
“I was working too hard,” Murray said, “and realized at age 26 that I could open my own place.”
Taking the idea back home to San Jose, she opened Black & Brown in partnership with some friends. It was all love, she said, but she also learned that business is business.
“I was also working at a coffee shop at 3:30 or 4 in the morning,” Murray said, “and would go to the shop from noon until 7 p.m. Sometimes we would stay until midnight. Those first three years were a struggle, and we weren’t getting paid.”
Then, as now, the inventory ranged from the 1940s through more contemporary clothes. The lower limit is out of practicality: Murray said anything earlier than that starts to become more collectible and needs more attention because “things get really delicate.”
When Murray outgrew her space she found an old two-story co-op built in the 1920s on West San Carlos Street. Photo by Robert Eliason.
There is another limit within the more recent vintages on “fast fashion,” a modern trend toward clothes that are mass produced rapidly from cheaper materials.
“It’s not really made to last,” Murray said. “So the quality is just not there.”
By year five, the business had outgrown its space and moved to a 5,500-square-foot location on The Alameda. The business continued to grow over the next five years, but when Whole Foods opened nearby, the rent suddenly tripled, and it was time for another move.
The building Murray found was an old two-story co-op built in the 1920s on West San Carlos Street, with retail space on the ground floor and 13 rooms on the second that had been rented out to different shops. Her first step was hiring a contractor to open up the walls to form larger spaces.
“The building was really creepy at first,” Murray said. “Every spot had this different pool of energy, and it hadn’t had much love. Once we blasted it with white paint, it was beautiful. My mom came and blessed it, and it’s been our home for 11 years.”
Originally, Murray said, Black & Brown was intended to symbolize the old and the new: The black is the “crispy,” and the brown is the drab that is left behind but still has life. But now, as sole owner, she finds there is a certain providence in the name.
“It’s just me now,” she said, “and my background is Mexican and Black. So it’s like the universe was already doing something that I didn’t quite see. It’s literally me with the name. I think it’s great.”
Murray said that when she buys, she is looking for things that are “timeless,” such as linens and silks with “great fabric flow and structure,” but with an eye to the newest trends as well.
“I always question my team, asking ‘What do the kids want?’” she said. “I think the blessing of it is that you are always shifting and adjusting to trends. I feel like I’m watching that trajectory even as I’m getting older and I’m trying to find this happy balance.”
Black & Brown’s display of purses and belts. Photo by Robert Eliason.
Although she has staff buyers, Murray is still hands-on when selecting inventory for her shop. And unlike some buy-sell establishments, she trains her workers to rely on their instincts and fashion knowledge rather than to only consult the marketplace.
“I tell them, ‘I was buying in the 90s,’” she said. “We didn’t go online to find things. It was retention. I had to know brands and keep their price brackets in my head. My brain was the database, and that’s where I had to pick and pull.”
Customer Zerreen Kazi was introduced to the store by a friend eight years ago and still prizes a 1980s vintage suede jacket she found there.
“When I came in, I was really impressed with how distinctive the pieces were,” Kazi told San José Spotlight. “Much more than the traditional thrift shops I’d been to in San Jose. All the employees there were really excited about the clothes which got me really excited, too.”
Kazi said going there regularly was a real education in styles and fabrics — and is the reason she still shops there.
“It’s an experience you won’t find anywhere else in San Jose,” she said. “It’s a fascinating mix of fashion and culture and it’s always a great time going there.”
Murray has recently taken over the adjacent space, the delightfully named “Black Cat Licorice” building, formerly the home of the American Improv Theatre. The entire shop is devoted to the full range of men’s fashion, from the 1940s to the present, as with women’s styles.
But even as the business expands, with the inclusion of home decor items from local designers, Murray keeps to her principles of the finest quality and selection.
“As businesses grow, they tend to make a lot of changes,” she told San José Spotlight. “I’m a big believer in ‘stick to your roots.’ Stick to how you started. That’ll always be what your customers fell in love with in the first place.”
Contact Robert Eliason at [email protected].
Editor’s Note: The Biz Beat is a series highlighting local small businesses and restaurants in Silicon Valley. Know a business you’d like to see featured? Let us know at [email protected].
Black & Brown
Located at 751 W. San Carlos St. in San Jose
(408) 298-1970
Open daily 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Buying hours are Monday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.