Find out which stores have opened, closed or moved and what’s new in Berkeley’s nonprofit, retail and small-business communities. If you have updates to share, send an email to editors@berkeleyside.org.

Moved Fourth Street

Paraíso Plant Studio outgrows its previous location

Paraíso Plant Studio has moved into the former Market Hall space on Fourth Street. Credit: Nathan Dalton for Berkeleyside

Paraíso Plant Studio has moved into the former Market Hall Foods space on Fourth Street, just a few doors down from its previous spot. 

The new 4,000-square-foot space, which opened in November, is nearly three times the size of the previous location, and gives the Paraíso team not only more space for more plants but ample room for workshops and special events and a protected space for floral arrangements, which was previously done outdoors at the nearby Flor flower stand. 

“Our florists had been out there building flowers in the wind and rain for three years,” said owner María Blum-Sullivan, who founded Paraíso in 2019 inside a tiny 15-by15-foot room on Allston Way in downtown Berkeley before relocating to Fourth Street during the pandemic. 

The new move was made possible in part by money raised through SMBX, an online marketplace that allows small businesses to issue bonds. Paraíso made $217,190 from 182 investors on the platform. The company will pay each investor back over the course of 60 months with 11.5% interest. Other Berkeley businesses that have successfully raised capital through SMBX include Boichik Bagels, which raised over $1 million for its West Berkeley bagel plant and Case de Chocolates, the chocolate maker and retailer on Ashby Avenue, which raised $200,000.

A peak inside the new Paraíso Plant Studio space on Fourth Street. Credit: Benji Friedman

“The community turned out for us,” said Blum-Sullivan about the successful fundraising campaign. “And so now we’re gonna turn out for our community, too.”

Paraíso plans to host a series of free events, such as a wreath-building workshop the store held over the holidays. Blum-Sullivan and her team also plan to experiment with DIY flower arranging workshops for wedding parties, as a way to keep matrimonial expenses down. Keeping prices lows is always top of mind, she said.

“ Fourth Street is known as kind of an expensive place to shop and we work really hard to create price accessibility,” she said. “I always tell folks, I want my mom to be able to shop here.”

As a queer-Latina owned business, accessibility and inclusiveness is a big part of the company’s mission. 

“Our tagline is ‘For plant people and plant killers alike,’” said Blum-Sullivan. “I like to tell people we’re inclusive in a variety of different ways.”

Paraíso Plant Studio, 1780 Fourth St., Berkeley. Phone: 510-529-4175. Hours: Daily, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Connect via Instagram and Facebook.

Open Elmwood

Worthy Self Care Studio expands across the street with Worthy Breath & Body 

Each class at Worthy Breath & Body is named after an affirmation, such as “I am powerful” for the strength training class. Credit: Jasmin Guinn

Meliza Mokrani, founder of Worthy Self Care Studio on Ashby Avenue, has opened a “new concept” across the street in the former home of Tail of the Yak. Called Worthy Breath & Body, the new location is an “infrared-heated movement studio,” according to Mokrani. 

Worthy Breath & Body features 50-minute movement classes, such as heated-mat pilates, heated Vinyasa yoga, and functional strength training. The classes are named after “affirmation statements,” according to Mokrani, such as “I am flowing” for the Vinyasa yoga class, “I am cosmic” for the meditation and breathwork class, and “I am powerful” for the strength training class. Each class begins and ends with breathwork. 

The new studio opened on Jan. 11, a date that is significant to Mokrani. When she was 6 months old, Mokrani’s grandmother died on that date. And in 2019, on July 4, Mokrani’s mother passed away at 1:11 a.m. at Alta Bates Hospital, just a few blocks west of Worthy. 

As a way to honor her mother and grandmother, Worthy Breathe & Body is offering founding memberships for $111 per month, good for four classes. Other memberships include access to eight classes per month for $143, and unlimited access for $180 per month. Non-members can take advantage of a $22 intro offer class.

Meliza Mokrani (second from right, bottom row) inside the new Worthy Breath & Body on Ashby Avenue. Credit: Jasmin Guinn

Worthy also offers free memberships to active recipients of two or more social services programs, such as CalFresh, SNAP EBT, Medi-Cal, Section 8 as part of its nonprofit Worthy Wellness Initiative, and sliding scale memberships to others who may not qualify for the initiative but may have a hard time paying the monthly membership dues.

“Part of the ethos of what Worthy is all about is that wellness is for everyone,” said Mokrani, who opened her original Worthy studio in March 2022. “Everyone should have access to powerful modalities, whether it’s red light therapy and infrared saunas and cold plunging, or having access to a place where they can move their bodies in a healthy way.”

There are currently 35 Worth Wellness Initiative members, but Mokrani expects that number to grow as Worthy Breath & Body gets up and running.

“As a small business owner, I have an opportunity to create change in a way that I feel is mindful of my fellow community members,” she said. “I’ve proven that this model works in my other business that is very successful. So many of us are having a hard time because of the division and divisiveness in our country right now and I feel like it’s so important to show up in this way.”

Worthy Breath & Body, 2632 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. Phone: 510-506-0580. Hours: check online schedule for class times. Connect via Instagram and Facebook.

Closed Fourth Street

American Giant leaves Fourth Street

American Giant has closed its Fourth Street shop after five years. Credit: Nico Savidge/Berkeleyside

American Giant, the sportswear brand known for its American-made t-shirts and hoodies, has closed its Berkeley shop on Fourth Street after nearly 5 years in operation. 

A note posted on the door of the location said that closing the store was a “difficult decision,” and also thanked its Berkeley customers “for being part of this chapter.”

“When we opened in November 2020, we couldn’t have imagined what the years ahead would hold,” read the note. “Through it all, you showed up. You supported us, shopped with us, and brought the heart of American Giant to life in that space.”

American Giant was founded in 2012 by Bayard Winthrop because he was “fed up” with the clothing industry, which was increasingly “making really cheap stuff” and “chasing the cheapest means of production,” he said in a video on the company’s website. He started American Giant to “prove that there was another way” to manufacture clothing. 

The company quickly built a loyal following, with customers drawn to both the look and feel of the clothing and its American-made mission. American Giant’s very first item, the Classic Full Zip, was even called “the greatest hoodie ever made” by Slate Magazine.

Customers can still buy clothing from the company’s website, or from its flagship store in San Francisco, where the company is based. 

American Giant, 1801 Fourth St., Berkeley. Connect via Instagram and Facebook.

Moved West Berkeley

D.C. Piano moves into a bigger space near Fourth Street

D.C. Pianos has moved into a new 12,000-square-foot space on University Avenue. Credit: Nathan Dalton for Berkeleyside

D.C. Piano Company, the 37-year-old instrument sales and repair shop, has moved from its longtime home on San Pablo Avenue, into a 12,000-square-foot space at University Avenue and Fifth Street, close to the Fourth Street Shopping District.

The new space gives the company an expanded showroom, a dedicated room for its collection of grand pianos, a recital space and a workshop for piano restoration, according to the company’s website. 

D.C. Piano Company was founded by Dennis Crudo in 1989 out of his home garage in Oakland. As a musician and tinkerer, Crudo started repairing and restoring pianos out of his home as a hobby. The hobby grew into a full-fledged business and Crudo opened his first retail store on San Pablo Ave in 1999. Crudo works alongside his son, Matt, who is also a piano technician. 

The company, which also sells guitars, ukuleles, accordions, brass instruments and more, is currently holding a moving sale, with free piano ground floor delivery in the Bay Area, a free piano bench, and one free home tuning included. 

D.C. Piano Company, 801 University Ave., Berkeley. Phone: 510-549-9755. Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Connect via Instagram and Facebook.

Closed Fourth Street

Vans skates away from Fourth Street

The papered-over windows of the former Vans Store on Fourth Street. Credit: Nathan Dalton for Berkeleyside

Vans, the iconic shoe brand worn by skateboarders for decades, has closed its retail shop on Fourth Street.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the closing. But over the past two years the brand has closed 140 of its retail locations, according to Fashion Network. And it plans to close even more, due to a drop in sales, as part of a restructuring plan that has been dubbed “Reinvent” by Vans’ parent company VF Corporation, according to Fashion News. 

The Vans Store on Bay Street in Emeryville remains open.

Vans, 1915 Fourth St., Ste. #102, Berkeley. Connect via Instagram and Facebook.

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