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<\/p>\nI\u2019ve long had mixed feelings about the state of many of San Jose\u2019s neon signs. It\u2019s really great that some classics \u2014 the Stephens Meat dancing pig, Orchard Supply Hardware and Wings restaurant \u2014 have been restored and now have a home at History Park. But it\u2019s also a sad reminder of the businesses we have lost.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not the case for Andy\u2019s Pet Shop, though. Its original sign, festooned with a colorful scarlet macaw, has been restored and reinstalled just in time for the pet supply store\u2019s grand re-opening Saturday at its new location at 425 S. Bascom Ave. The festivities from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. will include a ribbon cutting, giveaways, product demos and a barbecue \u2014 and lots of opportunities to see the restored sign.<\/p>\n
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Baby, a macaw, sits on a perch outside its cage at Andy’s Pet Shop on Bascom Avenue. The store relocated to a larger space in its previous building and will have its grand reopening Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n
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Jonny Rizo, co-owner of Andy\u2019s Pet Shop, talks about his plans for the San Jose institution, which originally opened in 1950 but will have its grand reopening Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SJM-L-PIZARRO-COL-0910-04-1.jpg?w=620\")
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The iconic neon sign for Andy\u2019s Pet Shop, which originally opened in 1950 in San Jose, has been reinstalled in advance of the store\u2019s grand reopening Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n
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Andy\u2019s Pet Shop in San Jose offers pet food and supplies, as well as some adoption services. The store at 425 S. Bascom Ave. will have its grand reopening Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20110224__ssjm0225andysfoto1.jpg?w=400\")
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The sign for Andy’s Pet Shop, shown on the original building on The Alameda. (Joanne Hoyoung Lee\/Bay Area News Group) <\/p>\n
![\"Lissa](\"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20090812__andyspetshop1-1.jpg?w=400\")
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Lissa Shoun, owner of Andy\u2019s Pet Shop, stands next to the store\u2019s signature macaw sign while holding Osbourne, a 6-year-old chihuahua, who came from the Dog Spot Rescue in Vacaville, on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. (Karen T. Borchers\/Mercury News)\n<\/p>\n
Show Caption<\/p>\n
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Baby, a macaw, sits on a perch outside its cage at Andy’s Pet Shop on Bascom Avenue. The store relocated to a larger space in its previous building and will have its grand reopening Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n
Expand<\/a><\/p>\n New co-owner Jonny Rizo said he\u2019s thrilled to see the sign back where it belongs.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are many changes that I have already made and many more to come, but the most significant has been the restoration of our iconic neon sign,\u201d said Rizo, who worked at the store for former owner Lissa Shoun for several years.<\/p>\n Rizo, 29, had approached Shoun about buying the business previously but she wasn\u2019t ready to say yes until earlier this year. The lease at 429 S. Bascom Ave. was ending, and Rizo was able to move into a larger space in the same building that previously had been occupied by a medical supply company.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt such a big responsibility, and we have really good customers that\u2019ve been coming to Andy\u2019s for many, many years that I\u2019ve made friends with,\u201d Rizo said. \u201cI haven\u2019t been able to fully digest what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Andy\u2019s was originally opened in 1950 by Andy and Geraldine Camilleri and was a constant presence on The Alameda at Julian Street for 60 years. Shoun became the owner in 2007<\/a>, adding an animal rescue component and eventually moving the store to a downtown location at 51 Notre Dame Ave. in 2010<\/a>. The sign wasn\u2019t reinstalled at the new space, but people would get to see it every Fourth of July at the Rose, White & Blue Parade where it would be displayed on a flat-bed truck. When the shop moved again to Bascom<\/a>, the sign was placed on the floor where it could be seen through the window.<\/p>\n Rizo plans to continue some animal adoption programs, primarily with reptiles, as well as selling plants in addition to pet food and supplies. Yes, the shop has its \u201cbug bar,\u201d with insects that can be purchased for feeding reptiles and other critters, and there\u2019s a store cat, Pap\u00ed, who is usually wandering around. But there\u2019s at least one other feature \u2014 besides the sign \u2014 that maintains Andy\u2019s link to its history: Baby, a 40-year-old macaw who has been a resident of the store for about a decade.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s our mascot,\u201d Rizo said, \u201cand she loves to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n WARM DONATIONS: Temperatures may be on the high side this week, but we all know winter will eventually arrive. That\u2019s why dozens of volunteers were at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos on Tuesday, sorting hundreds of handmade blankets, sweaters, hats, quilts and other textiles to distribute to keep families a little warmer in a few months.<\/p>\n The Jewish Silicon Valley program is called Knitzvah, and its members are volunteers who have been making these items from donated yarn and materials for more than two decades. Tuesday\u2019s \u201cKnitzvah Big Sorting Day\u201d was the group\u2019s first get-together after a summer break. Now, all the items they sorted will be donated to about 20 organizations including Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley, Bill Wilson Center, Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, HomeFirst and relief efforts for wildfire and flood victims throughout the state.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what community looks like \u2014 dozens of hands, hundreds of hours, and thousands of handmade gifts going straight to neighbors who need warmth this winter,\u201d Jewish Silicon Valley Knitzvah Volunteer Chair Lynn Ann Levi said. \u201cKnitzvah has been repairing the world one stitch at a time for 21 years and today reminded me why we keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n ANNIVERSARY ON WHEELS: The 20th annual Santos Family Car Show once again brought about 3,000 car lovers to Alviso last Saturday. This year\u2019s show was dedicated to the memory of Tony Allan Santos, who founded the show and helped grow it over the years. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee and Assemblymember Alex Lee presented the Santos family with commendations for the milestone.<\/p>\n The show featured more than 500 vintage vehicles and raised about $6,500 through a raffle for the Santa Visits Alviso scholarship program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve long had mixed feelings about the state of many of San Jose\u2019s neon signs. It\u2019s really great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[180926,34462,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-458727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-andys-pet-shop","tag-neon","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Dozens](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SJM-L-PIZARRO-COL-0910-06_5814ad.jpg\")
Dozens of volunteer knitters and crocheters from
\nKnitzvah, a program of Jewish Silicon Valley, sorted hundreds of handmade blankets, sweaters, hats, quilts and other donated items at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Photo courtesy Jewish Silicon Valley)\u00a0<\/p>\n