Downtown Campbell sees tremendous growth in food and beverage sector

CAMPBELL, Calif. (KGO) -- Campbell has seen tremendous growth in recent years, particularly in the food and beverage sector, with more and more restaurants and bars setting up shop in the downtown core.

But now some are wondering if it's just too much.

There are more than two dozen restaurants in Downtown Campbell, a lot of choices in such a small area. While it's great to have choices, it's the lack of retail competition that is concerning to some.

"We love to come out here and see our neighbors go by, and all the fancy cars that drive by. It's very enjoyable," resident Gabriela Rosales said.

But can you have too much of a good thing?

In 2007, restaurants and bars made up just 27 percent of the commercial real estate landscape in Downtown Campbell.

It's now up to 40 percent, leaving some to wonder if there's enough of a balance with retail.

"I'd really like to be able to do some shopping. I love the smaller stores that are in smaller towns, and we don't have a lot of them around here," San Jose resident Cindy Draper said.

A city council study session was conducted this week. City staff hopes to have some recommendations by the start of the summer.

Among the ideas is the reimplementation of what's called parking-in-lieu fees, where any new restaurant would be required to help pay for additional parking spaces down the line.

Vice Mayor Jason Baker hopes to help new retail succeed. "Maybe helping shift some of the demand for restaurants towards our new end of downtown, across the tracks, towards the Pruneyard," he suggested.

Jeffrey Stout strategically opened up Orchard City Kitchen in the Pruneyard about two months ago.

"Close enough to downtown that people can still migrate this way or people can migrate that way, but it still just gave us the best of both worlds as far as allowing us to focus in on the food," Stout said.

Randy Musterer of Sushi Confidential says it's important to plan ahead. "My initial fear was, with all these new restaurants coming in, it would add competition to my business, but it has actually helped the business and driven a lot more traffic to Downtown Campbell," he said.

"Some nights we stay open for an extra hour just because there are so many people out in the streets, so the restaurants have been good for us," Recycle Bookstore's Stacy Carlon said.

For now, many are excited to have a little more life in the downtown core.