For shoppers who enjoy some of the best local products in the
region, the new San Benito Bene store downtown should help fill a
void and save drive time.
For shoppers who enjoy some of the best local products in the region, the new San Benito Bene store downtown should help fill a void and save drive time.
Kathina Szeto recently opened the gift boutique at 615 San Benito St., suite B, with a theme that focuses on locally produced items. And while she sells an array of other companies’ products – such as those from B&R Farms, Blossoming Orchid Nursery in Aromas and Mansmith’s Gourmet – she also has started a brand named after the store itself, San Benito Bene, which includes an array of skin-care and therapeutic goods.
Szeto, who said she represents others’ products with the San Benito Bene brand, came up with the idea in January in talking with Hollister Downtown Association members while enjoying samples of local chocolates and apricots. She said they had been talking about the idea of having so many local brands, yet nowhere that really brought it all together in one location.
Szeto referred to the offerings as the “best of the region” and she emphasized gift baskets as a staple of the evolving business.
Her family owns the building and, as she put it, they wanted to be “part of the solution” with a rough economy and vacant spaces downtown.
“San Benito Bene, ‘Bene’ meaning good in Latin and Italian, it’s just about how rich the area is,” Szeto said. “It’s how resourceful, how talented and creative, as it is able to produce amazing products.”
There also is a clear emphasis on serenity throughout the store. Light jazz music played in the background Friday as Szeto arranged what she called a “do-it-yourself gift building center” in the shop. Szeto herself speaks in a calm and welcoming, yet firm, tone.
“The calmness comes from products being local,” she said.
And just about everything in San Benito Bene comes from the region – if not within the county then Watsonville or Gilroy or somewhere else nearby as laid out on a large map, signifying the home for products sold in the store, which hangs over the register area of the store.
Szeto has the products organized by type – such as food, drinks, skin care or spices – on displays throughout the shop. Orchids from the Aromas business welcome customers as they enter the store.
As does Szeto.
“Would you like some Martinelli’s lemonade?” she said, while working on her do-it-yourself gift center.
Some of the items on the display stands near the front include botanical body butter, herbal soap, goat milk body lotion, face scrubs, therapeutic comfort wraps and natural mineral makeup – underscoring another theme of the business as being environmentally friendly.
Food offerings include such favorites as Trufflz, Marich chocolates and honey from the Uvas Gold Apiary in Morgan Hill.
Another stand offers a slew of products from Oils of Paicines, as Szeto proudly proclaimed, while there is a cooler that sells the apple juices and other fruit-based products grown or packaged here.
Another prominent feature of the store is the local art, such as that from Shannon Grissom. Szeto said she plans to expand the artist offerings, asserting that “we’re growing still as I’m learning.” She hopes it will become a place for people to meet and socialize.
“It would be a wonderful social place,” she said. “I would like for it to be a fun place to come.”
Szeto also made a special point to thank all the others who helped her get started, such as the neighboring Serene Home and Marcus Building Systems.
Grissom said she is glad to have her art involved in the new venture.
“I am totally stoked about it,” Grissom said. “We’re all supporting each other. I think it’s a great idea and she’s passionate about what she’s doing.”
