Lines around the block for cupcakes and a boom year for a flower shop, but a shoe shop for the stars is calling it quits, one of several COVID-19 casualties.
Author Archives: Ricky Rodas
Ricky Rodas is a member of the 2020 graduating class of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Before joining The Oaklandside, he spent two years reporting on immigrant communities in the Bay Area as a reporter for the local news sites Oakland North, Mission Local, and Richmond Confidential. Rodas, who is Salvadoran American and bilingual, is on The Oaklandside team through a partnership with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities.
Posted inBusiness
‘We’re back to being people’: The first night without masks at Oakland’s bars
We captured the scene on Tuesday night at six bars, from East Oakland to downtown.
Posted inBusiness
Hella Plants Market gives budding plant entrepreneurs a space to grow
The pop-up event this Sunday will feature plants and plant-based products from Oakland vendors.
Posted inBusiness
City Council looks to extend Flex Streets, its emergency program for Oakland businesses
The initiative, which led to more parklets, street closures, and outdoor markets during the pandemic, will likely be extended through next spring.
Posted inBusiness
A new Oakland-based incubator helps small businesses step up their game
The Port Product Lab is a free program focused on helping business owners improve their products.
Posted inBusiness
Oakland biz owners can still apply for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund
The fund, signed into law by President Biden, will provide billions in relief to qualifying business owners. The application deadline is Monday, May 24.
Posted inArts & Community
Oakland’s Black Liberation Walking Tour will use oral history to root a community in place
Tour organizers hope to prevent further gentrification and build support for a new library in Oakland’s Hoover-Foster neighborhood.
Posted inBusiness
Chef Reign Free launches the Black Culinary Collective to support Oakland entrepreneurs
The owner of Red Door Catering will be sharing a 5,000 square foot commercial kitchen in West Oakland with other Black-owned food businesses.
Posted inBusiness
Trader Joe’s reduces ‘thank you’ pay for some Oakland employees
Oakland’s grocery worker hazard pay law doesn’t cover TJ’s Lakeshore location, but Rockridge workers will keep an extra $5 per hour.
Posted inBusiness
Low-wage workers in Oakland and across the state say they feel unsafe at their job
A survey of Asian and Latinx food-service and domestic workers found a high number were exposed to unsafe workplaces.