Shop Small

While the holidays might look a little different this year, it's more important than ever to support our local communities and small business owners. This year, I'm looking forward to shopping small. Here are some of my favorite local vendors:

Therapy Stores – Let your favorites do the choosing! Send a gift card to a loved one that they can redeem for whatever strikes their fancy at this SF online boutique.

Present – A friendly store in Downtown Los Altos featuring gifts, gift baskets, and gift boxes of artisanal food, chocolates, beauty and spa products, candles, mugs and vases.

Sugar Butter Flour – You can get any kind of cake or dessert you can imagine at this Sunnyvale staple. My favorite is the Princess Cake. It melts in your mouth!

Introducing: Los Altos

Tree-lined streets and a “small village atmosphere” characterize Los Altos, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, just 40 miles south of San Francisco and adjacent to Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and other thriving urban centers. Los Altos is primarily a residential community, with boutique retail districts featuring local small businesses a short walk from any home. The city remains an enclave in a sea of development, the perfect spot for a retirement retreat!

The history of modern Los Altos dates back to 1906, when a Southern Pacific Railroad executive and friends purchased 140 acres of land owned by Sarah Winchester, the widow of the inventor of the Winchester rifle. The group planned a new town to serve the new Southern Pacific Railroad cutoff between Mayfield and Los Gatos and named it Los Altos (Spanish for the heights) because the land was the highest on that cutoff.

Learn more in the Neighborhoods section of our website.

Introducing: Millbrae

In the 1860s, Darius Ogden Mills purchased land from José de la Cruz Sánchez to build a country estate. Bordered by what is now Skyline Boulevard, the Bayshore Highway, Millbrae Avenue, and Trousdale Drive, the estate became known as "Millbrae" from "Mills" and the Scottish word "brae," which means "rolling hills" or "slope."

Millbrae's economy is driven in part by its proximity to local transportation options including San Francisco International Airport. The city’s transit center provides quick connections to anywhere you want or need to go in the Bay Area, and tourists often choose to stay in Millbrae to take advantage of shops, restaurants, and more along El Camino Real and Broadway Avenue.

Learn more in the Neighborhoods section of our website.