Shop Talk: Buck Mason opens on Fourth Street; Lunaria, Palm + Perkins and Amour Vert all close

Find out which stores have opened, closed or moved and what’s new in Berkeley’s nonprofit, retail and small-business communities. If you have updates to share, send an email to [email protected].

Closed Elmwood

Palm + Perkins closes on College Avenue, citing ‘uncertain times’ and life changes

Palm + Perkins has closed on College Avenue. Credit: Tracey Taylor

After eight years selling artisan-made goods, including clothing, jewelry, handbags and kitchenware, Palm + Perkins closed its College Avenue shop on March 21.

“This may feel sudden, but [the] possibility of this decision has been on our minds for some time,” wrote founders Julia Gordon and Genna Gershkow Souza in a letter announcing the closure on the company’s website. “Like many small businesses, we’ve faced rising costs, uncertain times and lasting challenges from the pandemic.”

The pair have also had big changes in their personal lives, with their growing families taking priority over their business.

“As much as we’ve tried to do it all, we’ve come to realize that we simply can’t do it all, well, at the same time,” the letter explained.

Gordon and Gershkow Souza founded Palm + Perkins as an online marketplace selling globally sourced, ethically made items online in 2017. They soon started selling at pop-ups, where they realized “people loved experiencing these products in person,” according to the letter. They opened the brick-and-mortar shop in Elmwood in 2018.

The store billed itself as a “thoughtfully curated general store,” and the founders were guided by a clear business philosophy and set of values informed by their former careers.

Before starting Palm + Perkins, Gordon served as a volunteer with the Community Health & HIV/AIDS Project in Namibia. Gershkow Souza served as the director of operations for GlobeIn, an organization that works with artisans around the world.

After starting Palm + Perkins, the pair traveled the world to meet artisans and makers and source goods for their shop.

“Before we carry a product, we take the time to learn more about the brand, their production process, and how they are making an impact,” they said on the company website.

And though they have now departed, the founders declared in their parting letter, “A part of our hearts will always be at 2950 College Ave.”

Palm + Perkins, 2950 College Ave., Berkeley. Phone: 510-529-4133. Hours: Daily 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Connect via Facebook and Instagram.

Closed Fourth Street

Amour Vert suddenly shutters on Fourth Street (and beyond)

Amour Vert on Fourth Street has closed. Credit: Tracey Taylor

Fashion shop Amour Vert on Fourth Street closed earlier this year after an eight-year run, and the company itself seems to have closed. Its website is currently down and emails sent to the company bounce back with an “address not found” message. The company’s Instagram page is still live, but there have been no posts since December. 

Reddit users have been debating the status of the company after massive discounts were announced across the company’s stores.

One user who claimed to have visited the Berkeley location in January, where every item was marked down to $10.

Berkeleyside reached out to the company but did not hear back. 

Amour Vert, French for “Green Love,” was founded in 2009 by Linda Balti and Christoph Frehsee “on the belief that great fashion and social responsibility can co-exist,” according to the company’s website, which is no longer online. Frehsee left the company in 2018, according to his LinkedIn page, and Balti left in 2019 according to her LinkedIn page. 

Emil Capital Partners, a private investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, became a majority investor of the company in 2023. Last year, Amour Vert made news after it moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which coincided with a major rebrand, and several store openings in Southern California, all of which seemed to be closed, according to Yelp searches. 

Amour Vert, 1840 Fourth St., Berkeley. Connect via Facebook and Instagram.

Open Central Berkeley

Highly Recommended Barber Studio finds talent on Instagram

Highly Recommended Barber Studio. Credit: Nathan Dalton

Four months ago, David Montano was cutting hair out of his house in Oakland. As a young barber trying to build a client list, Montano started posting all his cuts to Instagram, and soon caught the attention of Jeramie “JT” Turner, who ran a barber shop in San Leandro called Highly Recommended and was looking for stylists for his new shop in Berkeley.

Montano is one of five barbers at Highly Recommended, which opened on University Avenue in September in a space that formerly housed Spun Sugar.

Another barber, DJ Green, was a mobile barber before landing at Highly Recommended. He’d meet clients at grocery store parking lots, and started giving free haircuts to kids in collaboration with Urban Peace Movement. Like Montano, Green was discovered by Turner on Instagram and invited to cut hair at the Berkeley shop. 

Cuts at the shop range from $25-$30 for kids and $35-$50 for adults. Montano, who takes part in barber competitions, also provides cuts with “freestyle designs” for $60. Green gives discounts for students (with ID) for $30. 

“Business is picking up,” said Green. “The community is very welcoming.  I know we got competition up the street but some of the school cats came through and was like, ‘Hey, we like this shop, man, we’re gonna come here.’”

In a post on Instagram celebrating the opening of the Berkeley location, Turner wrote, “My pops got killed while I was in barber school. I could’ve used that as a reason to give up and drop out of school. But I still kept going and got my [license] and 6 years later I just opened my second barbershop. Long story short KEEP GOING!”

He says he plans to open many more shops.

Highly Recommended Barber Studio, 1611 University Ave., Berkeley. Phone: 510-705-1391. Hours: Daily, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Connect via Instagram.

Opening Fourth Street

Buck Mason brings its Made in USA tees to Fourth Street

Buck Mason will be opening soon on Fourth Street. Credit: Zac Farber

Buck Mason, the clothing brand that specializes in “modern American classics,” such as T-shirts, polos and denim, will be opening its 40th brick-and-mortar store, and second in the Bay Area, on Fourth Street, in a space recently vacated by Rabat Shoes. 

The brand was founded in 2013 by Sasha Koehn and Erik Allen Ford in a Venice Beach garage. The duo turned down a pair of $300,000 offers when they appeared on Shark Tank in 2015 in order to keep control of the brand, according to Cleveland.com. That bet has paid off, as the brand brought in $35 million in revenue last year, according to LeadIQ.

Buck Mason began with a focus on menswear, but has expanded to a full line of clothing made for women, including dresses, jumpsuits, shorts, shoes, jackets and tops. But the brand’s real specialty is T-shirts, most of which are made in the U.S., according to the New York Times. In 2023, the company bought Mohnton Knitting Mills in Berks County, Pennsylvania, a 150-year-old knitting mill, which has since been renamed Buck Mason Knitting Mill.

The brand has stores in 16 states plus Washington D.C., including a store in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley. The Fourth Street shopping district seems like the perfect place for a new store, according to Jon Alan, community manager at Buck Mason.

“We’re focusing on building community via street locations in neighborhoods that inspire us,” he said.

The store will likely appeal to customers of Standard & Strange, another Made in USA, heritage menswear store, which opened on Fourth Street last September. Buck Mason will open in late May according to Alan.

Buck Mason, 1825 Fourth St, Berkeley. Connect via Instagram and Facebook.

Closing West Berkeley

It’s lights out for Lunaria on San Pablo Avenue

The Lunaria lighting store on San Pablo Avenue is closing. Credit: Nathan Dalton

Lunaria, a designer lighting store on San Pablo Avenue, is closing at the end of the month, according to Ian Gaffney who opened the store with his wife, Alia, in 2018. The Gaffneys also have a store in Corte Madera, which opened in 2006. 

The Corde Maderae store is thriving, according to Gaffney. The Berkeley store, not so much.

“ I’ve given it my all year for seven years,” said Gaffney. “The last year has just been uncertain and kind of typical of the neighborhood.  Things are not thriving. They are moving in a very linear direction, which I have to say about Berkeley in general.”

When he first opened its doors, Gaffney had big plans for the shop, which is called Lunaria East to distinguish it from the Corte Madera shop, known as Lunaria West. He’s passionate about educating customers about lighting and design and has built great relationships with designers and architects in the area, he said. But the store never quite caught on in Berkeley.

The company works with over 150 lighting and furniture lines, according to its website, and offers design consultations with every sale. 

The shop is currently holding a display sale until it shuts off its lights for good at the end of the month.

Lunaria, 2524 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. Phone: 510-898-1903. Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Connect via Instagram and Facebook.