For some time, Smiley Kai had been talking with two potential partners about opening a ukulele store – yes, a ukulele store – in San Jose’s Japantown.
But last year, when the economy started tanking, the partners, worried about how such a venture would do in a recession, backed out.
That didn’t stop Kai, who last fall opened his 188-square-foot store, Ukulele Source. Armed with his knowledge of the thriving ukulele scene in Japantown, Kai and his wife felt comfortable setting up shop.
Ukulele Source is one of a number of small shops – including a music studio and a tattoo parlor – to have opened in Japantown since the worst of the downturn began, seemingly strong evidence that even during a recession, it’s possible to open a thriving business.
Kai, 60, and his wife, Janet, 59, opened the store – at the corner of North Fifth and Jackson – last September, while he was still working as a systems engineer at Lockheed. It was open just three hours a day, four days a week. “I’d come to here straight from work and I’d sit on the bench and play a little. It was a good way for me to wind down,” Kai said.
After retiring in May, Kai devotes his time to the store, now open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., selling ukuleles ranging from a standard $175 Ohana, made in China, to a high-end $1,700 KoAloha, made in Hawaii of Koa wood.