What’s in Store: Quickly, Jax at Heart, Big John’s Market

SANTA ROSA

Fans of bubble milk tea and fried snacks rejoice: The first North Bay location of the Quickly franchise opened in Santa Rosa Jan. 21.

“It’s going great,” said Haiping Huang, 28. “It seems like a lot of people like it.”

Huang, who also goes by Allen, is among the three owners of the Santa Rosa franchise, alongside Lingjing Kong and Wenyuan Liang. The three went to college together at California State University, East Bay in Hayward.

According to Huang, Kong was the one who set the idea in motion. “He said he wanted to open up a business,” Huang said. “He was the one who trained the longest. That’s why I’m up here taking the orders, and they’re making the drinks.”

While the chain is known to many for its quirky, colorful design and soundtrack of east Asian pop music, the main draw is boba, the popular gummy tapioca balls that can be added to drinks.

The customer grabs an extra wide-straw, stabs it through the air-tight plastic film lid and can reach the tapioca at the bottom with each sip. Another 12 items can be added to a drink, including green tea jelly and litchi coconut.

With a price point of $3 or less for most items, Quickly is an affordable option for students. Average prices for yogurt drinks, jelly juices, rose teas and flavored teas are about $2.50; milk teas and slushes are $2.75; snow drinks are $2.99.

Smoothies, egg puffs and flirty milks are $3.50; and snacks like fried mini octopus and takoyaki range from $2.99 to $4.99. There are more than 30 varieties of the iconic milk tea alone, including cantaloupe, taro and hazelnut flavors.

Huang said they picked the location due to lack of competition.

“I would say the East Bay or San Francisco area is fully packed up,” he said. “There’s a lot of similar stuff over there. There’s nothing in the North Bay right now, and there’s a huge junior college, and there’s a high school next to it, so I think we’re majorly targeting the students or the young crowd.”

The Quickly brand was founded in 1996 by Nancy Yang. Since then, it has spread internationally from Taiwan, with more than 2,000 locations across 17 countries.

If business goes well, Huang and his partners plan to expand in nearby towns.

“We’re slowly trying to (open) another one,” Huang said. “We’re in talks with another location in Petaluma right now.”

Quickly is open from noon to 10:30 p.m. daily at 1880 Mendocino Ave., Suite E. It is currently accepting job applications at quicklyusa.com.

Devin Marshall

ROHNERT PARK

Jax at Heart, a clothing exchange that stocks new and gently used brand name apparel, has opened at 1303 Maurice Ave. in Rohnert Park. It offer men’s and women’s clothing for tweens to adults.

“I have always wanted to do something with clothes as I have always been interested in them,” said owner Jan Fukanaga, 54. “Some of my new things are from the LA Fashion District. In another week ?we are going to the Las Vegas Fashion Show and will pick up more inventory there.

“This store gives me a chance to do something that provides people with good clothing they can afford.”

She opted for an M-Section location because while it is a little off the beaten path, she loves the neighborhood which is also where she lives. “There was other retail space available, but I just really like it here because it’s cute and it’s close to SSU so I hope to have more customers from the students there.”

Her other business, a children’s play attraction called Pump It Up in Cotati, also has a bit of an out-of-the-way location, but said that hasn’t hurt the business.

Her son Jake now runs Pump It Up and was an inspiration for her current business. “I wanted to call it Jake’s, but he told me no way,” she said. “So we settled on Jax, a name both he and my husband like.”

Jax at Heart, 1303 Maurice Ave., is open from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Jaxatheart.com, 664-5059.

Nick Walden

HEALDSBURG

Construction continues on Big John’s Market, which broke ground in September for an expansion that will double its current size. Work is expected to be finished in January 2016.

Owner John Lloyd said the market’s sales have grown 10-fold since he and his wife Kim purchased it in 1994, spurring the construction.

Eddinger Enterprises is the general contractor for the expansion, which is expected to cost $10 million over ?20 years. Other local businesses involved in construction include Healdsburg Lumber, Engelke Construction and Denny’s Electric.

“We were undersized for the volume of sales,” said Lloyd, 72. “But, we’ve never owed so much money in our lives.”

Each department will expand, from the meat and fish department to food service, from produce to cheese. In addition, the Lloyds will add an in-house bakery and a Mugnaini pizza oven.

The market completed its fourth holiday season supporting the Sonoma County Council on Aging Meals on Wheels program. It matched $6,070 in checkstand donations, for a total donation of more than $12,000.

The newly expanded store will occupy 28,000 square feet, up from the current 17,000. The Lloyds expect to add 12-15 new employees to the 81 people who already work at Big John’s.

Ann Carranza