Often Wander closing Valencia shop at year’s end

Following on the heels of beloved pizzeria Yellow Moto, which closed its doors at the end of last week, Valencia Street will see another store shutting down at the end of the month. 

Often Wander, a candles and jewelry store, is closing its shop at 593 Valencia St. on Dec. 31 after six years of greeting customers with their refillable natural soy candles, home fragrances, and jewelry. The business was established in 2012 and moved to Valencia from San Diego.

On Monday afternoon, the store at its peak held 10 customers, walking around checking out necklaces and earrings, and sniffing candles. Customers, old and new, told shop owner Sarah Larson how sorry they were that her shop was closing. Larson, however, assured them that this does not mark the end of the store. 

She is keeping an online shop and will continue selling her candles at other stores, like the leather shop Ian James at 303 Valencia St., the gift shop Foggy Notion in the Inner Richmond at 124 Clement St., and Black Bird Bookstore and Café in the Outer Sunset at 4541 Irving St. 

Larson will keep designing jewelry and making candles from her studio in SoMa — a loft at Folsom and Seventh streets. There, Larson will continue making a wide range of scents — some earthy and woody, some fresh and clean, and some sweet and fruity — and customers can take the empty glass back to her for refills. For jewelries, Larson often uses natural stones for necklaces and tassels for earrings.

There is demand for her creations, but Larson struggled with the cold realities of maintaining a retail store, particularly one where she designed and produced everything in-house for six years. She increasingly felt like she was trailing off of the original idea of Often Wander — to wander often.

“I wanted to wander literally and follow my curiosities and make things that I was inspired by at that time and never be stuck,” said the 38-year-old shopkeeper. “And I feel like by having retail, you do get a little stuck.”

Over the years, Larson saw how people were spoiled by the convenience of shopping on big e-commerce platforms like Amazon. She thinks these platforms affected the sales of brick-and-mortar stores like hers. “They think that they can buy something and it’ll be delivered to their door the next day,” Larson said. “It is just not sustainable at all.”

The pandemic was another factor. Like many, Larson’s business also took a hit. She recalls the streets used to be so much cleaner, safer, and more vibrant. 

“We had so many slow days this year,” Larson said. “So paying someone to be here all day when we’re doing a couple hundred dollars in sales is like, I’m losing money at that point.”

On top of that, there’s rent. Larson said her 1,500-square-foot shop’s rent is about to increase because she has a new landlord. Now, she pays $5,000 per month, but she expects it to go up soon to something unaffordable: The empty storefront across from her shop is now listed at $10,000 per month, she said. 

Larson said she didn’t blame the Valencia center bike lane for her shop’s demise — a common bogeyman among struggling Valencia shops and restaurants. But she wasn’t thrilled: “I do think that the way the SFMTA handled it initially was pretty inconsiderate.” 

With so much to juggle, Larson said she eventually quit the board of Valencia Corridor Merchants Association after the tiresome discussion of the bike lane. At the end of the day, she has products to design and a shop to run.