The Stained Glass Garden is perhaps the oldest retail shop on Fourth, dating to the 1970s when the area was reportedly dirt roads passing by a goat farm. вЂњDogs and cats and birds and hamsters and things like that, those are substitute babies.вЂќД¬onsumers, it turns out, have been craving mental stimulation. And so anybody who has a slightly adventurous mind can be like, вЂHey, right in my own home I can go into a different universe just by enjoying and understanding what this animal needs and how it works.вЂ™вЂќ What they do is invite you into their world, which is different from ours. I think we all can agree in a psychological sense thatвЂ™s what they are, correct?вЂќ he says.

вЂњDogs and cats and birds and hamsters and things like that, those are substitute babies. For folks who donвЂ™t see the attraction of dropping $1,000 for a stoic-faced monitor lizard in pandemic times - rather than, say, a puppy you can cuddle - Maercks has some facts to lay down. Scaled and bumpy creatures were flying off the shelves so quickly the vivarium couldnвЂ™t keep anything in stock. Last year was our best year in the 50-year history of the store.вЂќ вЂњFor about three weeks, business went into the pooper,вЂќ says Maercks, a partner at the East Bay Vivarium, which bills itself as вЂњthe nationвЂ™s oldest and largest reptile store.вЂќ вЂњAnd then everybody realized, вЂIвЂ™m at home with nothing to do,вЂ™ and they came and spent money. Snakes are selling off the shelves at the East Bay Vivarium. But the key to the districtвЂ™s survival has many parts. Several retail tenants interviewed for this story said their landlords provided financial support or helped them promote outdoor activities or build outdoor seating. вЂњAnd now weвЂ™re going to reap the benefits of that, which is an area which is functioning and wonderful to visit and experience and have a meal and maybe shop.вЂќ Doing business in a pandemic вЂњWe managed to get through this by committing ourselves to helping our tenants get through the pandemic,вЂќ Abrams says. If you go to other neighborhoods like Fillmore and Hayes Valley, which are regional shopping areas, theyвЂ™re in big trouble,вЂќ says Denny Abrams, who helped create the Fourth Street business district decades ago and owns a number of buildings in the area. Several new businesses opened during the pandemic, including a plant shop and two swanky Danish furniture-and-design outlets. And the Telegraph Avenue strip had commercial vacancies more than quadruple during the same period, from 4% to 17%.Д«ut West Berkeley saw a 4% vacancy rate in 2020, which is somehow lower than its 6% rate the year before COVID. ItвЂ™s also done better at holding businesses through the pandemic.Дowntown Berkeley saw a doubling of commercial vacancy rates, from 5% in 2019 to 10% in 2020. Credit: Berkeley Office of Economic Development West Berkeley commercial spaces generated roughly $6 million in sales tax for the city in 2020, dwarfing other neighborhoodsвЂ™ contributions, according to the Office of Economic Development. Though retailers say business is still below baseline, the district and its larger neighborhood survived relatively unscathed. Signs of life are reemerging on Fourth Street after a year of darkness. вЂњBut people do come inside, and it does feel good. ThatвЂ™s like 12 people out of normally 49 вЂ“ itвЂ™s pathetic,вЂќ he says. вЂњIf you go by the rules, you can have nobody at the counter and you have to have tables 6 feet apart. And as of May 1 heвЂ™s serving people indoors again, though at a much-reduced capacity. After a period of extreme self-questioning, he followed the advice of his faithful customers and landlord and reopened BetteвЂ™s with reduced hours and outdoor seating. Those who venture out to the West Berkeley business district, though, will find Kroening is actually not done with the street. I said, вЂI will never go back to Fourth Street again.вЂ™вЂќ It felt like death, you know? No humming. вЂњAll the food that would rot in the walk-ins - milk, meat, bread, salmon, whatever you can imagine - I gave it to the staff and donated it and then I shut everything off.

вЂњI was crying, literally crying,вЂќ says Kroening, who opened the restaurant with his wife, Bette, and a friend on Fourth Street in 1982.

Manfred Kroening was pretty sure he was finished when the pandemic shuttered BetteвЂ™s Oceanview Diner last spring. вЂњLast year was our best year in the 50-year history of the store,вЂќ Maercks says. East Bay Vivarium partner Owen Maercks shows off Abe Lincoln, a 20-pound rhinoceros iguana, on Friday outside his West Berkeley reptile shop.

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