Why a Sheepskin Store Needed a Vote to Open on Sonoma Plaza, and a Candy Shop Didn't

Two national retailers are opening in Sonoma this November, a few blocks apart. Overland Sheepskin Co. is taking the storefront at 452 First St. E., and its company said it would open "definitely before Thanksgiving." According to the Sonoma Index-Tribune, See's Candies plans a temporary holiday shop at 201 W. Napa St., Suite 10, in the Sonoma Marketplace, opening in mid-November and closing after the holidays.

Before it could hang a sign, Overland needed a use permit, a city staff report, and a unanimous Sonoma Planning Commission vote on July 16. The See's site needed no formula-business review from the commission. The difference comes down to one section of the city's development code. That same code is also silent about the other half of this fall on the Plaza: the independent businesses that have closed or moved out.

What Sonoma calls a "formula business"

Sonoma's code defines a formula business by listing specific use types, including auto parts, building materials, furniture, general retail, grocery, personal services and restaurants. To qualify, the business has to be contractually or otherwise required to keep standardized features, such as merchandise, menus, uniforms, décor, façade design, signage or names, that make it substantially identical to at least 10 other businesses in the United States. If it occupies less than 10,000 square feet, it is a "small" formula business. Anything 10,000 square feet or larger is "large."

Under SMC 19.50.035, any formula business that wants to open or expand in the Historic District needs a use permit. The Planning Commission can grant it only if it finds the business "will promote diversity and variety to assure a balanced mix of commercial uses available to serve both resident and visitor populations," and that its design "will preserve the distinctive visual appearance and shopping/dining experience of Sonoma for its residents and visitors."

Sites inside the /P Plaza Retail overlay have to clear one more finding:

"The formula business establishment will be compatible with existing uses in the zone and will promote the zone's economic vitality as the commercial, cultural, and civic center of the community."

The same section bans large formula restaurants from the Plaza Retail overlay altogether. According to the code, the overlay exists to preserve "the vitality of Sonoma's historic downtown area as a predominantly retail center."

How Overland cleared it

Overland was founded by the Leahy family in Taos, New Mexico, 53 years ago. It is now based in Fairfield, Iowa, and the Sonoma Index-Tribune reports it runs 24 boutique locations nationwide. The city staff report classified its roughly 2,000-square-foot space as a small formula business sitting in both the Historic and Plaza Retail overlays, and recommended a permit.

Staff found the store "will provide a diversity of commercial offerings that will complement the surrounding businesses and will add to the mix of commercial uses on the Plaza." Overland's application asked only for cosmetic work: new paint, flooring and wall finishes, with no significant structural changes to the building. The company plans to staff the store with five to seven people.

The space it is moving into belonged to The Passdoor, an art gallery and jewelry store. The Passdoor closed its Sonoma shop in August and moved to Santa Rosa, where it planned an Oct. 1 grand opening.

Why See's skipped the vote

The last sentence of SMC 19.50.035 says the formula-business rules "shall not apply" to four named shopping centers: Sonoma Valley Center, the Marketplace, Maxwell Village and Fifth Street West Plaza. That exemption dates to a 2012 ordinance.

The See's pop-up is in the Marketplace, in a suite that used to be Marketplace Haircutters, and it will sell only pre-packaged products. So the map has a clear split. A chain that wants a Plaza storefront goes to a public hearing and has to clear the extra Plaza finding. A chain that leases in one of the four listed centers is outside this section entirely.

The city's definitions section, which includes "formula business," also has a pending amendment, Ordinance 08-2026, listed with a Nov. 6, 2026 effective date. Its text is on the city's municipal code site for anyone following how the definitions change.

Sonoma's fall ledger

Here is what has opened, closed or been announced around the Plaza and its nearby streets since late August:

Two of the four arrivals are locally run. Fine Eye Gallery, which the Index-Tribune reported moved to town from Sutter Creek, is owned by Dora Martin. Belongings belongs to Jennifer Adler, a Sonoma resident who spent 10 years in trend forecasting and fashion. She told the Index-Tribune she put the shop inside Nanigins, a children's secondhand store, so that parents shopping for their kids could find something for themselves too. Both chains on the list are arriving under the rule described above, one through a hearing and one through the exemption.

A rule about arrivals only

The formula-business section controls who may open. It does not address a business deciding to leave, and every departure on this fall's list happened for reasons outside it.

Vella Cheese Co. began 94 years ago, when a group of dairymen asked Gaetano "Tom" Vella to open his own cheese plant. His dry Monterey Jack became the company's signature product. As the Index-Tribune reported, the company cited post-pandemic economic challenges and falling demand for small-batch artisan cheese. The owners had expected their remaining stock to last a few months. Instead, customer response cleared it out, and the shop closed about 10 days later. The Vella website still says pop-ups for the remaining aged cheeses may happen, with no dates posted.

At Oso Sonoma, chef and co-owner David Bush gave the Index-Tribune a direct reason: "When it came down to it, it was too costly to spend the money on a building we don't own." He and Kelley Bush also ran Parkside Wine Bar next door, which opened in September 2023. In 2025, the Planning Commission approved Kelley Bush's appeal to add beer and live music there. No successor tenant has been announced for either space, or for the Vella building on Second Street East. Off the Plaza on West Napa Street, optometrist Dr. Dean Ezaki is retiring after 46 years in Sonoma, and the Index-Tribune reports he will stop exams after Nov. 13 and close his practice Dec. 31.

Where the Plaza's jazz goes next

The Parkside closure displaced a program as well as a bar. The Sonoma Valley Jazz Society had been holding no-cover performances at Parkside one Saturday a month, and it had announced scholarships for Sonoma State University jazz studies students to join a new artist-in-residence program there. Society president Janice King told the Index-Tribune the closure "is a blow to students and musicians" and said she was looking at other venues around the Plaza.

For now, the Society's schedule runs through the Sebastiani Theatre at 476 First St. E., on the same stretch of First Street East as Overland's new storefront. It opened November with vocalist Kenny Washington on Nov. 1. Next up is pianist Larry Vuchovich's birthday celebration on Sunday, Nov. 29, from 2 to 5 p.m.

This post is general information about a city ordinance, not legal advice. Anyone weighing a lease or a permit on or near the Plaza should confirm how the rules apply with the City of Sonoma and their own counsel.

Whether a Plaza storefront can take a chain tenant depends on a use permit and an overlay map, and neither one shows on the building. If you're thinking through a commercial or mixed-use property in Wine Country and want someone who reads the overlay maps before the listing photos, talk with Jeff Earl Warren.