Loma Prieta and Waldeck's--20 Years Later

1989, it was a wonderful time for Waldeck’s, I’d been working with my dad for eight years, business was good, we were looking to expand and we were excited about becoming the first office supply store ever in the Embarcadero Center (EC). My high school friend, Karin Young of the Edward Plant Company, was the leasing agent for EC and we found a reasonably priced site with high car traffic visibility. With my brother in law as the contractor, we began construction on the store and the excitement and anticipation was building. Waldeck’s was opening a second store!

On the baseball front, these were wonderful times as well. My friend Bill, had a friend named Bill who had a friend Chris who worked for one of the TV networks and he had many, many tickets to all the playoff games. My friends and I were in playoff heaven as we attended most of the A’s and Giant’s playoff games that lead to the World Series.

My high school buddies Bob and Doug came with me to Game Three at Candlestick. Great seats, twenty rows behind third base. I was getting some food before the game and while returning to the seats, standing at about the top of the box seat section, I felt a sensation like I was standing in a canoe trying to balance…wobbling for a few seconds. I thought “hey, it’s an earthquake…what a trip!” Bob, Doug and I were reveling in the novelty of the experience and expecting the game to start any moment, unbeknownedst to the realities of the outside world. Bob was listening on his radio and heard that the Bay Bridge had collapsed. A collective “Whoa…that’s gnarly!” and seriousness quickly set in. We stuck around Candlestick for a quite a while and when the stadium cleared out we knew it was time to leave.

We first drove to Waldeck’s Embarcadero store, which was to open in three weeks. Aside from a few broken glass shelves, the store was fine. Our flagship 526 Washington Street store experienced more damage, the window above our front door had shattered, lots of merchandise was all over the floor and a few fixtures has toppled.

Next we went to the St. Francis Hotel to find our friend Chris. Walking around the darkened interior, we ran into Chris Berman of ESPN, had a nice conversation and gave him our flashlight. A few weeks later, I received a nice note from Chris Berman thanking us for the flashlight. We found our friend Chris, he was okay and at about 11:00 p.m., Doug, Bob and I headed home driving past the glow of the Marina fires on the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. What a day of transition.

And the 20 years since October 17 1989 have been years of transition, too. We opened the Embarcadero store on schedule. We invested in large signs that could be seen by the thousands of motorists that would pass by our store as they entered the Embarcadero Freeway - needless to say, the motorists never came! Although Waldeck’s was in a remote outside corner of the Embarcadero Center where some customers would comment “I didn’t know you were here…but we’re glad you are!", we had many great customers from law offices, insurance companies and investment firms housed in the Embarcadero Center, as well as the warm, friendly, retirees living in the Golden Gateway Center apartments.

Unfortunately, Waldeck’s remoteness had its downside as well. With two armed robberies, three break-ins, and a landlord request to remodel, we decided to close the store after a 14-year run; Waldeck’s location there is now a Vietnamese restaurant.

Now in 2009, just a few blocks away, Waldeck's is still in business, a leader in the greening of the office supply industry and through the effective use of the internet and all its tools like e-commerce and e-marketing, Waldeck's is reaching many more potential customers than any freeway on ramp ever could!