Spot Pizza and Rocket Fizz, two popular businesses in downtown Palo Alto, closed recently following employee shortages and lease extension issues respectively.

Rocket Fizz, a popular candy store on University Avenue, closed after five years in Palo Alto, saying its building lease ended and would not be renewed. A message on the store’s window said, “The end of our lease is here, a special thank you to all of our friends and regular customers. We had a lot of fun with you and loved being your candy store.”

Rocket Fizz said in a Facebook post that it planned on combining the Palo Alto branch with another branch.

“Our last day will be Nov. 22, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving,” the post reads. “But not to worry –– we will be combining with Rocket Fizz Campbell, Calif., which is twice the size. Please come visit!”

Rocket Fizz was popular among both kids and adults, and was one of the few stores dedicated to sweets in the Palo Alto area.

“Rocket Fizz was always a fun place to go when you were downtown. They almost had any type of candy you could think of, and now since it’s closed I think a lot of people will miss having it there, even if they didn’t go that often. It had a lot of cool candy that’s hard to find anywhere else.”

Arjun Chandra, Paly freshman

Another downtown Palo Alto business that closed recently is Spot Pizza, a staple in the Palo Alto community. Spot abruptly closed at its location on Hamilton Avenue in downtown Palo Alto.

A message posted on the window of the restaurant read, “After 14 years we have decided it is time for us to take a break and think about what we want to do next. It was a dream come true to be a small family business in this community and we want to thank every customer, employee, vendor and friend who have been a part of Spot Pizza over the years.”

Spot Pizza has been a consistent presence at community events such as sports.

“I never went to Spot Pizza, but in elementary and middle school people would order pizza from there for class parties so it’s a little sad to see a local business close down,” said Paly junior Nishant Patwardhan.

Senior Tyler Marik, the son of the owners of Spot Pizza, said the restaurant had a positive influence on the community.

“I love that it was a household name, that even this year people would still come up to me and tell me how much they love it and that it’s their favorite. I just have a lot of pride that we focused on the community: delivering to Stanford football and the schools.”

Tyler Marik

Marik is proud of his parents’ work with Spot Pizza and said his parents deserve the best.
“I’m happy for my parents,” Marik said. “They built [Spot] from nothing, and now they get to sell it after serving the community for so many years. I’m very proud.”