Coldwater, the clothing store owned by three brothers in Japantown, is closing because the building was sold.
Jason and his brothers Brian and Averill Nemedez are starting the painful transition of finding another place to operate Coldwater. The brothers each grew up with an interest in designing clothing, and developed individual lines they sold from their garage, ultimately leading to their own store.
“Honestly, if you told me at 15 years old, we would be owning a shop in the heart of Japantown, I wouldn’t believe you. But we started doing this at a really young age, started doing art at a young age and just working and grinding, hustling got us to this point,” Jason Nemedez said.
The name Coldwater pays homage to their grandmother and the street where the boys grew up.
The Japantown shop attracted young buyers to, what they called, their ‘Jubo’ clothing line.
Their designs are inspired by various influences including their Filipino culture.
“It was easy. We just took a lot of pieces from our life, a lot of pieces from stories that we heard, we just translated it into art. We wanted to, basically, typically tell our story through art,” Jason said.
Over four years, Coldwater evolved into a place for trendy and offbeat merchandise as well as a spot for community arts projects.
But now the brothers say they need to find another space, because the building was sold.
“It’s really disappointing. This place seems really unique. Especially because all of the neighbors seem really traditional. It’s a little more of a modern spot. I’m sad it’s closing,” San Jose resident Miya said.
But the brothers have come too far to give up.
“Yeah, very bittersweet. I’d like to see it more optimistically, taken that we’ve been here four years. We’ve, you know, contributed to the community around here, and try to enjoy the time we are here and looking forward to the opportunity in the future,” Brian said.
“Heartbroken. But, you know, you can’t stay on that feeling for too long, you gotta keep moving, so we’re looking for new leads, so hopefully we’ll find a new spot and onto bigger and better things,” Jason said.
Coldwater will be located on Fifth and Jackson Streets until Oct. 31, so while Japantown is celebrating Halloween, the brothers will be celebrating the end of this stage of their journey and moving on to the next.
