Pedro Ulloa says he searched on and off for about five years for a restaurant he could own. When he discovered longtime Cove Shopping Center staple Milano Ristorante was up for sale last year, the opportunity seemed right. “I have a feeling that this is for us,” he recalls telling his wife, Maria. They closed the deal in March, renamed the Tiburon restaurant and got to work securing their liquor license and making updates to the building’s interior. Via Piccola Trattoria opened Aug. 28, serving the cuisine of northern Italy — though with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it’s not quite the opening the Ulloas might have imagined when they bought the restaurant. (Diane Smith photo / For The Ark)

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News last week that the state had put the brakes on Marin’s plans to more widely reopen its economy was largely met with a collective shrug from business owners and church leaders on the Tiburon Peninsula, many of whom said they hadn’t planned to expand their operations even if the county had been able to move forward with relaxing restrictions. After many flips and flops — several business sectors allowed to reopen in June were then shut down by the state in July, then the county announced new reopenings Sept. 4 before being halted again — Marin was finally allowed to reopen indoor personal-care services, indoor dining, indoor gyms, movie theaters and indoor houses of worship at reduced capacity, as well as expanded capacity at indoor retail establishments and malls, starting Sept. 15. The reopenings coincide with the county’s planned move from California’s purple tier-1 status, or “widespread” risk of coronavirus transmission, to red tier-2 status, or “substantial” risk under the sta...

The Tiburon Playhouse, a fixture of downtown social life for more than 60 years and host of the Tiburon International Film Festival, has closed permanently after going six months without customers due to coronavirus-related public-health restrictions. “Tiburon Playhouse a casualty of the pandemic,” owner David Corkill said in a Sept. 11 interview, adding that he has negotiated out of his lease with ACV Argo Tiburon LP, which owns the 40 Main St. building. ACV Argo Tiburon did not respond to inquiries about its plans for the space. (Elliot Karlan photo / For The Ark).

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On Connecticut’s Gold Coast, the upscale bayside town of Greenwich features a small store that sells one-of-a-kind collections of fashion, home and lifestyle products. The Perfect Provenance and its bistro, Cafe 47, are a destination spot, winning the Retail Rising Star award from Fashion Group International and the Small Business Award from the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce in 2018 and Best of the Gold Coast awards in 2019 and 2020. Founder and owner, Lisa Lori, who moved to Belvedere last summer, decided to open her second Perfect Provenance in downtown Tiburon after discovering a space at 30 Main St., across from Sam’s Anchor Cafe. The shop officially opened July 9.

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When Shawn Peterson moved his company, Beyond Basics Construction, to downtown Tiburon earlier this year, one of the first things he did was go to Tiburon Town Hall and ask what he could do to help other local businesses as the coronavirus pandemic hit. Referred to Tiburon Peninsula Chamber of Commerce Executive Director DeAnn Biss, the two designed a program to install Plexiglas shields and barriers in the downtown businesses that needed them — all pro bono.

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