Young’s Backpacks is one of Telegraph’s quieter anchors. Its story starts in 1983, when Min Young arrived in the United States as a young man who had served in the Korean army and developed a reputation as an accomplished mountaineer. Young built his small camping store piece by piece until it became something steady and familiar. 

Four decades later, Young is still on Telegraph Avenue, but the street around him has shifted. The independent, family-run shops that once defined the street are fading due to increasing rents and the rise of online retail.

Zaffar Mahmoud has been laying out his jewelry to sell on Telegraph Avenue since 1980, back when the street still felt like an open-air gallery. In those days, the sidewalks were filled with other vendors sharing handmade wares. That world hasn’t disappeared, but it’s gotten quieter. Over time, Zaffar says selling here has become less about craft and more about keeping up— faster products and shifts in taste have made fewer vendors willing or able to stay. 

Many have packed up, moved on, or changed what they make just to get by. Zaffar remains a constant on a street that rarely is, one where the value wasn’t just in what you bought, but in who you met along the way.