SHOPPING CENTER IMPACT ON RESEDA, CALIFORNIA
by
John J. Rodrigue
Dr. W. Tim Dagodag
Geography 490B
California State University, Northridge
July, 1976
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction....................................................... 1
II. Literature Review.................................................. 1
III. The Past Retail Structure.......................................... 4
IV. Retail Structure Comparison........................................ 5
Analysis of Retail Structure Differences........................... 7
V. Consumer Preference Analysis....................................... 9
VI. Interviews with Entrepreneurs...................................... 16
VII. Summary and Conclusions............................................ 17
Appendix........................................................... 19
Bibliography....................................................... 22
Reseda is a suburban community in the western San Fernando Valley with a long established retail district. This district is characterized by strip development found along two major arterials, Reseda Boulevard which runs north and south, and Sherman Way, an east-west thoroughfare.
This paper is concerned with the retail and other establishments on Sherman Way between Lindley Avenue on the east and Reseda Boulevard on the west (See map 1). This portion of the retail district was chosen for analysis because it has been most affected by the displacement of high quality apparel stores by a succession of discount oriented outlets.
This retail displacement has coincided to a large degree with the advent of Topanga Plaza and, more recently, the Northridge Fashion Center, two large enclosed shopping malls. It is the purpose of this paper, therefore, to demonstrate that the two malls have played a major role in bringing about change in the study area.
This paper has five objectives: The first is to review literature dealing with the problem of shopping mall impacts on central business districts. The second is to describe and discuss the past retail structure of the study area. The third is to compare the present retail structures of the Topanga Plaza and the Northridge Fashion Center with that of the Reseda study area. The fourth is to analyze the shopping preferences of Reseda residents. The fifth is to interview selected long established entrepreneurs and a number of more recently established discount retailers in the study area.
The objective of this section is to review literature dealing with suburban shopping center impact on central business districts. The literature reviewed falls in one of two categories. One of these is the overview study which examines the common characteristics of CBD decline in a number of cities. The other type is the case study which looks at one city's problem of CBD decline, the attempts at solving the problem, and the successes and failures of these attempts.
McMillan's article is of the overview type. He presents sales volume tables as his primary data source to demonstrate the extent of decline in a numer of large CBD's. He suggests the standard cures - improvement of store appearance and upgraded parking facilities.1
Fry's article uses the case study approach. His study deals with Wellington Square, in downtown London, Ontario, where an ambitious scheme was devised to prevent decentralization of retail trade by adding retail space to the existing CBD. It was hoped that this would increase the customer drawing power of the downtown and thereby discourage the growth of suburban shopping centers.
The result was an overcapacity problem - individual merchants, the long established ones, reported sales losses. More optimistic, however, were the backers of the project who held to the belief that the overcapacity situation would disappear.2 Although the author considered the project a failure, the Wellington Square idea is an interesting one that may provide a solution, in some cases, to central city decline.
Another case study dealt with a beautification approach which was applied in Evanston, Illinois. This city's CBD was being notice ably affected by a loss of customers to a new mall in nearby Skokie.
To alleviate the problem, a pedestrian mall was constructed in the downtown area. Landscaping was placed, seating areas were established, and store fronts were upgraded. The result was very positive. The revitalized area took back a reasonable share of customers and was, thereby, better able to compete with the new mall.3
Malls have been established in numerous cities. Some local examples are the San Fernando Mall and the Golden Mall in Burbank. Although the mall concept has not been successful in all areas, it has proven to be a potentially positive step towards detering the decay of older areas.
Epstein has made the observation that a regional shopping center with one department store has the same drawing power as a medium sized CBD.4 This statement clarifies the challenge that downtown merchants, city planners, and others face if they would integrate new malls into the existing economic structure of the city.
This paper takes the case study approach but, unlike the above case studies, this one focuses not on a large city CBD, but on an older suburban retail district. The problem is similar but is on a smaller scale.
The objective of this section is to describe the past retail structure of the study area. This description and discussion is crucial to the understanding of the displacement process which has occurred. Due to the near impossibility of obtaining concise historical information on the changes in types of stores in the study area, a more general description, based on memory will be given.
During the late 1950's and early 1960's, one portion of the study area was characterized by many high quality apparel stores. Some of the stores were Anita Shops and Sally shops, women's clothing, Baby Town which offered quality lines of babies' and young children's clothing and accessories, Peral's, high quality shoes, and See's Candies.
Whereas before the advent of large, enclosed shopping centers in the west valley, Reseda was a viable higher order center which could compete successfully with distant shopping centers in the central and east Valley. With the advent of the west valley centers, some stores secured space in them and closed their Reseda stores. Some of these are Anita SHops, Nobby Knits, Innes Shoes, Stride Rite Bootery, and See's Candies.
Topanga Plaza was the first fully enclosed shopping mall in the west valley. With its opening, residents in the south and west portions of Reseda were a convenient distance from a major shopping mall. Residents in other portions of Reseda were not so conveniently located in relation to the TOpanga Plaza so the downtown Reseda area could still be an attractive shopping area to these residents.
The retail change process was begun when the Topanga Plaza opened, but it accelerated on the years after the Northridge Fashion Center was being filled in Fall 1971.
It is the objective of this section to compare the retail structures of the Northridge Fashion Center and the Topanga Plaza with that of the Reseda study area. The classification scheme devised for this comparison contains thirty four categories.5
For the list of categories and accompanying graphs, see table 1, page 6. Some of the more ambiguous categories must be explained. Drug and general merchandise stores are those stores which offer a variety of goods but cannot be characterized as department stores owing to their lack of size or lack of sufficient variety in goods offered. Some stores of this type are Penny's, Newberry's, Thrifty Drug, and Sav-on Drug, all in Reseda.
Those stores which are classified as discount are those which show a discount orientation by their names, displays, or quality of goods offered. For instance, a particular furniture store in the Reseda study area gives no outward display of a discount orientation, but the quality of goods offered shows that the store is geared to lower income buyers.
The difference between home furnishings and home accessories is that the former refers to larger more costly items such as appliances, furniture, carpets, draperies and the like. The latter refers generally to smaller, less expensive items.
Miscellaneous retail includes pet stores, cosmetic stores, florists, key making services, sewing machine sales and service establishments, and tobacconists. Entertainment and recreation consists of movie theaters, roller skating and ice skating rinks. Hearing aid services, weight control clinics and religious organizations comprise personal services. The general services category contains appliance services, graphic services (printing, sign painting), and travel agencies. General miscelleneous, a category pertaining only to Reseda contains two establishments, one, the Reseda Elks Lodge, the other, a place called "the Nest", a meeting place.
Analysis of Retail Structure Differences
The graphs in table 1 show the percentage of total establishments in the three centers in each of the thirty four categories. As can be seen in the Reseda study area graph, particular functions stand out, that is, each accounts for five percent or more. These are discount apparel, beauty salons and barber shops, banking and other financial services, general services, and business offices.
Unlike apparel stores and other higher order shopping goods stores, beauty salons and barber shops are less dependent on retail affinity6 or proximity to similar functions. Similarly, banks and loan companies are not dependent on affinity; they can locate most anywhere because, like beauty salons and barber shops, they do not offer goods and services which consumers shop around for.
Service businesses, likewise, do not rely on a shopping trade, but, rather rely on referrals and service contracts. Also professional services, such as attorneys and accountants, are not governed by the same locational forces as are shopping goods stores. That is, they need not be clustered. The large number of business offices is located in one building. Each office was counted as a separate establishment which explains their high percentage.
In contrast to the Reseda graph, the Northridge Fashion Center and the Topanga Plaza graphs show large percentages in the non-discount apparel category. Wearing apparel is very much a shopping good and customers are greatly convenienced by having a large number of apparel stroes and other stores, for that matter, located in one place. Conversely, apparel stores do best where a large nubmer of customers can congregate to shop and compare merchandise and prices.7
Although both malls are functionally similar, the Northridge Fashion Center has a higher percentage of jewelry and home accessory shops and fewer service functions. This may be a reflection of the Fashion Center's location in a higher income area than the Topanga Plaza.
Because of the customer attracting power of large shopping malls, relatively higher rents can be charged. Those types of businesses that are most dependent on being located near similar stores will locate in malls or other centers where such conditions exist. The importance of this proximity outweighs the high rent.8
With the malls offering a more optimum location, building owners in the study area could not charge rates comparable to those being charged for mall space. With relatively lower rents available, more marginal, low overhead apparel and other stores could locate in Reseda and survive by attracting customers with discount prices. For those who cannot afford the higher priced clothing offered at the malls or whose mobility is limited, Reseda's discount clothing stores offer a practical alternative.
Whereas the planned shopping centers and malls have specialized in shopping goods, some older, generally unplanned commercial districts now attract lower order functions.9 Besides lower order functions, these areas are left to provide space for those functions which no not need or cannot afford mall space.
The objective of this section is to relate the changing retail character of the Reseda retail district to the shopping preferences of Reseda residents. To accomplish this, a questionnaire was administered to forty seven Reseda residents randomly selected from the telephone book.10 The selection process entailed the picking of the first Reseda resident of every fifteenth page. A sample questionnaire is in the appendix.
The questions were designed to ascertain where the respondents shop for a variety of lower and higher order goods. From this, it could be determined for which types of goods and services the Reseda retail district plays an important role, and fow which goods and services outlying centers are important.
Of particular interest were the shopping patterns for clothing. The respondents were asked to name two stores where they bought most of their clothing. As one might expect, the Northridge Fashion Center was cited most frequently: over twice as often as the Topanga Plaza (see table 2). Map 1 shows two circles with a five mile radius with the Fashion Center and the Topanga Plaza at their centers. When a line of indifference is drawn where the two circles intersect each other, a much larger portion of the Reseda area is shown to be closer to the Northridge Fashion Center. In addition to this, the Northridge Center is larger and theoretically able to draw customers from greater distances.
The Reseda retail district is not far behind the Topanga Plaza. Of the total places mentioned for clothes purchases, 15.2 percent of them are in Reseda. Of this, Penny's comprised 11.4 percent, followed by Millman's at 2.5 percent and Newberry's at 1.3 percent. These stores were established during the early mid fifties and are withstanding the loss of customers to the malls.
The responses to question one dealing with grocery purchases resulted in the pattern on map 2. It can be seen that Von's Reseda is an important center for this lower order function. Most residents shop at the nearest store; the exceptions can be seen clearly on the map.
Downtown Reseda is also an important local banking center. Most residents patronize one or more of the five closely spaced banks in Reseda (see map 3). These banks in close proximity suggest that banks can locate anywhere, either isolated or clustered, as in this case. Some residents travel longer distances to Ventura Boulevard and even farther to Westlake Village and the Wilshire District. This may be accounted for by a strong personal preference for a particular bank or the doing of banking near the place of work.
In terms of higher order functions, Reseda plays a very minor role. Of all the medical, dental and eye care places mentioned, only 6.6 percent were located in the Reseda retail district. People will travel to the nearest medical center or as far as fifty miles away (see map 4). Similarly, people overcome a variety of distances to have prescriptions filled. Some combine the medical, dental, and eye care functions with the filling of prescriptions. The two Reseda drug stores, Thrifty and Sav-on accounted for 38 percent of all prescriptions filled (see map 5).
For furniture and major appliance purchases, the Reseda retail district accounts for only nine percent of all such purchases (see map 6).
In summary, this portion of the study has shown that for lower order services and convenience goods, Reseda plays an important role. As a higher order center, Reseda is relatively unimportant. Reseda should continue as an important convenience good center and serve as an important focus for those types of goods and services which do not depend on being at a more optimum location in or near a major shopping mall.
It is the objective of this section to provide results from a questionnaire administered to nine owners and managers in the study areas to get their reactions about current business conditions. A copy of the questionnaire is in the appendix. Of the nine questions, the ones that applied were one, two, three, six, and nine.
The lengthof time in business for the recently established entrepreneurs ranges from two and one half weeks to twelve months with a mean of 5.4 months. The long established businesses have existed from twelve to eighteen years with a mean of 15.5 years.
The responses to question two provided interesting information. As was stated in the "Analysis of Retail Structure Differences" section, owners of the buildings in the Reseda study area could not change the relatively high rents being asked for mall space, but had to charge relatively lower rates to get any kind of competitive edge. These lowered rates allowed more marginal or low overhead businesses to locate in Reseda. This idea is at least partially supported by the fact that 21.4 percent of the responses to question two were references to a favorable rent.
Other responses were "good location" 14.3 percent and "good area" also 14.3 percent. The remaining fifty percent of the responses were "good feeling, easy to find, no competition, large floor space, lower order, and low income area" (an interesting comment).
Question three was geared to the long established entrepreneurs who could observe changing business conditions over the years. Only one reference was made about the shopping centers having any impact upon business conditions. One respondent stated that "busi ness is getting better"; another stated that "conditions have improved with remodeling". There were only three responses given for question six and all were from long established entrepreneurs. They were "established trade, doing a good business," and "well known in the local area."
To the last question, all the respondents returned a positive answer. The recently established owners appeared optimistic. One woman went as far as committing herself to a five year lease. The long established entrepreneurs, for the most part, stated that business conditions have not changed. This may be the result of an overoptimistic attitude or these businesses surviving by having a loyal and long established clientele.
This paper was an attempt to provide insights into the decline of downtown Reseda, a onetime higher order center. The relationship between this decline and the establishment of two large shopping malls, Topanga Plaza and Northridge Fashion Center was explored.
This study has provided some interesting findings. The first is that the two malls have directly caused the decline of the Reseda retail district by prompting major apparel retailers, i.e., Anita Shops, Stride Rite Bootery, Nobby Knits, and others to close their Reseda shops and open stores in one or both of the malls. Secondly, the availability of locationally advantageous space in the malls caused building owners to maintain relatively low rents to compete with the malls in attracting occupants.
Thirdly, the Reseda area is shifting to a specialization in lower order convenience goods, service functions, and other types of businesses which are mainly concerned with low cost space rather than the best location. Fourthly, large regional shopping malls, conversely, have specialized in shopping goods which depend on an optimum location and proximity to similar functions.
The ongoing process of retail change11 and adjustment taking place most notably in the study ares, but also throughout the retail district has resulted in a blighted appearance in some sections. Discount apparel merchants and others have used gaudy colors and displays to attract customers.
What is needed is a community wide effort to upgrae store fronts and undertake other beautification projects. An example of what has been done can be seen in a small center on Sherman Way just east of Lindley Avenue. New facades and attractive signs were put up, a vacant lot was hidden from view, the parking lots were resurfaced, and landscaping was improved.
Reseda, like other areas will continue to undergo functional changes but blight need not be the result. It all comes down to the need for more concern and the realization that an unattractive shopping district may repel customers.
Resident Questionnaire
Introduction
Hello, my name is John Rodrigue. I am a student at Cal. State, Northridge. I am doing a marketing survey for one of my classes. It would be alot of help if you could answer a few questions for me.
Ralph's Alexander's Von's Hughes' Dale's other __________
Cal. Federal United California Security Surety other__________
2._______________
dental services? ____________________eye care? ____________________
Entrepreneur Questionnaire
Anonymous, "Changing Suburbs: Shopping in the Suburbs," Architectural
Forum, Vol. 114(1961), pp. 84-89.
Berry, Brian J.L., The Impact of Urban Renewal on Small Business,
Center for Urban Studies, University of Chicago, 1968, 256 pp.
Epstein, B.J., "Evaluation of an Established Planned Shopping Center,"
Economic Geography, 37(1961), pp. 12-21.
Fry, Joseph N.. "Impact of a Shopping Center: The Wellington Square
Experience," Business Quarterly, Vol. 26(1961), pp. 89-96.
Hoyt, Homer, "U.S. Metropolitan Area Shopping Patterns, Part 2,
Sales Trends in Shopping Centers, 1958-1963," Urban Land,
Vol. 25(1966), pp. 3-16.
___________, "Classification and Significant Characteristics of
Shopping Centers, " Appraisal Journal, Vol 26(1958), pp.
214-222.
McMillan, Sanuel C., "Recent Trends in the Decentralization of Retail
Trade," Traffic Quarterly, Vol 37(1962), pp. 75-94.
Scott, Peter, Geography and Retailing, Hutchinson and Co. Ltd.,
1971, 183 pp.