Foothill Retail Corridor

Super King Markets (will open their fourth location in Claremont at 436 Auto Center Drive, just west of Indian Hill next to Claremont Toyota. The Claremont location will be added to their locations in Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Altadena. Super King opened 10 years ago in Anaheim, and their mission is ”to serve the food needs of the people of metropolitan Southern California.”

For more information about the grand opening, go to http://www.skclaremont.com/, and for information about jobs, go to http://www.superkingmarkets.com/careers.

Super King Claremont Under Construction

Norms (I don’t know why they don’t use an apostrophe, but they don’t) opened Aug 23 in Claremont at the very busy intersection of Interstate 10 and Indian Hill. The restaurant has excellent freeway visibility with an approximately 50 foot “googie saw tooth” sign (in the middle of the picture above). For more about Norms “googie” architecture, check out their website at http://normsrestaurants.com/googie.html.

I stopped by there on a Saturday morning and there was quite a crowd inside and waiting for a table outside. I heard one patron say the wait was 30 minutes.

Norms Restaurant was started in 1949 by Norm Roybark near Hollywood & Vine in Hollywood. Today there are 18 locations all in Southern California. As their slogan says, “We never close.” The chain is still owned by the Roybark family.

Norms Under Construction

This month’s entry focuses on the closures and layoffs of just Los Angeles County, rather than including nearby areas such as Chino or neighboring Orange County cities, simply because the list is growing too large.

What I find interesting in this list is the number of medical jobs being eliminated (City of Hope 185 employees and Antelope Valley Hospital 45 employees). Supposedly medical jobs are one of the growth industries. Not surprising, aerospace is taking another hit, with Ball (120), JPL (33) and Northrup (75) eliminating a total of 228 positions. With budget cutbacks and aerospace moving out of California, I think this trend will continue.

In my previous post I listed Los Angeles regional closures and layoffs. While that post indicates a Los Angeles region that is still suffering major job losses, a closer look at the cities that comprise the Foothill Retail Corridor (“FRC”) presents a healthier job situation overall, but with a wide disparity within the FRC communities.

Comparatively, the FRC has a lower unemployment rate (9.3%) than Los Angeles County (13.4%) and California (12.8%), but is closer to the national average of 9.7%. However, the cities that comprise the FRC range from a very low 4.1% in Sierra Madre to a high of 14.5% in Azusa.

Please note that these numbers are from the government and they may not add due to rounding. And, I have no idea how the city of Bradbury can have an employment base of 500 with all 500 employed and still achieve an unemployment rate of 8.1%! As they say, close enough for government work.

Monthly Labor Force Data - July 2010

CDP is “Census Designated Place” – a recognized community that was unincorporated at the time of the 2000 Census.

Source: California Economic Development Department

One of the things I love about retail properties is the dynamic nature of the business. Consumer demands change and retailers have to anticipate those changes. I know of one shopping center (not located in the Foothill Retail Corridor) that had a Circuit City, a Mervyn’s, and a Linens n Things. A bullet-proof combination 10 years ago, however, all three are now out of business. But new retailers spring up and challenge existing retailers.

Hollywood Video, however, is not closing due to challenges from other retailers, it is closing due to technology changes and how consumers are receiving their movies. I have a new Blue Ray player that has a button on the remote that logs into my Netflix account through my wireless router and I can instantly view thousands of movies, TV shows, documentaries, and, my favorite, History Channel shows.

This Hollywood Video store joins the Pasadena and La Verne stores that have all closed in the last year. According to the store manager, the only Hollywood Video stores within 50 miles of the Claremont location are in Chino Hills and Rancho Cucamonga.