Hard Sell : Study Chides Hermosa Shops for Short Hours and Lack of Variety

The shop window was cluttered with clothing, drug paraphernalia and a couple of wooden signs. One said the store was open until 6 p.m. The other--more accurately--said: “Closed.” It was 3 p.m. on a warm Wednesday afternoon.

“He’s not too reliable,” remarked the owner of a nearby shop in downtown Hermosa Beach.

Around the corner, a sign at a “metaphysical jewelry” store said the shop was open “11 to 5 daily. Wednesday optional! Love & Light.” A sign taped to the door warned customers: “ . . . bare feet at your own risk.”

Not to worry; that store was closed, too.

A small shop two doors down also was closed. The sign explained: “Closed early today. Sorry we missed you. We will be open regular hours tomorrow, 10:30-5.” But another sign on the same door said the regular closing time was 5:30.

The comic book and collectibles store across the street was closed too--it is open Fridays through Mondays. Owner Sunnie Ballard was inside, preparing his goods for a convention.

Ballard said he will soon be moving his store after six years in Hermosa Beach. The building is expected to be torn down by the end of the year and he needs a larger store anyway, he said.

But he does not want to stay in Hermosa. “No one comes down here in the winter and there’s no place to park in the summertime,” he explained.

For years, downtown merchants have complained about lack of parking and what they view as overzealous parking enforcement.

Many merchants also blame their problems on city leaders, the media, the weather and even on the success of other businesses, such as bars, which some say discourages shoppers and families from strolling through downtown.

But marketing students at California State University, Dominguez Hills say that the merchants themselves deserve most of the blame if their businesses are not succeeding.

In a class project, the 36 students found that many merchants close too early, lack merchandise that’s desirable or of sufficient variety, complain without working to solve problems and are unprofessional.

‘Offbeat Merchandise’

“Most storefronts are outdated and dull-looking, as if they have not been painted for years,” students Victoria Miles and Raylena Ruiz wrote in their report, one of several written as part of the project:

“Offbeat merchandise is being sold that does not appeal to the average person, such as trendy T-shirts that customers buy only once in a while. The merchants’ attitudes are uncaring and unprofessional, which leads to a generally bad reputation among customers. The merchants believe the lack of adequate parking is keeping customers away, which is not the case.”

For the most part, the merchants responded to the students’ findings with apathy, according to Bill Fowler, executive director of the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce. But Fowler, some city officials and even business owners said the conclusions are accurate.

“There is not a thing in that Dominguez Hills report that has not been said, that the Chamber of Commerce has not said, in the last five years,” Fowler said. The chamber is hoping that now that outsiders have analyzed the problems and reached the same conclusions, the 70 or so downtown business owners will start listening and begin making changes, he said.

Merchants’ Request

The reports were initiated last year, when a few downtown merchants asked Dominguez Hills Prof. C. E. Zoerner Jr. if his marketing classes would design promotional campaigns for the businesses. In December, the students completed their reports, and for the past few months the findings have been circulating among merchants and city leaders.

It was a tough assignment, according to student Pamela Jackson, because there is nothing appealing about shopping downtown and, therefore, little to promote.

The students worked in groups to design campaigns--many of them promoting the merchandise as “unique”--but several of their reports focused on the problems. Parking, they determined, is nearly always available except during summer weekends.

The merchants are trying to appeal to summer beach crowds, the students said, but they should be trying to attract consumers from Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and other nearby cities.

Potential Profits

By catering to beach visitors, the students said, the merchants are ignoring potential profits from the local clientele, many of whom live within walking distance of downtown and have high incomes. (The average household income in Hermosa Beach is $50,800, according to the Chamber of Commerce.)

Many of the shops are unattractive, both inside and out, the students said.

Councilman Jim Rosenberger said he agreed with most of the findings, but believes that all the problems “are things that can be resolved.”

What Rosenberger and Fowler are unsure of--and what several of the business owners and the Dominguez Hills students doubt--is whether the merchants will do what it takes to make the downtown a successful business district.

Fowler said the Chamber of Commerce is “going to work with the downtown businesses to see if we can help them, because it is a viable area.”

As a result of the reports, the chamber is planning to hold seminars for the business owners on public relations, paying for improvements and selecting desirable merchandise.

“There’s only so many T-shirts and shorts you can buy,” Fowler said, adding that none of the downtown stores sells suits or dress shoes for men.

Bikinis and T-Shirts

City Councilwoman June Williams voiced similar complaints about a lack of quality women’s clothing.

“The merchants always claim that the parking is why they don’t have any business, but I just can’t believe that,” she said. “I really believe it’s the type of merchandise more than anything else. We don’t have any high-quality merchandise down there. . . . I guess most of those stores are geared for the 12-year-old person--bikinis and T-shirts and that’s it.”

Williams, who with Rosenberger serves on the council’s downtown business subcommittee, said that some business owners unfairly blame city leaders for poor business. “We’ve done everything they’ve asked us to do,” she said, adding that the merchants primarily wanted changes in parking regulations.

Fowler agree that during the past two years the city has been “definitely 100% behind the merchants and willing to go along with whatever sensible recommendation is made--without hesitation--because they have backed them on every single thing they have asked for.”

He said he isn’t so sure that the merchants will be as accepting of the chamber’s advice. Chamber officials are trying to persuade retailers to stay open until 9 p.m. instead of the usual 5 or 6 p.m., at least on a trial basis. Most Hermosa Beach residents work outside the city and the stores are closed by the time they get home, Fowler said.

George Grimsby, manager of the successful Either/Or Bookstore, agreed that later hours are needed. “You have to be open when your customers are available,” he said. For that reason, the bookstore is open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week, he said, and “we try to have what people want.”

But some merchants said there are other concerns besides missing a few customers.

Christian Harder, an employee of The Development photo store, said: “It might be a little more laid-back down here than the mall scene where the hours are set by the mall association.” But, he added, some merchants chose Hermosa Beach for that reason--they do not want to be tied to a rigid schedule.

Gary Lail, owner of the Hermosa General Store--which was cited by Fowler as another of downtown’s few successful businesses--said: “There’s no way you’re going to gear all these people to (stay open later) when they can barely meet their payroll now.” His store, which sells merchandise from “ant farms up to thousand-dollar dresses,” recently expanded its hours to stay open an hour longer to 6:30 p.m., he said.

Despite the store’s success during the past 16 years on Hermosa Avenue, Lail said, he has seen the downtown “go downhill. . . . We don’t get the masses like we used to. . . . I watch everyone on both sides of me go under every year.”

He is one of the merchants who blame city officials for aggressive parking enforcement, as well as the “California-spoiled person” who does not want to shop downtown during colder weather. The beachfront hotel project that was proposed for downtown but narrowly defeated by voters would have helped turn the area around, he said.

But, he added, several businesses along Hermosa Avenue have been improving their storefronts recently, particularly by putting up neon signs.

The Chamber of Commerce is trying to get more business owners to improve the appearances of their stores, even though most of them rent space from absentee landlords, Fowler said.

Other merchants say the clutter of bars downtown attracts an element that hurts business.

Councilwoman Williams agrees. “My personal feeling is that the average shopper does not like to shop in a bar town and we have a lot of bars downtown,” she said. “The music blasts out and I don’t think that’s conducive to good shopping.”

And, she added, families do not want to “walk through a crowd hanging around a bar door. I know we get a lot of sales tax off those bars, but I’m not sure if it doesn’t cost us more.”

Mike Hanlon, manager of the Poop Deck bar, which has been on The Strand for 31 years, said the bars usually don’t get busy until 9 p.m., after the stores have closed.

And, he said, the bars fit into the recreational life style of a beach town. “Once you get people down here,” he said, “they’re going to spend the money throughout town.” He said struggling businesses use the bars as a scapegoat.