Inglewood ‘Doctor’ Treats Ailing Business District

Inglewood’s small business “doctor” makes house calls.

Development specialist James Brown’s patient is the city’s Market Street shopping district, which is in fragile health.

Market Street’s ailments are common to many downtown shopping areas. Business suffered in the late 1970s as shopping malls attracted affluent Inglewood shoppers, crime increased and major retailers, such as J. C. Penney and the Boston Store, closed. City officials say the resulting turnover among small businesses has been considerable. Inglewood has not given up on Market Street, however. The commitment shows in clean sidewalks, well-kept trees, awnings paid for by the city, street furniture freshly painted by anti-graffiti crews and a free shuttle bus that carries shoppers around the area.

Reinforce Appearance

“We’ve tried to do what we can to reinforce the appearance of the shopping district with physical improvements,” said Deputy City Manager Lew Pond. “In spite of that, we still have some turnover and some marginal kinds of businesses. In some cases, there may not be an adequate base of business skills.”

That is why the city three years ago gave Brown the full-time job of serving as a consultant to small businesses and creating cooperation and a sense of common identity among merchants.

There are about 90 businesses in the Market Street area, Brown said. Almost half of them are owned by Asians, predominantly Koreans. Blacks and Latinos are also well represented in a mix dominated by dress stores, small restaurants, jewelry stores and hair and nail salons.

While officials said the area has not experienced ethnic tensions, there are sources of friction. For example, a cross section of merchants complain that a large discount department store that opened a year ago is taking away business and attracting a lower-income clientele.

A stroll down Market Street on Thursday with Brown and Young Kim, a Korean-speaking summer intern who works with Asian merchants, illustrated the hopes and frustrations of an ethnically diverse shopping district struggling to survive.

“Most businesses fail because management skills are lacking,” Brown said, adding that a restaurateur “may know how to cook, but not how to approach a bank.”

Brown was greeted on the street by Maxine Alcott, who in August will open an ice cream and barbecue eatery, Bo-max, where a health food restaurant closed earlier this year. Alcott has worked in personal financial consulting, Brown said, but she lacked knowledge about running a business.

“She didn’t know about marketing and accounting,” said Brown, who has worked in banking and in economic development for the city of Los Angeles. “We sat down and looked at her assets. Where was she going to buy her paper, her food? Was she familiar with what banks were doing? I told her, based on her assets she could go into a bank tomorrow and walk out with a $5,000 loan.”

Brown helps business owners prepare loan packages. He gives tips on bookkeeping, merchandising and accounting. He organizes procurement conferences and meetings for merchants. He holds window-display contests. He also said he does a lot of “listening and hand-holding.”

Fosters Cooperation

Brown also works with the Chamber of Commerce to foster cooperation among business owners on issues ranging from parking problems to joint marketing efforts, such as a Christmas newspaper advertisement last year. The city paid half of the bill for the ad.

But more such efforts are needed, Brown said. “This downtown community does not seem to see the value of group participation in projects,” he said. “There is so much that can be done if people work together.”

Part of the problem, city officials and merchants said, has been the reticence of immigrant merchants to participate in activities such as the chamber. Kim, a business student at California State University, Long Beach, is working to improve communication by conducting an in-depth survey of Korean merchants during her summer internship. She has been welcomed with open arms.

‘Helped Tremendously’

“She’s helped tremendously,” said Robert Marujo, branch manager of Great American Savings and chairman of the chamber’s downtown section. He said Kim’s work has led to an increase in Asian attendance at recent meetings.

“Apparently a lot of (the Asian merchants) had been victimized by shoplifters and hadn’t reported it because of the language barrier. We found out through her and brought in a crime prevention officer from the Police Department,” he said.

Kim’s liaison skills were evident Thursday when she stopped at the dress shop of Jung Yoo Kim. The shop owner took advantage of the student’s interpreting skills to say she thinks the quality of business in the area has suffered because of discount stores and that, although she understood that “teen-agers will be teen-agers,” rowdy high school students outside her shop were a problem.

Further down the street at Cox Clothing, 13-year business owner Yoon Won Lee said recent immigrants tend to be “individualistic,” which often prevents them from reporting crime, attending Chamber of Commerce meetings and working with other Asians.

“The city has been trying to improve the atmosphere for many years,” he said. “We appreciate their efforts. But we have had no leader to create an organization. (Young Kim) helps us very much.”

Lee said Kim’s work could result in the formation of a Korean merchants association in the city.

But the merchants said Market Street needs more shoppers. Some merchants made gloomy predictions for the future.

Several told Brown they hope a jewelry market to be opened this year on the site of the old Boston Store will spur business. The market will provide merchandise from several jewelers, like the jewelry mart in downtown Los Angeles.

Marujo of the Chamber of Commerce said cooperation among businesses and with the city has begun to pay off.

“I see stabilization,” Marujo said. “There’s a positive atmosphere. Little by little, we’re getting people involved.”