Glendale Galleria Tops Area in Sales in Latest Survey : Shopping centers: State figures show the region’s malls generally performed well relative to national retail trends. The Northridge Fashion Center ranked second.
The Glendale Galleria ranks as the region’s biggest shopping mall, although its recent sales growth was average relative to other malls in Southern California, according to statistics compiled by state officials.
In the first half of 1990--the most recent period for which figures are available--the Glendale mall’s 226 stores had sales totaling $170.6 million, making the 15-year-old galleria the largest center in terms of both sales and number of stores at that time, according to the state Board of Equalization. The regional survey covered shopping malls from Thousand Oaks to Glendale.
The Northridge Fashion Center ranked second in sales, followed by the Topanga Plaza in Canoga Park, The Oaks center in Thousand Oaks and the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square.
The rankings were largely the same for the most recent full-year results available, in 1989, when the Glendale Galleria had sales of $383 million, up 7% from the previous year and slightly better than the 6% average growth for all large malls in the San Fernando Valley.
The Glendale Galleria’s six-month 1990 sales were up 6% from a year earlier, which merely matched the average sales growth for major shopping centers in the five-county area surrounding Los Angeles during that six-month period, the figures show.
The galleria’s general manager, Cynthia Chong, did not dispute the figures but added that the mall’s specialty store sales--that is, excluding sales of its major department stores--climbed 9% in 1990 during “one of the toughest retail years” in recent memory.
“That’s an indication of the strength of our shopping center regardless of what’s going on overall in Southern California retailing,” Chong said.
She was referring to the sluggish economy of the past 18 months or so, which has slowed retail sales nationwide and caused major losses at some department-store chains. Several months ago Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., parent of the Broadway department store chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. There’s speculation that the economy is now beginning to rebound, but merchants say consumers are still spending cautiously.
“We’re feeling it. Sales are soft,” said Lloyd Miller, general manager of the Northridge Fashion Center. He said the mall conducts fashion shows, offers amusement rides for children and hosts other events to keep snaring shoppers.
Nonetheless, the region’s shopping centers generally performed well relative to national retail trends. In 1989, the Commerce Department’s tally of national retail sales showed a 5.5% gain, although that figure includes sales from auto dealers, building-materials stores and other outlets not generally included in a typical shopping center.
(Incidentally, the No. 1 mall by sales in the region covering Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties was South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, which had $672 million in 1989 sales. It was followed by the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance and the Glendale Galleria. The state figures ranked only those centers with a minimum of 200,000 square feet of retail space.)
Locally, the malls posting significant percentage sales gains included the Northridge Fashion Center and The Promenade at Woodland Hills. Both have certain upscale stores (Robinson’s at Northridge; Saks Fifth Avenue and I. Magnin at The Promenade) that help the malls maintain their growth overall. The Northridge mall’s sales in the first half of 1990 jumped 17% from a year ago, and The Promenade’s surged 22%.
But sales growth is meaningful only in the context of whether each mall had an increase or decline in its roster of stores.
At Northridge, much of its sales growth reflected two major additions: The Robinson’s wing was added in 1988, and a May Co. wing in 1989. Both additions involved not only those two stores but also dozens of specialty shops, lifting the center’s total roster list to 180 stores as of mid-1990. (It’s now up to 210.)
While those additions by themselves would have obviously boosted sales, the added traffic that they generated spilled over to increase sales at the mall’s older stores, said Miller, the general manager.
The Sherman Oaks Fashion Square had a 63% surge in the number of outlets--to 70--in the first six months of 1990, but managed only a slightly above average 8% increase in overall sales from a year earlier, to $58.2 million.
Perhaps the mall with the best rebound in sales was The Promenade at Woodland Hills, which enjoyed a 22% jump in first half-1990 sales, to $44.8 million, after its sales had tumbled 17% in 1989.
The mall’s sales drop in 1989 partly reflected a 13% drop in the number of stores. But General Manager Kimberly D. Solomon also attributed the sales drop mostly to lower sales at its department stores, because the mall’s specialty shops showed a meager 2% overall gain. Conversely, the department stores led the mall’s sales upswing in the first half of 1990, she said.
“Probably the sales in both years were a reflection of the economic conditions at the time,” she said.
The Promenade is now undergoing a major renovation that makes it doubtful that the mall will continue to enjoy the sales growth it had in early 1990.
The Promenade’s renovation is the mall’s first since it opened 17 years ago, with plans that include building a new Bullock’s and revamping its I. Magnin store. But the renovation also has temporarily left the center with a major vacancy rate: 30%.
“We’re taking back a lot of space,” Solomon said. “There’s a lot of turnover in terms of store leases expiring and us electing to take that space back for the new stores coming in” and other construction work, she added.
Chong said the Glendale Galleria mall remains the region’s biggest in sales partly because of its location, which is near three freeways. And it hasn’t hurt that the galleria’s next-door neighbor, Burbank, hasn’t had a major shopping mall competing for Chong’s shoppers.
But that’s going to change. Now under construction is the $300-million Media City Center in Burbank, whose 1 million square feet of space are expected to house about 150 stores. One store, an Ikea furniture outlet, is already open and others are scheduled to open later this year.
“They’re not very far from us,” Chong said. “We’re definitely keeping a close eye on them.”
First-half 1990 Sales of the Region’s Largest Shopping Centers
The retail figures listed below are compiled from California sales tax receipts. However, there is a considerable lag time while the data are compiled, so the latest period for which figures are available is June, 1990.
6-month sales Shopping thru 6/30/90 % change Outlets % change Center in millions from yr. ago in center from yr. ago Glendale Galleria $170.6 +6.2% 226 +1.8% Northridge Fashion Center $144.2 +17.2% 180 +8.4% Topanga Plaza (Canoga Park) $103.0 0 136 +0.7% The Oaks (Thousand Oaks) $91.4 +7.2% 138 +2.2% Sherman Oaks Fashion Square $58.2 +8.4% 70 +62.8% Fallbrook Mall (Canoga Park) $51.9 +3.4% 92 -2.1% The Promenade at Woodland Hills $44.8 +22.4 62 -6.1% Sherman Oaks Galleria $32.4 -6.6% 104 -5.5% Laurel Plaza (N. Hollywood) $28.8 +15.2% 28 +12.0% Panorama Mall (Panorama City) $26.7 -4.6% 55 -8.3%
Source: California State Board of Equalization
1989 Sales of the Region’s Largest Shopping Centers
Shopping 1989 sales % change Outlets % change Center in millions from yr. ago in center from yr. ago Glendale Galleria $383.0 + 7.3% 231 -4.1% Northridge Fashion Center $314.8 +25.7% 188 +20.5% Topanga Plaza (Canoga Park) $237.2 + 6.0% 140 -2.8% The Oaks (Thousand Oaks) $206.8 + 5.6% 144 0 Sherman Oaks Fashion Square $119.2 - 0.8% 45 -6.3% Fallbrook Mall (Canoga Park) $116.8 + 3.7% 102 -1.9% The Promenade in Woodland Hills $ 88.7 -16.9 68 -12.8% Sherman Oaks Galleria $ 78.4 - 2.4% 113 -0.8% Panorama Mall (Panorama City) $ 61.5 - 0.9% 58 -12.1% Laurel Plaza (N. Hollywood) $ 59.1 + 6.1% 27 -3.6%
Source: California State Board of Equalization
