PANORAMA CITY : Swap Meet’s Business Finally Bouncing Back

A year after looters ransacked the Valley Indoor Swap Meet, business is just beginning to return to normal, primarily because of a marketing effort aimed at Latino customers.

Although several of the swap meet’s 180 merchants were financially ruined and some Anglo shoppers from other parts of the Valley stopped coming after the riots, manager Dan Dufour said the swap meet has been able to stimulate business by focusing on its mostly Latino neighborhood.

Latino entertainers are now featured at the swap meet and the food has been changed to appeal more to Latino tastes. Menu items include fried chicharrones (pigskins in taco or lime sauce). “We’re trying to become more of the neighborhood shopping center. I think it’s a very positive thing,” Dufour said.

Dufour is not surprised that it has taken a year for business to get up to speed at the swap meet. “When you have a serious event like the riots, people aren’t thinking about what they’re going to buy next,” he said. “They’re thinking about whether they are going to stay in Los Angeles.”