Quake Spurs Booming Retail Sales of Vital Items
For a segment of the Southern California business community, Monday’s earthquake was a time to deal. It was commerce in the raw--from the mundane to the exotic.
The stores that traffic in necessities, such as food, lumber and hardware, and were creative enough--or lucky enough--to open their doors, did a land office business across the region.
Lines formed before daybreak outside supermarkets, restaurants and hardware stores. As the scope of the destruction became increasingly clear, lines of cars backed up at gasoline stations as far away as Santa Barbara.
At Koontz Hardware in West Hollywood, the line of customers extended down Santa Monica Boulevard and a batteries-only counter was set up on the sidewalk. Inside, clerks with flashlights showed customers around.
At a Ralph’s supermarket in hard-hit Northridge, a dozen people lined up to buy 2.5-gallon containers of Arrowhead water for $2. At another Ralph’s in nearby Granada Hills, the same 2.5-gallon containers fetched $5.
“I think they rounded up a bit to make it easier,” said a tolerant man in a red hat.
At a 7-11 in Studio City, a dozen people stood in line by 6:30 a.m. Customers were not allowed to enter but gave the clerks orders at the door. “Fritos,” hollered a blonde woman in a black sweat shirt. As the clerk searched for the Fritos, the woman called out: “And a six-pack of Miller Lite.”
And at Bernini on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, a customer tried--unsuccessfully -- to talk down the price of a $2,845 Gianni Versace vest that was slightly damaged when a mannequin was knocked through the exploding display window and into the street. Another customer ambled in to exchange a pair of $210 Versace jeans for a different size. “Versace is a very hot designer, but I find it interesting that people find time to do this on a day like this,” said Jeanella Vandenberg, the store manager.
Tourists, meanwhile, were frustrated by stores being closed.
“I’m trying to spend money, but I can’t!” said Rita Luber of Haverford, Pa., strolling along Rodeo Drive with her husband, Mark.
Richard Scott, the ‘R’ in D&R; Glass of Ontario, Calif., was crisscrossing Los Angeles’ Westside with his measuring tape. Encountered in the empty, water-stained parking ramp at the closed-down Beverly Center, he said, “This place is really torn up.”
Scott called four workers back from layoff early Monday. He is getting plywood from the Ontario area, assuming it would be hard to come by in Los Angeles.
And indeed it is. Tom Mullin, president of Terry Lumber Co., a chain of retail lumber yards, didn’t have phones at his store on Santa Monica Boulevard Monday morning, so he was scrambling to satisfy walk-in customers.
“We’re just trying to take care of the people who need to board up,” he said, as two distraught-looking men arrived at the lumberyard’s entrance to buy plywood. “It’s going to be wacko tomorrow.”
California Glass & Window piled up two or three extra days of work on Monday morning, said owner Steve Conkle. The Stanton company’s customers include banks and other financial institutions, he said, and crews were headed for the San Fernando Valley, Woodland Hills and Pasadena within an hour of reporting to work.
For now, the company is boarding up buildings with plywood. Conkle said the crews could not find lumber supplies in Los Angeles and had to bring in wood from Orange County. They also had to rent generators in order to run their power tools.
Some Vons supermarkets temporarily ran out of bottled water, said spokeswoman Julie Reynolds.
“We are seeing a high demand for water, water and more water,” said Reynolds, who noted that the company was distributing additional supplies to those Vons locations Monday afternoon.
Patrick Tucker, project manager with Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water Co. in Monterey Park, said employees were bottling additional water and bringing in extra supplies to stores throughout the county. At Calistoga Mineral Water Co. in Northern California, officials said the company was having problems just transporting water into Los Angeles County.
“Most of the highways are blocked and we can’t get through. We are trying to get a truckload of Calistoga to the Red Cross, but we can’t,” said Bob Pusey, a spokesman with Calistoga.
Earthquake Preparedness Products, a Santa Ana earthquake kit maker and retail store, also reported a brisk business Monday in its kits, priced from $9.95 to nearly $300.
At Homebase in Culver City, manager Frank Gomez said he was sold out of earthquake kits by mid-morning Monday, having sold about 200 kits. Also selling fast were generators, water heaters, flashlights and batteries, he said.
“Many people who come in are scared. They still don’t have their lights,” Gomez said in a phone interview just after 3:30 p.m. as another aftershock hit his store. “We’re really rocking now,” he said.
Times staff writers David R. Olmos and Anne Michaud and special correspondent Debora Vrana contributed to this story.
