Parking Lot Sale

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up! The big top has arrived in the San Fernando Valley and is open to all.

Inside the main tent are china, furniture, cordless phones and quilts from parts near and far. There are even gadgets for the little ones--all for a special price. And they take American Express.

The Northridge Fashion Center’s Broadway department store, shuttered since the Jan. 17 temblor, has found a new venue--two air-conditioned tents pitched in the middle of the devastated mall’s parking lot. Nicknamed the “Home Dome,” the makeshift store that opened Friday has already become a popular spot for Valley residents looking to replace damaged home furnishings.

On Monday at midday, the tents were packed.

“People have been ecstatic that we have done this,” said Broadway employee Judy Spence, sitting behind a French country-style desk for sale. “Furniture and china are selling real big right now.”

From the outside, the two interconnected tents look more likely to contain a trapeze act than a set of kitchen knives, but inside it looks just like any other Broadway. Colorful item displays and sale signs accessorize the interior, and merchandise is departmentalized.

*

“They’ve done a wonderful job of making it attractive,” said Lucille Malvani, 68, of Granada Hills, who was shopping for glasses to replace a set that fell out of her cupboard when the earth shook. “And I feel much safer beneath this ceiling than I do in a regular store right now.”

The carpeted tents--300 feet long and 60 feet wide--will remain open until the main mall store reopens in late fall, according to Steve Holden, operations manager for the Home Dome, which employs about 75 people. The tents were erected, decorated and stocked with items by Broadway personnel, he said, all in five weeks.

“Most (customers) are amazed that you can put something together that looks this good this quick in a parking lot,” Holden said.

The dome carries only furniture, electronics and housewares because The Broadway considers these items in high demand, he said.

Shop-aholics sifted through the goods with appraisers’ eyes on Monday, looking for that special bargain. Most seemed to find something worth buying.

“It’s nice to have a place to shop around here again,” said Lois Kranobsky, 42, of Chatsworth, looking at bedspreads. “I love the mall. So far, the prices we’ve seen here have been wonderful.”

Not all shoppers agreed.

“I don’t think they have anything cheaper than they had before,” said a Fashion Center regular who asked to remain anonymous.

The high-tech tents were made by the Clamshell Co., a Ventura firm that specializes in temporary structures. About 140 of the tents--which can supposedly resist winds of up to 120 m.p.h. and are built to seismic standards--were used to house airplanes during the Persian Gulf War. They were also used as relief centers after Hurricane Andrew in Florida and Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii, according to Mark Alexander, marketing manager for Clamshell.

“This is not a tent,” Alexander said, even though another company official disclosed that it is made of laminated fabric. “This is the equivalent of a traditional metal building,” Alexander continued, “except it can be put up relatively quick, it can be reused and no foundations are required.”

Some of the stores surrounding the mall suffered a sharp decrease in business after the mall was damaged, but since the Home Dome was erected, they have noticed an unexpected increase in customers and sales.

“With all the foot traffic in the area, I’ve noticed an increase of about 100%,” said Mark Mandel, sales manager for the Goodyear Tire Center, located next door to the Home Dome. “Most of our business was from people shopping at Broadway, and when it closed, people didn’t know we were open.

“We did in one day of business Saturday what we had been doing in four days.”

The mall’s Sears and Broadway stores should open by late fall, said David Gruber, president of Metropolitan Estates Property Co., the Dallas-based firm that owns the Northridge Fashion Center.

The Robinsons May store will not open until early 1995, and Bullocks--which is being completely rebuilt--is scheduled to reopen in the summer of 1995.

“We’re so desperate to shop,” said Sue Sears of Northridge, who was in the dome with her sister, Nancy Bomer. Both women lost a lot of glassware and porcelain during the temblor.

“The only things open around here were the Targets, the cheap stuff. Here they have more good things, like china.

“We’ll be back.”