BURBANK : City Stores to Offer Unique Gift Items

How would you like to hang a “left turn only” sign on your front door? Or decorate your living room with an old parking meter, or your den with an antique fire station call box?

These and other municipal relics and oddities will stock the shelves of two new “city stores”--one of which will open in Glendale within the next few months.

Another in Burbank is still in the planning stages.

Modeled after similar outlets that have helped San Diego, West Covina and other cities sell surplus items at a profit, local officials hope the stores will not only create a cash flow, but provide an image boost as well.

Tom Marston, an assistant in the Glendale city manager’s office, said the Glendale City Store also will sell baseball caps, T-shirts and other items so residents can emblazon their city’s name across their foreheads and chests.

“It’ll be a mix of both the memorabilia, or surplus items, and retail merchandise,” Marston said.

“From the experience of other cities that have tried this, it seems the consumers want those kinds of things. And as a retailer, it’s your responsibility to meet the demand.”

The Glendale store will attempt to appeal to collectors or people in search of unusual gifts like fire hydrants, street signs, firefighters’ coats and hats and other items that cities usually discard or sell at auctions, Marston said.

The store will be located in the Glendale Galleria shopping mall and will be open in time for the Christmas shopping season,

But Marston said that other city-run stores have found that customers asked for T-shirts and souvenirs, and they were forced to add them to their shelves to stay afloat.

“We fully expect that the store will make money, but it will be an ongoing concern from Day 1. We’ll be watching it closely,” he said.

The Glendale City Council set aside $25,000 to pay for the store’s start-up costs, such as leasing a storefront and acquiring inventory. The store will be run by a private firm under contract with the city, and any profits will go into the city’s general fund.

While Burbank officials say their store is still in the conceptual stage and may not open for at least another year, the city intends to capitalize on its reputation as a media hub when the doors open. Judy Sarquiz, coordinator of the project, said Burbank’s city store might also offer a few city services such as a counter where utility bills could be paid.

Sarquiz said the city may investigate whether Disney, Warner Bros. and other local studios might have old movie props that could be sold at the city store, but she said she would like to avoid having shelves full of mugs, shirts and other items bearing the city seal.

Still, she said, the concept of the Burbank store is far from being finalized.

“I think we’d like to have a much different concept than what Glendale is doing,” Sarquiz said. “When city stores first started appearing, the intent really was to be selling your surplus, and the hype was that it was something for the eclectic person.”