THOUSAND OAKS : Store Opening Advances Mall Renovation

After years of planning and months of construction, the new Mervyn’s California department store at the Janss Marketplace officially opened for business Thursday morning, completing the first major phase of the mall’s renovation.

More than 500 shoppers crowded around the store’s entrance to watch Mayor Jaime Zukowski and Christine Carpenter, the store manager, cut a ceremonial ribbon wrapped around a glowing yellow surfboard.

“Mervyn’s has been long-awaited,” Zukowski said. “Certainly, this will keep more of our citizens shopping in our city.”

Residents had already formed a line outside the door at 9 a.m., taking gift certificates from Mervyn’s employees on skates, ignoring the “No Skating” signs nearby. Once the ribbon had been cut, shoppers poured inside to find a freshly scrubbed and stocked store.

The store, spokesman Marc Gendron said, was slightly different from older Mervyn’s facilities. When the company changed its name this summer to Mervyn’s California, it also changed the decor and inventory, adding in-house labels with names such as “Hiway 1” and “LA Baby.”

“The change is to revamp the store’s image to reflect its California heritage,” Gendron said. “Mervyn’s California represents the sun, fun and freshness of California.”

The store had actually opened for business Monday, running quietly for a few days to work out any kinks that might arise. So far, Carpenter said, the opening had been smooth.

“You always go through that crunch where it’s chaos, but it’s organized chaos,” she said.

If any problems plagued the opening, they were outside in the parking lot. The event drew enough people to pack the lot with cars, despite the new parking garage open nearby.