Wal-Mart Rules Out Drive-In Site for Store

Wal-Mart executives said Tuesday that the Van Nuys Drive-In is no longer being considered as a site for the first Wal-Mart store in the city of Los Angeles.

Wal-Mart representatives had asked Los Angeles city planners in June to change the zoning of the 14-acre drive-in site at Roscoe Boulevard and Noble Avenue, indicating the company was considering constructing a store there.

But Les Copeland, spokesman for the Arkansas-based retail giant, said Tuesday, “That particular site is no longer under consideration.”

Copeland also said Wal-Mart is pursuing “several other sites in Panorama City,” but declined to specify where.

Wal-Mart has 88 stores in California, including one that opened in January in the city of Industry and a store in Anaheim, but none in Los Angeles.

Copeland said Wal-Mart executives recently concluded that development of the drive-in site wasn’t economically feasible. Copeland did not elaborate, except to say that Wal-Mart’s philosophy is to build stores as inexpensively as possible, to “pass the savings on to our customers.” He said he did not know what price the owners of the drive-in had asked for the property. Executives at Nationwide Theatres Corp. of Los Angeles, which owns the drive-in, could not be reached Tuesday.

Other possible locations for a Wal-Mart suggested by Panorama City residents include the former General Motors plant on Van Nuys Boulevard and the property now occupied by the Broadway store in Panorama Mall. The Broadway chain of department stores was bought in October by Federated Department Stores, which owns the Macy’s, Bullock’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores.

The Broadway store in Panorama Mall will probably be closed about March, said Louise Marquez, manager and marketing director at the mall.

“We’re hoping [Wal-Mart] would consider” moving into the mall, Marquez said Tuesday. “It has definitely been suggested to them, and it certainly seems like it would be a common-sense approach.”

The Broadway in Panorama Mall has about 210,000 square feet of space spread over three floors. A typical Wal-Mart store has 130,000 to 160,000 square feet, but the stores are usually built in a single-story, stand-alone format.

Although Copeland said some Wal-Mart stores are in shopping centers, he did not know whether any of the 2,034 stores across the country are in malls. He said he did not know if the company was evaluating Panorama Mall as a future site.

Wal-Mart representatives began holding meetings with Panorama City residents in September to discuss building a 150,000-square-foot store at the drive-in.

Although some local business and community leaders welcomed the proposal, other residents said a new, large department store would exacerbate traffic in a heavily congested area near the San Diego Freeway.

“We know Wal-Mart is considering other spots in the area,” said Leslie Yamashita, director of the Panorama City West Neighborhood Assn., who said a Wal-Mart would be an economic boon to the community.

“They always have their little tentacles out, you know,” she said.