PERSPECTIVE : Battling an Empty Feeling : Cities Trying to Counter Closing of Stores, Banks

When Smith’s Food & Drug Center opened in Stanton four years ago, community leaders had high hopes that the supermarket would spark a revival in the city’s struggling civic center district.

But in January, Smith’s abruptly pulled out of the competitive California grocery market. The once-bustling shopping center is now shuttered, and residents are feeling the effects.

“We really lost a part of our community,” said Sue Davis, manager of the Park Place senior apartments. Many of her tenants moved to the complex because it was within walking distance of Smith’s, she said.

“It’s created problems for people here,” she said. “It’s just too far to walk to the other supermarkets.”

Their plight underscores the far-reaching consequences of various mergers, acquisitions and closures among banks, department stores and supermarkets that are rapidly reshaping the retail scene.

Beyond job losses, the shakeout is having a profound effect on the character of neighborhoods across Orange County as landmark institutions suddenly disappear. In response, cities are scrambling to develop programs to keep commercial areas vibrant.

Communities of all types have been touched by the changes, from blue-collar Stanton to more upscale portions of Huntington Beach, where residents are concerned about the retail exodus from the Huntington Beach Center area.

The shopping district lost a Bank of America branch when that company merged with Security Pacific. Last week, Wells Fargo Bank announced that it will close a nearby branch because of its merger with First Interstate Bank. Huntington Beach Center might also lose its Broadway department store.

“You wonder if it’s going to bounce back or become a ghost town,” said Pam Tillse, who lives a few blocks from the mall. “These are names I grew up with. . . . Now, you don’t see them anymore.”

The situation troubles city officials, who see vacant storefronts and “For Lease” signs as a threat to the local economy and to precious sales-tax revenue. Declining business districts also force residents to travel longer distances for shopping and banking.

“Having the Smith’s was a real plus,” Stanton Councilman Harry Dotson said. “It showed progress in Stanton. Now it’s an empty building. It’s kind of like taking a step backward.”

The turmoil in retailing has many causes. A decade-long consolidation in the banking industry will mean the closure of 25 Orange County branches in the Wells Fargo-First Interstate merger. Another 40 branches were shut in 1992, when Bank of America took over Security Pacific.

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Another factor is the rising popularity of discount chains such as Wal-Mart and Target, which have drawn bargain-conscious shoppers and hurt sales at higher-end department stores such as Buffums, May Co., I. Magnin and Bullock’s, forcing closures.

“Sometimes, stores become dinosaurs,” said Richard Barnard, Huntington Beach’s deputy city administrator. “The Price Clubs, Wal-Marts and Ikeas buy in large volumes and provide products at reduced prices. People tend to gravitate to where they can get the best buys.”

Changing consumer tastes also put pressure on cities to create “business friendly” environments and to work with developers to bring new retail projects to town.

In the past five years, most Orange County cities established “economic development” programs aimed at keeping existing businesses and attracting new ones.

Strategies have ranged from offering low-interest loans to businesses that locate in redevelopment zones to streamlining the process to get city permits.

Experts say that approach makes sense.

“Stores open and close. Architecture goes in and out of style,” said Jim Clarkson, retail broker with Grubb & Ellis in Newport Beach. “Cities have to stay current and work with property owners to kept their commercial sectors viable.”

Older cities such as Stanton and Huntington Beach face special challenges because most of their raw land already has been developed. As a result, officials must coordinate revitalization efforts with numerous property owners and retailers.

“We need to be a good partner,” Huntington Beach Councilman Dave Garofalo said. “We don’t have 100 acres left to go plan a new mall.”

Some retail areas are already coming back from the brink. Anaheim Plaza, Orange County’s oldest mall, was in a severe state of decline until 1994, when it was made over as a discount center with a Wal-Mart and a Ross Dress for Less. The change brought shoppers back.

The Huntington Beach Center is showing some signs of renewed vigor with the recent opening of a huge Barnes & Noble bookseller at the former site of a furniture store.

“The bookstore is really bubbling,” Tillse said. “That’s the way the rest of the center should be.”

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Anchors Away

Changes in retailing are rapidly altering the look of Orange County shopping centers as venerable names such as Bullock’s and First Interstate merge or are acquired. How Orange County businesses have fared:

* Wells Fargo-First Interstate merger (1996): 25 bank branches closed

* Bullock’s-Broadway retail reorganization (1995): one or two stores closed

* Bank of America-Security Pacific merger (1992): 40 bank branches closed

* Robinsons-May retail reorganization (1992): three stores closed

* Buffums closure (1991): three stores closed

Source: Times reports;

Researched by SHELBY GRAD / For The Times