Cleaning Up : More Traffic, More Opportunity

Pasadena Vacuum & Sewing Center owner Jim Plotkin has worked 30 years to revitalize Old Pasadena by creating more parking and improving public safety. He has learned that a thriving retail district means more foot traffic, which in turn means more customers. Plotkin was interviewed by Karen Kaplan.

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My grandfather was a door-to-door Hoover salesman for many years, and in 1950 he opened up a store in Pasadena. When he got sick, I bought the business from him in 1966.

Back then this was the old part of town. There were three pawn shops, a couple of furniture stores, a clothing store, a typewriter store and a mattress store. I wanted to do something to boost the retail businesses here, so I joined the Pasadena Central Improvement Assn.

At that point, all the urban downtowns were really suffering. People were shopping in malls. Pasadena had become very old and staid. We needed a way to bring more shoppers to the area.

Parking was the first priority. That has always been the issue in Pasadena. I put in five parking spaces behind my building in 1972, and my business tripled. I was convinced we needed more parking in order for the area to flourish.

We tried to raise property taxes to pay for construction of new parking, but that didn’t get widespread support and it failed. Then we formed a parking commission, which recommended a sales tax to build new parking structures. By the mid-1980s, we raised the money to build two public parking structures. Altogether, about 4,000 parking spaces have been added.

Safety has always been at the top of the agenda. We knew we needed to turn this area into an evening entertainment district, and if you’re going to do that you need to make people feel safe and secure. The alleys were broken and decrepit, and the street lights were inadequate for nighttime. We needed more lights and cleanliness and security to make our streets more pedestrian-friendly.

About 10 years ago, some of the older merchants began selling their stores because property values were going up. As new owners came in making bigger investments, the area started to show promise. Now it’s all paying off.

The competitive marketplace for Pasadena Vacuum & Sewing Center is very taxing and difficult. I compete with some of the largest retailers in the world, like Sears Roebuck & Co., Best Buy and Target. It’s a very competitive business.

The more foot traffic, the more opportunity. Probably no more than 5% of my business is from walk-ins. But that 5% is important because that’s the profit. Plus it’s cumulative, and they become repeat customers. Next year there’ll be a new 5%.

For example, on a recent Sunday a gentleman came to Old Pasadena for dinner and he saw my store. Then he came back the very next day and bought a sewing machine here. More and more of my customers are finding out about me like that.

Old Pasadena needs big-name destination stores to succeed. With the cumulative advertising impact of major stores like Il Fornaio and Barnes & Noble, you’re going to attract people who will also shop in the locally owned stores that give this place an eclectic flavor. The combination is wonderful.

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AT A GLANCE

Company name: Pasadena Vacuum & Sewing Center

Owner: Jim Plotkin

Nature of business: Sells and repairs vacuum cleaners and sewing machines

Location: Pasadena

Owner since: 1966

No. of employees: 5

Annual sales: $700,000