Westwood Village Retailers to Protest Shops at UCLA

Several Westwood Village retailers plan to put themselves out of business Thursday to protest restaurants and shops on the UCLA campus that they believe drain Westwood’s profits.

The Westwood Business Blackout Protest, scheduled from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., will follow a 12:30 p.m. rally outside UCLA’s Sunset Commons Building, said organizer and Westwood retailer Gary Avrech.

It is unclear how many businesses will participate in the blackout, but many have agreed to post signs in their windows, stating their support of the effort.

“Competition is good, but it should be on fair grounds,” said Jack Bhasin, vice president of Westwood’s Aahs! card shop. “They’re a closed community. It’s just wrong and somebody needs to point it out to people.”

Merchants said UCLA’s recently opened retail shops and restaurants have discouraged students from venturing into Westwood and have contributed to the city’s economic decline.

But officials of the students association, which operates the stores, said those claims are unfounded and the protest is misdirected.

“We’re experiencing the same exact sense of decline in business that Westwood is,” said Patricia Eastman, executive director of the students association. “I think they are looking in the wrong place for the source of business trouble. I think there is a general divestment in Westwood.”