Burlington Coat Factory Says Mall Has Left It Out in the Cold

Burlington Coat Factory is proud of its blue-collar prices and so are its customers. But a bargain-basement mentality might not fit well with plans to transform the Huntington Beach Mall into a high-end shopping center with an Italian village theme.

The department store has sued the mall owner and the city of Huntington Beach separately over what the store believes are efforts to push it out because it isn’t upscale enough for the new image, a $100-million overhaul scheduled to begin this fall.

And Burlington has rallied its customers, obtaining hundreds of signatures since Thursday on petitions that say the city and its redevelopment agency are trying to deprive residents of the chance to get “true value” for their “hard-earned dollars.”

But the mall’s owner, Huntington Center Associates, denies it is trying to get rid of Burlington, and its lawyer contends that the retailer is waging a “war in the press.”

Customers, however, were frustrated and irate Monday at even the prospect of losing a store where they can buy a men’s sport shirt for $9.99.

“If we want upscale, there are plenty of places to go,” said Garden Grove resident Bonnie Wheeler, who signed the petition. “This is for us middle-income people. It gives us an option we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Burlington asserts in one lawsuit that the center’s owner insists that the retailer pay almost quadruple its current rent to keep a spot at the struggling mall after the renovation. The owner also wants to decrease Burlington’s space by almost 40%, the lawsuit alleges.

An attorney for the center and its parent company, Ezralow Co. in Calabasas, denied that the defendants are trying to push out Burlington. The property owner has not yet determined which retailers will remain when the center is reconfigured, said the lawyer, James Hughes.

City officials could not be reached Monday for comment.