Pier 1 property sells for $4.7 million

The $4.7 million sale this week of a La Cañada Flintridge retail property at 2200 Foothill Blvd. isn’t expected to have any major impact on Pier 1 Imports, the business that leases the property; however, it is a good sign for commercial real estate sales, a representative of Stevenson Real Estate Services, the company that marketed the property, said Tuesday.

“This shows that assets priced appropriately in the market place are selling,” said Sevada Hemelians, of Stevenson Real Estate Services.

The sale also lent some credibility to Hemelians’ belief that La Cañada is a great location. “It’s the key to the Foothill Boulevard corridor,” he said.

The property is an about 38,430-square-foot parcel of land with more than 10,000 square feet of retail space.

It was sold to an undisclosed buyer that was represented by Coldwell Banker of La Cañada.

Pier 1 Imports is expected to retain its lease with the new property owner, according to Whitney Rogers, a representative of Pier 1 Imports corporate offices.

“There have been no store closing announcements at this time for store #0643 [the La Cañada store],” she wrote in an e-mail to the Valley Sun.

Although another Foothill Boulevard retail store, Trifles, will soon be closing its doors, that business closure is in no way a sign of harsh economic times affecting this city, longtime Trifles owner, Susan Partamian said Wednesday.

Partamian, a La Cañada resident, decided to close her family-owned business after 10 years at that location since she is now “of retirement age,” she said.

“Trifles has been a family business all of these years and we made the decision to close rather than sell the business because no one else would carry on with our intention to offer American folk art.

“It has nothing to do with the economy,” Partamian said. “I keep telling my children ‘One day, one day I’ll retire,’ well, this is ‘one day.’ ”

Partamian also has worked as a school teacher in Hollywood and Canoga Park, and plans to continue to do volunteer work with La Cañada’s One City One Book committee, as well as in the public library system and with Assistance League.