The Retail Landscape Spring Outlook 2011

The good news for local merchants is that reports have the larger economy improving. Locally, the 330 looks like it will be open for travel by the 4th of July instead of late in the fall as scheduled. Merchants are still closing their stores for good at a rate that is, I'm sure, unprecedented.

I am actually looking for more retail closures in Big Bear Lake prior to the summer season which really doesn't start in earnest until the 4th of July.

Open for Business

Sugarpine Bake Shop is opening a second location in the Village on Village Dr. next to Shirt Shanty. It's the former Village Cookie Shop. Opening looks like maybe Memorial Day. Good luck guys!


Cowboy Fancy, the new venture by long time Village Business operator Paul Ortuno. Like the name says, western ware and his horsemanship training is on the menu. The new store is on Village Dr. next to Hunter Hall's. Opening is looking like early July. Best of luck to the Ortuno's!


Club Bombay has posted it's ABC notice in the window. Another bar in the Village between the Himalayan Restaurant and the new AV Nightclub. Can you say moratorium?


AV Nightclub opened on May 2, 2011 in the former Pub on Village Dr. It is blue inside.


Le Dolce Vita says they are opening soon. On Village Dr across from Stillwells/Northwoods Resort. Beer and Wine on sale at a public place.



Space Available


Starbucks Coffee is closing its Village Store on May 20, 2011. My source at Starbucks says it is due to general low store revenues. This same store survived the closing of 600 under performing stores in 2008. This was "my" Starbucks. Who knew three Starbucks in Big Bear would be too many?

Simply Irresistible on Village Dr has vacated and the space is for lease.


Children's Closet has vacated and the space on Village Dr. is for lease.


Village Theater South on Village Dr. is for sale (real estate only) approx 9000 sq ft. older building. The listing is asking under 1 million. Contact Tom Benson at Sothebys.


Several new 'cubes' will be available soon in the Christmas Mart on Pine Knot. Maybe 3 will have frontage on the courtyard. All spaces have lots of natural light and share new common restrooms. Stop by and take a look. Contact Monty at the Christmas Mart.

Another Village Shop Fades to Black

The Home Décor shop Simply Irresistible has shut down operations and vacated the space on Village Dr. in the Village. The owner had opened almost 2 years ago in the same space of the former Wildwood Gallery, a long time Village fine art and gift store.

2011 Business Outlook is Bleak for Local Retailers

My sense of what is happening in the local marketplace is no less than gut-wrenching. Even with all the "things are getting better" in the media, our reality is that local stores are closing.

Frustrated and a little bitter is the sense you get from statements made in the Grizzly article dated 2/23/11 ( Moonridge closing ), by Mike Gray, the owner of Wild Wings on Moonridge Rd.

Mike is not alone in his frustration. Neither is he alone in his sense of pending doom when looking at the horizon. It's a common theme when you talk to almost any small business owner these days. Yes, even those in the Village.

As for his complaint of a lack of identify or vision for the community, I disagree vigorously. That is an easy out and I hear it all the time and it's is just untrue. As far back as the 80's consultants and citizen groups have repeatedly come to the out-of-this-world conclusion that Big Bear Lake is a 4 season resort that serves visitors as it's primary (only) industry. Even in the 80's and as recently as last year, subsequent studies have come up with the same thing. All the reports have agreed that we under serve our customers when we are busy and struggle to survive when we are not busy. All the conclusions have been the same.. We need to make infrastructure improvements to provide a better customer experience when we are busy, and better develop our retail marketplace including restaurants, hotels and amenities to better compete with other destinations in the area.

For several years business owners have been urging the City Council to take action to support our local economy with new and fresh marketing, re-branding and easing of development code regulations that would allow the Big Bear Lake Marketplace to better compete with other destination marketplaces in Southern California. To spend improvement agency dollars for what they were intended for.. to make improvements and better the local economy.


Specific language has been used by me and others to focus on economic development. One clear need is to establish a fully authorized economic development commission to set goals for our survival and our future. To create a path to implement changes and guide the necessary spending to meet these goals. Other communities do this.


In March 2011 it will be two years since City Manager Jeff Matthieu responded to the Village Business Association and Charlie Brewster's plea for economic development and said.. "We’ll see what we can attack in a powerful way". I'm embarrassed to tell folks what we have attacked at all.


The comments by Mike Gray have nothing new to add to the perception by Big Bear Lake small business’s that the City has failed to take any meaningful action that would have any chance to improve the immediate reality that continues to decimate our local economy. To my knowledge, there is still no plan to even address economic development.


Here are some of the most visible business closings over the past year or so.


The Vintage Restaurant. Big Bear Lake Central
Papa Jack's BBQ. Big Bear Lake Central
Bear Mountain Trading. Moonridge
Lakeside Home Decor. (Downsized to the Village) Moonridge
Friends Salon. Moonridge
Tradewinds Shop. Village
Blondie's Bar and Grille. Village
Pages in Time. Village
Grizzly Mountain Gourmet. Village
Michelle's Deli. Village
Alexandria's Dress shop. Village
Beary Crafty. Village (formerly Anything but Ordinary). Village
Kenai's Korner. Village
Heart of the West. Village
Edelweiss Books. Village
The Pub. Village
Big Bear Souvenir. Village
Equada Outfitters. Village

Economic Development, Low Income Housing and Elections

Business failures too many to mention, chronic commercial vacancies, home and business property foreclosures everywhere you look. Drive around town and that’s what you’ll see, if you’re looking. Yes, there is the slower economy, but it’s a fact our local retail economy has been in serious decline since before the end of the home building boom in 2007. Yes, there has been some new commercial development in the past decade, but no economic growth in retail and with all the private home rentals, the lodging sector is a mess. There is unlimited potential for improvement of our tourism based local economy.

The success of our community is measurable by the quality of life we can offer residents and the vitality of our local businesses, the level of permanent, year-round employment in good pay jobs and the level of income local employment provides. Whether you’re a skilled tradesman, line cook, hospitality worker, day care giver, mechanic, shop keeper or accountant, we are all connected to and reliant on our local economy.

I applaud the City Council for recent action through the City’s Redevelopment Agency implementing our Façade and Sign Improvement Program. The Program grants Redevelopment Agency funds for qualifying Commercial Property Improvements. This is long overdue and is a good example of the things we can do and are at long last, getting done. Spending some of the millions of dollars in our Redevelopment Agency Fund incentivizing property owners to update storefronts is one reason the taxpayers voted to form the agency more than 20 years ago. However, this and the other programs recently put into place to aid small business will not by themselves bring about a more robust local economy. Our redevelopment goals need to be part of a greater economic development plan. We can improve our economic reality in a meaningful way, and maintain our environment and lifestyle standards, for the long term.

Absence of a clear vision for the future and the lack of community economic development goals allow us to be endlessly engaged in every issue that would be addressed in a good plan. Hopefully, a good plan and excellent communication would minimize the endless debates or at least make some development less contentious. The absence of a plan allows us to become engaged to distraction with hot-button issues like low income housing, private home rentals, and other development and quality of life issues instead of focusing on needed improvements and meeting goals that would benefit the entire community.

Economic development will require focus. Results will mean meeting clear goals we set for underpinning a vibrant small business community, creating good pay jobs for those struggling to provide for families, and creating opportunity for our young people that will allow them to contribute and earn a good living in the community they grew up in. This plan needs to reflect our local values and should be crafted by those with concerns and experience in business, finance and the environment. A citizen led plan, not one stamped out by bureaucrats and administrators.

A comprehensive plan for the future is the key to any real success. Our plan needs to be led by economic development goals, dovetailed with our environmental needs, aesthetic and lifestyle values and governed by our available resources and ultimate capacity.

To force low income housing development in advance of a comprehensive plan that includes clear goals for economic development seems to me a mistake and a symptom of our failure to adequately plan. This can be corrected.

Continued piecemeal rezoning and placement of low income housing to meet State housing law in lieu of fitting housing into a well thought out master plan will be detrimental to our future success. Big Bear Lake has very limited and finite land available for critical uses. Low income housing is just one need. No rezoning of commercial land should be considered without equal rezoning to replace the commercial zoned inventory.
Before the City Council election in November I would like to hear clearly, from each candidate, that they have the ability and the will to state and uphold a policy that favors the community by committing to economic development. I believe most all folks will be able to understand the need to plan our future. The City Council can put economic development and comprehensive planning for the future on the fast track, and empower our citizens to take part in their own futures with the establishment of an Economic Development Commission made up of non-elected individuals that don’t serve on other commissions or agencies.

Commercial Real Estate Market Woes are Plenty

In a recent Park City Record article, a commercial banker states that Nationally, commercial real estate values are off more than 40% from their highs (probably a couple of years ago) and relating vacancy and reduced commercial rents as potential exposure for Community Banks holding commercial mortgages which will be coming due between right now and the next couple of years.

Big Bear Lake would seem to me to have quite a bit in common with the Resort Community of Park City, Utah including the slow economy and the effects of a recession on its Retail and Real Estate Markets.

I just saw a large retail space for rent in the local paper for $.30 / sq. ft. This property could definitely qualify as a chronic vacancy (more than one year) as do many of the current available commercial vacancies in the City of Big Bear Lake.

More from the Park City Record below.

http://www.parkrecord.com/ci_14391742

Outlook for 2010 is Serious for Small Business

With City TOT for the 3 qtr 2009 reporting a decrease in lodging of about 7% compared to the same period in 2008, sales tax revenues will likely follow. The recession of 2009 will certainly become the recession of 2010 as Valley Merchants continue to endure the recession's pain with no relief in sight.

Columnist Jan Norman on the outlook for small business in 2010: Small Business Outlook Small businesses across the country are hunkered down and see nothing on the horizon to alter the current trends in retail sales figures and business climate.

Throwing in the towel locally late in November, Alexandra's Emporium on Village Dr and the Super Bear Arcade become the latest casualties of extreme economic condition and the cold reality of our local marketplace. Stubborn vacancies are certainly an issue, in the Village and elsewhere with thousands of square feet of commercial/retail space available.

The winter of 2010 has the makings of being a special kind of harsh for local small business.

New Retail Shops open in the Village

The Village is still losing ground with vacancies through the last quarter of 2009 with the opening of Allato Gellato on Pine Knot at the Alpine Suites and the Grizzly Mountain Gourmet an upscale food, wine and beer with a deli counter in the old Bear Mountain Coffee store next to Hunter Halls on Village Dr. On the negative side of the chart is the closing of The Pub and Big Bear Souvenir and Gift, both on Pine Knot. More bad news is the buzz that one of the larger Women's Clothing store is going to close before the still illusive Christmas Season begins.

I am certainly looking forward to the opening of the Copper Q, a kitchen and food oriented concept with coffee and pastries in the former Creative Cottage space which went dark almost one year ago. I don't think the "Q" will open before the new year. Best of luck to Kent and Linda as the site is starting to take shape!

SoCal Bankruptcies Soar in June

Equifax is reporting Southland bankruptcies rose dramatically in June 2009 compared to 2008. Nearly 3000 commercial bankruptcies were filed in Riverside / San Bernardino Counties this past June. That's more than an 80% increase over 2008. Similar numbers were reported for Orange and Los Angeles Counties.

Jan Norman on June Bankruptcies: http://tinyurl.com/prjmma

SoCal Small Business Feeling the Pain

In Big Bear Lake, you can see it from the street. Lots of empty commercial space gone vacant. We get the question from customers all the time.. what's going on? The economic down turn has certainly added to the woes of many mom and pop's here in the valley. Business Columnist Jan Norman has some staggering facts as to just what is happening. Click the link below for some insight.

Jan Norman on business woes.

US Travel Association and Toursim Workers Rally

Tourism is off in Vegas, Park City and other destinations. Folks that are planning a vacation are planning on staying closer to home.

Oskar Garcia on Tourism. http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/12/nv-tourism-rally-051209/?california

There may be an opportunity Big Bear Lake. Can we take advantage? If so, how will we do it?

Spring Brings Flowers and more Business Closures

Some more negative movement in retail and commercial vacancies in April 2009 include these Big Bear Lake Storefronts: 1. Friendz Salon (had recently relocated to smaller space) Moonridge Rd, 2. Edelweiss Books on Village Dr., 3. Big Bear Souvenir and Gift (had recently relocated to smaller space) Pine Knot Ave., 4. Burger King on Big Bear Blvd., Big Bear Real Estate Village Dr. Office, Cool Cabins Village Dr. Office and the 5. Mineral Shop on Village Dr. has closed and vacated the space. 6. Scrapbooking Stampede (recently moved to Blvd from Moonridge) has closed and vacated the space in Summit Plaza.



On the Recently Rented Front: 1. The Chrome Stop has reopened on Red Ant Hill and Mill Creek, 2. The Kite Factory has reopened on the other side of the Blvd at Alden. 3. Forrest Farms Market and Deli has taken a much smaller space in the Verizon Plaza with Sandy's Sports Bar and Bear Valley Printing. 4. Get the Burger will reopen in the former Sushi Ai at Big Bear Blvd. and Fox Farm.