Walmart

One of Two Rumored New Simi Valley Walmart Locations Finally Disclosed

April 10, 2012 By Ted Mackel Leave a Comment

simi valley mervyns and walmart In a surprising disclosure, Simi Valley Councilman Glen Becerra announced that Walmart is indeed the Tenant that will occupy the vacant Mervyn’s building at the corner of Sycamore and Cochran. In February I wrote about the two new locations; both the Mervyn’s and the vacant Von’s on Tapo Street. (see: 3 Walmarts in Simi Valley?)

The announcement at the very tail end of Monday’s Simi Valley City Council Meeting by Councilman Glen Becerra, leaves more questions and concerns, than it helps clear the air. In my February article I was very clear, that I was not against Walmart occupying this location. The old Mervyn’s building is properly zoned for this use. Public outcry could not stop Walmart, as Walmart does not need approvals to occupy this building. Some of my concerns are the following:

Why all the secrecy? Assistant city manager Gabler claims he was sworn to secrecy in interview with the Ventura County Star. Who swore him to secrecy and why was that necessary?

Why are the exterior changes to Mervyns not being sent to the planning commission? A great example is that cell phone antenna locations that are put on top of existing office buildings are required to go through lengthy approval process with the city and must go in front of the planning commission. Yes I know that the CUP triggers a planing commission review, but the wailing and moaning that goes on over the changes to the roof line of the buildings seems to be the bigger deal out of those projects. The modifications to the tops of these office buildings are infinitesimal compared to the exterior changes we will see on the Mervyn’s building. It would have been nice for the public to have had some input on the updating of that shopping center as Sycamore and Cochran hosts “The Simi Valley Business District”. The Sales Tax Revenue and the Jobs at Sycamore and Cochran that the City has benefited from demands the city include the public in these kinds of projects. Even if the developer for the Mervyn’s building refused to name the new tenant (Walmart), the exterior modifications to the building and the shopping center that will be coming as a result of the new tenant, deserved public discussion and input.

How convenient that the disclosure was made after the appeal period expired to bring this issue in front of the planning commission. Kudos goes to Simi Valley Planning Commissioner Bibb for being the lone voice on this issue. From the outside this looks very calculated between the City Council and City Staff. The fact that the other four Simi Valley planning commissioners remained silent and did not help with the appeal may indicate that the city does not understand the importance of keeping the public informed and opening the discussion for public comment. The Simi Valley City Council has a great track record of playing Father Knows Best and the voters got tired of it and voted in two new council members to shake up the council. Lets hope they look back on the poor handling of this Mervyn’s building and get it through their heads that open public discussion will be rewarded.

I don’t agree with Simi Valley Councilman Becerra’s postion that having staff explain how the process is working would be a sufficient explanation why the public was left out of the discussion on the changes to the Mervyn’s building and shopping center. Again going back to my example, last week Verzion was in front of the planning commission because they are going to change out their antenna on a building and raise roof screening 1 foot – in comparison, it makes no sense why the planning staff would handle this Walmart internally and exclude the planning commission, thus shutting down any public input.

Councilman Becerra lamented that Planning Commissioner Bibb could not get support from another Planning commissioner for an appeal, yet Councilman Becerra neglects to explain if he was so concerned, why didn’t he appeal it from the Council and get the project in front of the Planning Commission.

One would think that after watching the train wreck of how the last City Council under Mayor Miller tried to keep the landfill expansion out of the public discussion, that it’s a no brainer that a major retail location in the center of Simi Valley should be up for public input and comment on the exterior changes to the building and shopping Center.

One of the more amusing comments by Councilman Becerra was that he did not think Simi Valley was a two Walmart Town. Is that because Simi Valley is going to be a 3 Walmart town? Councilman Becerra has his share of the blame for Simi Valley becoming a Two Target and Three Walmart Town; past decisions of prior councils set the ball in motion for this to happen, the question remains if Simi Valley can learn from it’s mistakes on the dais. History always provides a lesson as we had a City Council member back in the 1980s that stated we needed “Low Traffic Generators” for businesses in Simi Valley. I am not sure if that disastrous philosophical view has ever left our city. We have built our retail hopes on attracting shoppers from outside Simi Valley and have rejected the needed internal growth that would have sustained our retailers and attracted new employers. Low traffic generators don’t bring quality jobs and only provide anemic sales tax revenues. So far Simi Valley batting 1000 in both those categories.

Filed Under: Simi Valley News Tagged With: City Council, councilman becerra, Mervyn's, planning commisioner, Planning Commisioner Bibb, planning department, Simi Valley, staff, Walmart

3 Walmarts in Simi Valley?

February 28, 2012 By Ted Mackel 1 Comment

Could the future hold 3 Walmart stores in Simi Valley? Before I dive into the two new rumored Walmart locations for Simi Valley, I want to be perfectly clear about my position on Walmart. Consumer retail habits change; for example, Soda Fountains don’t exist in Drug Stores anymore not because consumers are unpatriotic jerks, but rather because consumer habits changed over time. Several business models have come an gone in my short adult life time, including video rental stores and record stores. Walmart and Target did not influence the extinction of that business model, rather those businesses succumbed to changing technology and changing consumer habits.

The internet over the last 5-10 years have given consumers a wealth of information and made products available to people all over the country that prior to internet access, would have to rely on going to a city or town that had the goods they sought in a brick and mortar shop. This world of virtual online price comparison has made consumers more demanding and price sensitive, which has created pressure on the “Mom & Pop” retailers to either adapt to the change in consumer habits or go out of business. Is this the fault of the Walmarts, Targets and Costcos? No, it’s a shift in how consumers see retailers, much like they did when the soda fountain at the drug store became obsolete.

So what does this all have to do with 3 Walmart stores in Simi Valley? Currently there is a tenant that is working on locating in the vacant Mervyn’s Shopping center, additionally there is another rumor around the city that the long vacant Von’s on Tapo Street will host the same tenant.

Recently Walmart has been working on a smaller store concept and going back into markets with already established Walmart Stores and adding the smaller Walmart Express model. Approximately one tenth the size of a typical Walmart store, it looks to mostly likely focus more on the grocery business. This would make sense in that the Simi Valley Walmart Store was restricted in use, in that the City of Simi Valley would not allow a full blown grocery component in the original approvals. Walmart has faced many battles with the Super Store model that includes a full scale grocery operation. Most notably was in Inglewood California where a Walmart Super Store was rejected in a city wide ballot initiative. It is believed that unions mobilized the vote to fight the store and that if Walmart would have pursued their original plan without the grocery component, Walmart would have built in Inglewood without the need to go to the ballot.

A Walmart Express location can find smaller vacant buildings that are already approved for retail use under current zoning and submit plans without having to gain approvals for operations as they would if they sought to develop vacant land. Locations in Simi Valley like the long vacant Mervyn’s and Von’s make perfect locations that would attract Walmart’s attention for Walmart Express expansion.

If these locations or even just the Mervyn’s location turn out to be Walmart Express, it would probably happen in Simi Valley under most economic conditions, as Simi Valley demographics are ripe for Walmart operations. What is unfortunate, is that the poor decisions by city councils under Mayor Davis, and Mayor Miller created these prolonged vacancies and these vacant retail locations have not been able to attract any other competing major retailers.

Demographics is the name of the game. I briefly wrote about this back in January 2009 in an article on this blog “Eating It’s Young…City of Simi Valley Is Not Helping Local Businesses“. Assistant City Manager Brian Gabler, in his talk to the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce at the end of 2011, was very informative as to how Simi Valley’s troubling demographics, the fact that the city being built out leaves little option for significant growth and the importance of roof tops impacts the decision of retailers to locate in Simi Valley.

Last June (2011) Mayor Holden of Oxnard was one of the three deciding votes that approved Oxnard’s massive housing development (South Shore); in the article from the Ventura County Star, Mayor Holden was cited in saying “And the only way to attract the types of stores south Oxnard residents have long desired, such as a major retailer, is with the addition of more rooftops” (Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jun/15/massive-housing-development-approved-for-south/#ixzz1nkZBUSog – vcstar.com)

The fantasy-land created by our public officials that if we build it they (consumers) will come and that rooftops are not needed to support local retail, has painfully shown up as a big fat FAIL on the part of our city leaders. A vast variety of major retailers aren’t looking to fill our vacant buildings and the exodus is continuing. Maybe our city council and especially those that served under Mayor Davis and Miller that are still on the council ought to sit down with the Mayor of Oxnard and get an education; because they now hold the distinction of making Simi Valley a 2 Target and what looks like in our future, a 3 Walmart City.

Filed Under: Simi Valley News Tagged With: costco, simi valley walmart express, Target, Walmart

5 things you need to know before moving to Simi Valley

January 19, 2009 By Ted Mackel Leave a Comment

5 things you need to know before moving to Simi Valley

It gets windy here! Tradition has it that “Simi” is the Chumash Indian word for wind. Some areas of Simi Valley can be like a wind tunnel during the fall and winter. I know, I live in one of those tracts. The positive side of our winds is that during the hotter months of the summer it is more a breeze and night time cools off with the breeze.
Simi Valley is not a destination. Simi Valley has never been a destination and this will always affect what kinds of businesses and services locate in Simi Valley, which will ultimately limit those services and business. The positive side is that since we are not along the traveling route to destination places, we get overlooked and are not in the “bulls-eye”. This is a big part of why Simi Valley continually is rated one of the safer cities to live.
Simi Valley and Ventura County have controlled growth. Our city and county will keep urban sprawl well checked. The hill sides are protected from willy nilly development. The negative impact from controlled growth is that the lower population numbers will contribute to the limited types of businesses and services that can survive in highly regulated cities. It is very difficult to have our cake and eat it too. Fortunately Simi Valley is located close enough to attractions in Los Angeles county and north west in Ventura County, so Simi Valley can maintain that small city feel so desired by it’s residents.
Simi Valley is home to the Ronald Reagan Library. This is a terrific attraction for the area and definitely a plus for Simi Valley. The negative is if you are not a Ronald Regaan supporter, then you will have to drive the Ronald Reagan Freeway regularly.
Simi Valley is a family town and real bedroom community. If you are an urban dweller, this town shuts down about the same time Walmart and Target close…10pm. Night life here is limited. However our family town environment is full of very active people who like the outdoors and a very active lifestyle as evidenced by Simi Valley neighborhoods dotted with RVs, boats, jet skis, ATV’s etc.

If you know of other things that people relocating to Simi Valley should know, then please post the good, the bad and the ugly. Show us your love for Simi Valley!