The county’s recent surge of redevelopment could have small businesses feeling the squeeze.
“What we’re finding now in Orange County is that it’s maturing and since there isn’t any more land for outward suburban growth, people are looking back to the older, inner city areas for redevelopment opportunities,” said Gil Marrero of Voit Commercial Brokerage LP in Irvine.
Cities such as Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa are small business hubs, with a slew of independent restaurants and funky shops, among others.
Downtown Fullerton has stood at the forefront of the county’s punk, grunge and Goth scenes. Retailers such as Ipso Facto,a Goth lifestyle and clothing store,vintage clothing and costume store Stray Cat Vintage & Costume, and Black Hole Records,an underground music store,made their debuts in the mid to late 1980s.
The area’s also been home to a vibrant music scene with bands such as Social Distortion, The Adolescents, Agent Orange and No Doubt performing at various venues.
Then there’s Huntington Beach. The city’s Main Street is more than just surf and skateboard shops. It’s a hub of vintage and alternative stores.
Retailers like The Electric Chair, formerly Sunline Surfboards Inc., and American Vintage Clothing have graced Surf City’s downtown strip for years, selling items such as spiked collars, band T-shirts and retro clothes.
Other cities like Santa Ana and Costa Mesa,a newcomer to the scene,also are making names for themselves.
The Artist Village in downtown Santa Ana is home to OC’s independent, hipster art scene with art galleries such as the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art and California State University, Fullerton’s Grand Central Art Center.
Meanwhile, independent boutiques scattered along East 17th Street in Costa Mesa sell high-end designer products while businesses west of Newport Boulevard have a funkier vibe.
Kraus Management Services’ “hut like” business park hosts everything from an urban furniture retailer, a seller of imported home decorations to local modern artwork and silversmith services.
The city’s The Lab, dubbed “the anti-mall,” has taken a more mainstream approach to its funky shops since it began in the early 1990s. Homegrown businesses such as the Gypsy Den mingle with big retailer Urban Outfitters in an outdoor, open air shopping center.
Redevelopment in these areas is geared toward OC’s young,those looking for an urban lifestyle within suburbia, Marrero said.
High-rise condominium and loft developments and big name restaurants and stores in these areas often make the districts safer and pedestrian friendly, he said.
“It’s about the lifestyle experience,” Marrero said. “It’s about being more urban, more edgy and more pedestrian friendly. These urban infill areas with alternative, independent retailers seem to really strike a chord with a lot of young people. I think Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Fullerton are really leading the way in this segment of Orange County.”
But redevelopment could cause OC’s hip, urban areas to fade.
On the one side, redevelopment may give small businesses safer and cleaner streets as well as more foot traffic. On the other, it could also lead to higher rents,something most small-business owners can’t afford.
Higher Rents?
Space in Santa Ana’s Artist Village and downtown Fullerton could start at $2 per square foot, depending on the size and the age of the building, Marrero said. In Costa Mesa, rent could run $3 or $4 per square foot, he said.
“Any time you have a successful area that sort of reinvents itself, rents naturally grow as foot traffic and awareness of the area grows,” Marrero said. “Hopefully, because of the increased foot traffic and awareness, higher rents are justifiable on the part of retailers.”
Terri Kennedy, owner of Ipso Facto in Fullerton, said she doesn’t mind mainstream businesses and housing developments moving into alternative retail hubs like downtown Fullerton.
Redevelopment cleans up the area, she said. But she does dread the possibility of higher rents.
“With redevelopment there’s pluses and minuses,” Kennedy said. “You have more people living in the area walking around (who can be) potential customers. Then you have a Starbucks move in and the landlords start seeing dollar signs.”
Kennedy chose to open her 800-square-foot shop in downtown Fullerton because she admired the old-fashioned feel.
She also liked how downtown Fullerton was one of the first OC districts to celebrate counter culture businesses, Kennedy said.
The area was a perfect fit for her Goth shop, she said.
Fill Niche
Kennedy said she believes downtown Fullerton will keep its edgy element even though the area’s changing and becoming a bit more mainstream.
Stores like hers fill a niche, she said.
Some, like Capri Shoes owner Oscar Navarro, favor the changes.
Navarro, who runs his custom shoemaker store in downtown Fullerton, said cleaning up Fullerton brings in more revenue for the city.
Redevelopment doesn’t affect the originality of his business, according to Mohammed Memon, co-owner of The Electric Chair in Huntington Beach.
The store sells everything from Goth to 1940s rockabilly clothes.
“Mainstream companies and redevelopment don’t really affect us,” he said. “We’re not tied down to rules since we’re not in a mall.”
Memon runs The Electric Chair out of an 8,000-square-foot building on Main Street. A good chunk of his store’s customers don’t identify with alternative subcultures such as the punk rock, Goth or rockabilly scenes, he said.
The store has tailored its merchandise to accommodate all customers, according to Memon.
“We still carry the freaky merchandise but we also have a lot of normal stuff,” he said.
Kennedy said she looks forward to seeing how continued redevelopment around the county will affect small, alternative businesses in the long run.
Some businesses may struggle with the higher costs associated with redevelopment and close down, Kennedy said. But she doesn’t expect OC’s funky, alternative shopping scene to come to an end.
