Business
Businesses brace for survival
Smaller merchants prepare for a new era as opening of the Americana at Brand approaches.
By Ryan Vaillancourt
DOWNTOWN — As city officials and eager shoppers get ready to roll out the red carpet for the May 2 opening of the Americana at Brand, downtown merchants in the “mid-Brand Boulevard” district are making their own preparations to avoid getting lost in the fray as the city’s commercial center repositions itself on Caruso Way.
Champions of the $435-million residential, retail and entertainment titan have trumpeted the project’s presumed magnet effect that will draw scores of shoppers to Glendale, maybe for the first time. But as those new consumers make their way south off the Ventura (134) Freeway onto Brand Boulevard, some merchants wonder whether those cars will take interest in the hundreds of shops that have lined the boulevard for years, or just head straight for the Americana.
“I think people that are going to the Americana, they aren’t going to look to the right or left at us,” said Jerome Joseph, owner of the Brand Bookshop in the 200 block of North Brand Boulevard. “The only thing I know is it will create more traffic on Brand which is bad enough now . . . .If it’s hard to get down here it might deter some people.”
Leaders of the Downtown Glendale Merchants Assn., which represents about 25 of the approximately 250 downtown businesses between Colorado Street and the Ventura (134) Freeway, have been preparing for the Americana era for at least the past year, association president Harry Hall said.
The collective launched a new website last year in hopes of creating a one-stop online resource for all things downtown Glendale, said Elissa Glickman, marketing director for the Alex Theatre, who also heads marketing for the merchants association.
And instead of spending large chunks of its budget on direct advertising, the association has channeled most of its resources and time into organizing downtown community events like the Downtown Dash 5K charity race, which brought at least 600 people to the mid-Brand area when it debuted in March, Hall said. The group hopes to continue that approach in the coming years by organizing new events and relocating long-standing Glendale events like Unity Fest to downtown, he said.
“We think that’s the best way to market downtown, other than providing quality goods and services, to get people in the habit of being on the boulevard,” Hall said.
But Patrick Campbell, treasurer of the Downtown Glendale Merchants Assn. and co-owner of Damon’s Steak House in the 300 block of North Brand Boulevard, knows he’s facing some new competition this month.
Among the 75 retail and dining tenants slated for the 15.5-acre Americana campus, there will be at least seven sit-downrestaurants.
Campbell expects that initial excitement for the Americana will lure some of his regulars to the project’s numerous eateries. But in due time, those regulars will come back, hopefully along with some new diners who see Damon’s on their way in or out of town, he said.
“There’s no guarantee that they’re going to stop, but I like my chances better than if no one extra is looking at my place,” he said. “We are nervous as merchants for the short term, but we’re excited about the long term.”
That outlook falls in line with city officials who have characterized the Americana as the first, most significant, piece of realizing the Downtown Specific Plan — the set of planning guidelines approved in 2006 that strives to create a more pedestrian-friendly urban core.
While all eyes have been trained on developer Rick Caruso’s creation since it was narrowly approved by voters in a 2004 referendum, a host of other mixed-use downtown developments have since been proposed, approved or started construction and all of them should feed off each other, said Phillip Lanzafame, director of the city’s Development Services Department.
“We worked through the Downtown Specific Plan to make sure that all the districts complemented and supported each other — at least that’s the idea of the plan and the vision,” Lanzafame said. “Everything that we’re doing is to support one another so we think things like the Embassy Suites on the north side and the Hilton Glendale, and now the Americana and the Galleria, they’ll all work to support one another and should feed mid-Brand.”
The city-owned Alex Theatre, for one, is banking on that assessment, Executive Director Barry McComb said.
“With these upscale condo projects, not only at the Americana but elsewhere, there’s going to be an upscale residential community who wants cultural events at their front door,” McComb said. “We’ve been using the advent of the Americana as a marketing tool in trying to attract new promoters to the Alex Theatre.”
But even the Alex Theatre will have direct competition from the Americana’s entertainment wing: In addition to the project’s 18-screen Pacific Theaters, the development also plans to host free public entertainment events at its so-called “Green.”
“The Americana is going to be competitive with us at a certain level because of the free entertainment that they’re going to be doing in their central plaza and some of that will be very well-known performers,” McComb said. “But the fact that it will make people used to coming to Glendale to see that will present an opportunity to us if we can kind of up the bar at the Alex Theatre as well.”
But even those merchants who expect to benefit from the Americana are unsure about what’s in store for them during the Americana’s imminent honeymoon period.
“I think there’s some minor trepidation about how it will play out and get through the awkward stages and learning what the unforeseen issues might be,” Mayor John Drayman said. “. . . . A lot of this is uncharted, so as a city we’re all going to learn together how this is going to work.”
Champions of the $435-million residential, retail and entertainment titan have trumpeted the project’s presumed magnet effect that will draw scores of shoppers to Glendale, maybe for the first time. But as those new consumers make their way south off the Ventura (134) Freeway onto Brand Boulevard, some merchants wonder whether those cars will take interest in the hundreds of shops that have lined the boulevard for years, or just head straight for the Americana.
“I think people that are going to the Americana, they aren’t going to look to the right or left at us,” said Jerome Joseph, owner of the Brand Bookshop in the 200 block of North Brand Boulevard. “The only thing I know is it will create more traffic on Brand which is bad enough now . . . .If it’s hard to get down here it might deter some people.”
Leaders of the Downtown Glendale Merchants Assn., which represents about 25 of the approximately 250 downtown businesses between Colorado Street and the Ventura (134) Freeway, have been preparing for the Americana era for at least the past year, association president Harry Hall said.
The collective launched a new website last year in hopes of creating a one-stop online resource for all things downtown Glendale, said Elissa Glickman, marketing director for the Alex Theatre, who also heads marketing for the merchants association.
And instead of spending large chunks of its budget on direct advertising, the association has channeled most of its resources and time into organizing downtown community events like the Downtown Dash 5K charity race, which brought at least 600 people to the mid-Brand area when it debuted in March, Hall said. The group hopes to continue that approach in the coming years by organizing new events and relocating long-standing Glendale events like Unity Fest to downtown, he said.
“We think that’s the best way to market downtown, other than providing quality goods and services, to get people in the habit of being on the boulevard,” Hall said.
But Patrick Campbell, treasurer of the Downtown Glendale Merchants Assn. and co-owner of Damon’s Steak House in the 300 block of North Brand Boulevard, knows he’s facing some new competition this month.
Among the 75 retail and dining tenants slated for the 15.5-acre Americana campus, there will be at least seven sit-downrestaurants.
Campbell expects that initial excitement for the Americana will lure some of his regulars to the project’s numerous eateries. But in due time, those regulars will come back, hopefully along with some new diners who see Damon’s on their way in or out of town, he said.
“There’s no guarantee that they’re going to stop, but I like my chances better than if no one extra is looking at my place,” he said. “We are nervous as merchants for the short term, but we’re excited about the long term.”
That outlook falls in line with city officials who have characterized the Americana as the first, most significant, piece of realizing the Downtown Specific Plan — the set of planning guidelines approved in 2006 that strives to create a more pedestrian-friendly urban core.
While all eyes have been trained on developer Rick Caruso’s creation since it was narrowly approved by voters in a 2004 referendum, a host of other mixed-use downtown developments have since been proposed, approved or started construction and all of them should feed off each other, said Phillip Lanzafame, director of the city’s Development Services Department.
“We worked through the Downtown Specific Plan to make sure that all the districts complemented and supported each other — at least that’s the idea of the plan and the vision,” Lanzafame said. “Everything that we’re doing is to support one another so we think things like the Embassy Suites on the north side and the Hilton Glendale, and now the Americana and the Galleria, they’ll all work to support one another and should feed mid-Brand.”
The city-owned Alex Theatre, for one, is banking on that assessment, Executive Director Barry McComb said.
“With these upscale condo projects, not only at the Americana but elsewhere, there’s going to be an upscale residential community who wants cultural events at their front door,” McComb said. “We’ve been using the advent of the Americana as a marketing tool in trying to attract new promoters to the Alex Theatre.”
But even the Alex Theatre will have direct competition from the Americana’s entertainment wing: In addition to the project’s 18-screen Pacific Theaters, the development also plans to host free public entertainment events at its so-called “Green.”
“The Americana is going to be competitive with us at a certain level because of the free entertainment that they’re going to be doing in their central plaza and some of that will be very well-known performers,” McComb said. “But the fact that it will make people used to coming to Glendale to see that will present an opportunity to us if we can kind of up the bar at the Alex Theatre as well.”
But even those merchants who expect to benefit from the Americana are unsure about what’s in store for them during the Americana’s imminent honeymoon period.
“I think there’s some minor trepidation about how it will play out and get through the awkward stages and learning what the unforeseen issues might be,” Mayor John Drayman said. “. . . . A lot of this is uncharted, so as a city we’re all going to learn together how this is going to work.”
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