retailfanmitchell019 wrote: ↑November 5th, 2023, 6:18 pm
ClownLoach wrote: ↑November 5th, 2023, 3:44 pm
Anyway a tale of two cities in La Jolla. I wouldn't be surprised if they were forced to divest a store if they didn't let the big Ralphs box go because it's clearly on a horrible downward trajectory and looks like it's going to get shoplifted out of business thanks to the new multi billion dollar train line that has also ruined the parking situation despite adding a 4 story deck. Looks like a very dark day there at Ralphs while you see a bright future at the Pavilions.
That’s the MTS Blue Line- opened in 2021.
I suspect most of the folks shoplifting are homeless imported by train from Downtown. Many of the homeless in San Diego are bussed in from other states. What Todd Gloria needs to do with the homeless people causing trouble is: put them on buses and have a state like Texas deal with them. I mean, states like Texas and Florida rely on us to babysit the homeless, now it’s their turn. And I’m no conservative.
I’m hoping San Diego elects a tough on crime mayor similar to Eric Adams.
Ralphs is arguably the highest volume tenant in that center which as we know has astronomically high rents. But even with all that volume if they experience a large enough spike in theft the financials are not going to be good. If they're smart, which doesn't seem to be the case right now, they would be all over their center management demanding the same level of security that is in place one train station away at UTC which is clearly "off limits" to anyone homeless (and also anyone lacking a triple Platinum Diamond Ruby Sapphire Amex card). And I would imagine that the Pavilions conversion might have something to do with what's happening there because that banner landed with a swift thud when it first landed in San Diego in the Sorrento Valley area, that should have been enough to cause them to pause going deeper into a market where nobody has heard of the name. The very rich people in $15 Million dollar mansions around that Pavilions are not going to tolerate shopping alongside the homeless that have taken over the Ralphs Fresh Fare. A similar situation happened in Long Beach, the 7th St. Ralphs was the first there to be upgraded to Fresh Fare and it received a full gut to the brick walls remodel, no expense spared. It serviced the three richest areas in Long Beach, Park Estates, Naples and Belmont Shore. (They actually left the store closer to the shore as a regular Ralphs at the time because it never caught on and Whole Foods was cleaning their clock). The ownership of the center changed and they pulled back on security and the homeless took over the center. It was also a super convenient location as all of the major Orange County, LA and Long Beach bus lines converged there as a transfer point bringing in traveling homeless. The store was under siege immediately and shoplifting went through the roof; I had a high school buddy working there who said it was losing money as a store for the first time in it's existence of over 40 years. The same issue I described occurred with the affluent customers who held the store up abandoning it. The same kinds of changes started, reduction of higher end liquor, meats, etc. And the store was closed within 5 years despite being in the best location in Long Beach from a road traffic perspective (a meeting of the Boulevard at the end of CA-22, PCH, and Bellflower Blvd). It's now a small format Target and being shoplifted out of business too. Ironically if the same thing happened there I'm sure Target would gladly take over the Ralphs slot as they could get a decent medium size box in there...
Ralphs is going to have to get aggressive with the property management in La Jolla and fix this fast, because college students buying endless cases of Coors Light aren't going to keep that store in business. When I went with my VP to look at a small site there we learned that to break even it would have had to be the highest volume store in our entire multinational chain, even more than NYC stores which obviously wasn't going to happen. I actually wonder if the store is already losing money so they aren't investing in maintenance, yet ironically they also fear being outbid for their spot at the next lease renewal which has to be very close based on the opening and closing of the Smiths chain. The removal of the high end liquor, which definitely was selling as the store used to be a designated recipient of allocated product, means they have been forced to surrender a lot of sales volume and profits to stop the bleeding from the shoplifters. They are no longer the fanciest store in town with the new Gelsons and now what seems to be a slightly evolved rendition of the Pavilions brand (where it seems the store is being given more autonomy to select product and bring in local vendors as I saw in bakery, produce, and meats). They should have been skyrocketing in sales too with the forced closure of the high volume Bristol Farms up the street (for a mixed use center under high rise ultra luxury condos, the project has seemingly been aborted after booting out dozens of stores and very busy restaurants leaving a multi-block boarded up eyesore in the heart of University City). If they don't take aggressive action they're going to kill the golden goose here. If I was a shareholder I would be raising holy Hell over the incredible neglect of what must have been one of the highest grossing stores in the Kroger chain.
Worst thing is that even though San Diego has gone straight to Hell under Todd Gloria's short tenure as Mayor, I saw a news story that apparently he doesn't appear to have any real competition for reelection. Apparently the situation is so incredibly bad, and happened so quickly, that nobody wants to do the heavy lifting that it would take to clean up his mess. If you think Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco went downhill fast, the crash of San Diego has been even faster with the same entire vast areas of nice parks and open spaces turned into tent cities and homeless encampments. There are some areas near downtown only a few blocks from Petco Park where you cannot walk on the sidewalks as they are all tents and the streets are filled with garbage; I saw one video of this area with a disturbed individual walking up and down swinging a machete at people and objects. The homeowner in his once luxury condo across the street was being threatened by the person over calling the police who did absolutely nothing; personally I thought the social media video contained multiple accounts of attempted murder as he swung the machete at other people who had to duck, fall and or run as he likely did not have enough control to refrain from killing them. It's already so bad nobody sane will come in to try to fix it.