Pacific View Hasn’t Mauled the County’s Other Malls

When Sears and Robinsons-May left Oxnard’s Esplanade mall and moved to Ventura’s newly redeveloped Pacific View Mall, shopping patterns in Ventura County were bound to change.

And they did. Stores left The Esplanade in droves, and the mall got a date with the wrecking ball.

While Pacific View has been deemed a success by its owners and local shoppers, its impact hasn’t reached across the county. Instead, retailers throughout Ventura County say they see the retail sector growing.

David Kleitsch, the city of Ventura’s economic development and revitalization manager, said the city won’t have any hard data for six months.

What the city does know, however, is that there hasn’t been “a corresponding decline in the community,” Kleitsch said. “Downtown is doing well; the other shopping districts haven’t seen any type of anecdotal evidence of increasing vacancies or reduction in street or shopping traffic.”

Before the upgrade and the name change, the 800,000-square-foot Buenaventura Mall was anchored by JCPenney and Macy’s and occupied by 80 stores. After spending $90 million on its redevelopment project, Pacific View has 1.1 million square feet and 120 stores.

Although only a handful of those relocated from The Esplanade, the loss of the anchor stores was enough. The eventual closing of the Oxnard mall cost the city $700,000 a year in lost retail sales tax revenue.

“A lot of that has been made up because the city has been making an effort to attract additional retail stores,” said Dick Magio, community development director of Oxnard. The city also developed a business retention program designed to assist former tenants at The Esplanade.

Oxnard Finance Director Stan Kleinman said sales tax revenue has increased over last year. The city received $13.23 million in sales taxes for the fiscal year ended June 30, compared with $11.54 million the previous year.

“Everybody did very well last year,” Kleinman said, particularly automobile dealers and big-box stores such as Home Depot and Best Buy.

He said auto sales generated 16% of the sales tax revenue during fiscal 1999-2000, and 13% during the prior year.

While The Esplanade is being demolished, plans are in the works to build a 450,000-square-foot-complex with a Home Depot and other stores on the property.

David Contis, chief operating officer of Macerich Co., which owns and manages the Pacific View Mall and 53 other malls in the United States, agreed that it was too early to say where the customers are coming from. But he speculated: “We’re reaching into the Thousand Oaks and Santa Barbara areas.”

Bill Watkins, executive director of UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project, a research division of the university that collects data for the three counties, said, “I have a hard time believing the customers are coming from Thousand Oaks. The [Conejo] Grade is such a barrier. Surely they’re getting some from Santa Barbara, but more shops have opened in Goleta. I think they’re coming from surrounding areas.”

For Pacific View, Contis estimated that annual customer visits will rise from approximately 1.5 million last year to 2 million to 3 million this year. And retail sales should increase from $100 million annually before the redevelopment to more than $200 million by the mall’s first anniversary.

But Watkins said increased revenue may not solely reflect an increase in the number of customers.

“Shoppers are spending more money and incomes are up,” he said.

In Thousand Oaks, The Oaks mall has three of the same major department stores as Pacific View--Macy’s, JCPenney and Robinsons-May.

“However, every day we get shoppers from Ventura County who want to shop at stores that aren’t available at other shopping destinations,” said Diane Brandes, assistant general manager and marketing director of The Oaks mall.

She said that in November, when Pacific View reopened, sales at The Oaks were up 16% from the prior November, and December sales were up 9%.

“That is a substantial increase,” she said. “When we have a 5% or 6% increase we are really happy.”

In May, sales were up 2% from the prior year, Brandes said.

“From a convenience point, it makes sense for shoppers to visit department stores that are closer to where they live,” she said. “All of these shopping destinations create synergy together. We all have something unique to offer our customers.”

At the nearby Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks, the anchor stores include Sears, Mervyn’s and Marshall’s. Dianna Todd, assistant property manager of the shopping center, said they haven’t noticed any change in the number of customers because those who visit Pacific View are not in their primary market area.

In Ventura, some residents complain about increased traffic generated by the additional stores at the Pacific View Mall. And others suggest that Pacific View lured the anchor stores into deeper shopping pockets.

“We didn’t steal the anchors,” Contis said. “The way the anchors were situated was no longer efficient. The Macy’s and Sears customers wanted the convenience and flexibility to shop at all four department stores. They didn’t want to drive three miles. The anchors knew and recognized that they all needed to be together.”

And the Pacific View spokesman said that other than potential increased retail sales, there were no lucrative incentives for the new tenants.

“We didn’t have to offer any inducements for the tenants; they want to be here,” Contis said. “Ventura, Oxnard and Santa Barbara is one of the best retail markets in the country. There is a high demand for retail, and it was being underserved--there was a pent-up demand.”

Zina Eubank, a Camarillo resident who works in Oxnard as a radio station sales manager, said of his shopping habits: “I don’t have any particular loyalty. It all depends on what’s convenient for me when I have the need.”

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