Given his druthers, Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association Executive Director Blair Cohn would have local residents conducting most, if not all, of their gift-buying, dining, imbibing and services-seeking within the abundant, and ever increasing number, of shops, salons, food establishments and other businesses of the district he represents. He and his team are planning various ongoing programs and events to entice locals to spend their dollars in their own neighborhood, to support that micro-economy and keep its retail thriving.
As a chill is evident in the air, so is change.
Among the newest additions to the area is Twig & Willow, a clothing and accessories boutique located at 4130 Atlantic Ave. The owners already had a shop in Belmont Heights, and they opened the Bixby Knolls store during the First Fridays Art Walk on Nov. 6.
“They’ve added a great piece of retail here,” Cohn said, adding that the owners have expanded their offerings with the new location.
The area’s growing list of places to eat will soon be that much longer when a Mexican eatery opens its doors in late January in the space Le Yen Chinese restaurant had occupied for 45 years, up until it closed its doors in late July. Like Twig & Willow, Lola’s Mexican Cuisine will be opening a second location in Bixby Knolls. Its first restaurant is located at 2030 E 4th St.
Cohn said Lola’s owner, Luis Navarro Jr., has had all his permits approved and the restaurant will open on Jan. 25.
Focusing his attention on the northern portion of the business district, Cohn said the newly named shopping center The Knolls, which is in the 4200 block of Long Beach Boulevard, has been undergoing renovations and will soon house Trader Joe’s, Crunch Fitness, Pet Food Express, Jersey Mike’s sub restaurant and another eatery, whose name Cohn could not yet disclose at press time.
He indicated there is still a space for a sixth retail establishment in the center. Red Mountain Retail Group, an Orange County-based real-estate asset-management and development firm, closed escrow on that property earlier this year and is looking for one more tenant to fill that space.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-13-at-10.12.54-AM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Twig & Willow, a clothing and accessories boutique opened for business at 4130 Atlantic Ave. during the First Fridays Art Walk on Nov. 6.
” captionposition=”right”] A few blocks east of that location, in the Bixby Knolls Shopping Center, Smart & Final will be opening a store in the former OSH location. Massage Envy has also set up shop and opened for business in the center, which, additionally, will soon house a new post office.
The eastern portion of the Bixby Knolls Shopping Center, which is called California Plaza, has also been undergoing a makeover.
“North of them, of course, is where the post office was,” Cohn said. “After the 1st of the year, that build-out will happen. So, CVS is still there; they’ve shrunk their operation. And they have another tenant signed, which, we’re waiting for that green light to announce what it is, but that center will also be redone and filled as retail.”
Cohn said that shopping complex is owned by the Yavitz Companies, Inc.
“They’re the same people who will be pulling the trigger to build the Chick-Fil-A on the south side of 33rd [Street],” Cohn said. “So that’s going on down there.”
Referring further to that southern section of the business district, the executive director acknowledged the closing of Fresh & Easy. According to the store’s employees, that location will close its doors for good on Friday, Nov. 13.
“I’ve got to work with the 7th District [Council] office to find out if that property owner has any ideas or anybody already looking at the space or if they’re just trying to settle up and close.”
A few blocks over to the northwest, Steelcraft Containers is building a park that features six eateries on the corner of Bixby Road and Long Beach Boulevard. Those restaurants will be built into shipping containers, and there will be seating and tables on the property.
“Steelcraft is already past all of its approvals,” Cohn said. “They just posted the public notice for their liquor license for Smog City Brewing as one of the tenants.”
That business is expected to open in February. Other dining places expected there include a ramen eatery, a coffee shop and Working Class Kitchen, “a whole-animal butcher, deli, and sandwich shop,” according to that company’s website.
[aesop_image img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-13-at-10.13.01-AM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”A worker sweeps gravel outside the former post office at 4580 Atlantic Ave. That USPS location closed in February, and a new post office is expected to open nearby in the Bixby Knolls Shopping Center at 4462-4470 Atlantic Ave. in the next few months.
” captionposition=”right”] As for the existing Trader Joe’s location, that property’s impending fate is still uncertain.
“The property owner of the current Trader Joe’s space has signed a lease with a use that is not zoned here,” Cohn said. “So, they have to kind of back out of that and find a better use for their space.”
In describing the BKBIA’s involvement in acquiring new retail, Cohn acknowledged the chessboard-like dynamics of the business district and how his team stays engaged in the process.
“We just follow up with everybody and see how it’s moving around, and we try to reach out to the brokers to get a feel of ‘what have they got in the queue, who are they talking to?'” he said. “Or if we hear of a space we think that works and they have somebody looking, we try to connect them as fast as possible.”
He said, by February, much of these developments will have come to fruition, and he described it as being “a coup.”
Among the special events the BKBIA hosts to support the area’s businesses is the “cash mob,” whereby a group of people show up at a particular business to patronize it during an hour or so of shopping. The first one was at Pixie Toys in September of 2012.
The meet-up was inspired by the flash mob— a group of people who abruptly congregate in a particular location, present a performance (usually a dance), then go their separate ways. With the first Bixby Knolls “cash mobs,” a group would congregate at a designated place at an established time, with a particular amount of money in pocket, ready to be informed of the business they would target. Cohn said the BKBIA has featured six more businesses since that first one and has tweaked the format a bit, now announcing in advance where the mob will shop or dine, in an effort to provide the establishment with more publicity.
Other ongoing community-building and business-supporting programs the association hosts are the Bixby Strollers walking group, the Kidical Mass family bike rides, the literary society, Concerts in the Park(ing Lot) and the supper club, through which a particular restaurant is selected for group patronage on a Monday night. Using that meet-up as a model, the BKBIA is now starting a Bixby Knolls Good Spirits Club.
“This is specifically for the restaurants and bars,” Cohn explained. “Really, it’s supper club without the food.”
The club will meet at establishments that serve alcohol but also welcome children. That way, couples or families with kids will be able to join in. The idea behind this particular program is to reach a segment of the local population that may not already participate in the walking group or the literary society.
The BKBIA has already hosted a low-key trial of the new event at Phil Trani’s restaurant, which offered “old-school” cocktails. The program is expected to continue with various “spirited” themes, such as wines of South America, craft beers or sake.
“It’s not about going out and boozing it up,” Cohn said. “It’s just another social hour to get people together, to support the business, and in doing it in a fun way, by having an adult night out— or bring your kids.”
As the holidays approach, the BKBIA is planning a number of events to honor the occasions.
The first will come the day after Black Friday— Small Business Saturday.
“That’s the day that specifically is targeted to support small businesses,” Cohn said. “But, for us, we say every day is Small Business [Day].”
He said that on that day, Nov. 28, the plan thus far is to have bands and deejays performing, as well as children’s activities, throughout the business district in the afternoon.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-13-at-10.13.08-AM.png” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”The former Ralph’s market in Bixby Knolls is undergoing renovations and will soon house Trader Joe’s, Crunch Fitness, Pet Food Express, Jersey Mike’s sub restaurant and another eatery.” captionposition=”left”] “You’ve done Black Friday,” Cohn said, “but now we want you to be in your neighborhood for at least these three hours, minimum, to go out and get your car washed or buy gifts or get your hair done, whatever it is, but support the local businesses on that day— just as the one designation, but our job is to do this all-year-round.”
He explained that this event works in concert with the “Bought it in Bixby” campaign, through which locals are asked to make “one change” as consumers by using a retailer in their neighborhood in lieu of one that is farther away.
“If everybody can make a shift, then it just boosts the economy,” he said, adding that it’s not legitimate for residents to complain about losing stores and restaurants if they had not patronized them.
“It only works if you’re out there participating,” Cohn said. “We say, ‘It’s not legit.’ It’s not legit for somebody to mourn a place when it’s leaving or after it’s gone. You have to celebrate it now, while it’s here.”
