Arrival of Best Buy Marks New Phase for Center

As developers of the Camarillo Factory Stores and the Oxnard Factory Outlet expand their highly visible locations along the Ventura Freeway, a neighboring freeway-side shopping hub, Oxnard’s Shopping at the Rose center, is busily going about its own growth.

Finishing touches are currently being put on a 47,000-square-foot Best Buy electronics and appliance store, which is expected to open at the shopping center within two weeks. The center is located on Rose Avenue, one freeway exit north of the Oxnard Factory Outlet.

The arrival of Best Buy marks the start of a 161,000-square-foot second phase of development at the center. The expansion, located across the street from the center’s 525,000-square-foot first phase, is scheduled for completion by late 1996.

The original development, which opened in October, 1993, is anchored by Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Vons. Among the 34 other tenants are a sporting goods store, a bagel shop, a party supply store, a fabric store and several restaurants.

“Our tenants are doing extraordinarily well there, thus the need for expansion of the project,” said Stan Rothbart, president of Rothbart Development Corp., the Santa Monica-based owner of the Rose Avenue center. “The success of the tenants has increased demand in this area,” Rothbart said, adding that his shopping center also benefits from customer traffic generated by the Oxnard outlet stores.

Rothbart said the expansion of Shopping at the Rose will probably include a restaurant and five stores in addition to Best Buy. He said he is currently negotiating with prospective tenants, whom he declined to identify.

“We will have a mix of stores that will be complementary to what we have across the street,” Rothbart said. “The stores will fill a void in categories that are not in our original project and that are not available in the Oxnard community.”

At the same time the Best Buy opens in Oxnard, Thousand Oaks will get its own Best Buy store. The 63,000-square-foot operation, also scheduled to open in mid-November, will be located on Moorpark Road, across from the recently expanded Janss Marketplace.

The dual Ventura County stores are part of an expansion by Best Buy that will increase the number of California outlets in the chain from 14 to 19, said Johnny Hernandez, Best Buy’s Southern California district manager. The company has 235 stores throughout the country.

“There is going to be a little saturation in Ventura County,” said Hernandez, “but Ventura customers probably will not want to drive to Thousand Oaks to shop. We want to make sure the stores will be convenient to come to.”