Store on the Shelf

When Sharon Stramler bought Tiara Hair Design six years ago, the Brea West Shopping Center seemed to be an ideal location.

The thriving strip mall at Central and Puente avenues was well maintained and enjoyed a steady steam of shoppers from the surrounding neighborhood.

But these days, the pedestrians are few and the center has the appearance of a ghost town. Paper scraps and empty cans litter the sidewalk outside the largest storefront, which is vacant. On most nights transients drink and sleep in the alleyways, and truckers use the grounds to park their big rigs.

Stramler, who used to leave her shop’s door open while working in the evenings, now keeps it locked and makes sure she is escorted to her car after her last client leaves.

The trouble, residents and merchants say, started when the center’s largest tenant, a Ralphs supermarket, closed about a year ago. Since then, several other merchants have been forced to close, and more are expected to do the same.

The same situation can be seen in many aging shopping centers in Southern California as retailers abandon smaller stores in favor of larger, more profitable ones.

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In this northwest corner of Brea near the La Habra city limits, a group of residents and local merchants has mobilized to halt the decline of their community shopping area.

“We’ve put out a neighborhood alert, trying to create a stir,” said John Muzdakis, 67, who has lived in a nearby mobile home park for 10 years. “I’m very concerned that if this area deteriorates any further, it will have long-lasting effects.”

The group, comprising about a dozen residents and merchants, has written numerous letters to Ralphs and its leasing agency, met with property owners on several occasions, lobbied City Hall for intervention and even called retail companies in efforts to generate interest in the site.

“It’s discouraging,” Muzdakis said. “I don’t know what more we can do.”

Equally frustrating for many in the community is widespread speculation that leaving the Ralphs store vacant is part of a corporate strategy to avoid having a competitor move in. The supermarket chain has a newer location 1 1/2 miles away.

In a recent court hearing, the center’s owners tried unsuccessfully to gain control of the lease from Ralphs, which is entitled to hold the site until at least 2007. Citing ongoing litigation, both sides declined to discuss the court case.

Ralphs officials said they are seeking to sublease the site but doing so will not be easy. The store is just 21,000 square feet, while most new supermarkets are 40,000 square feet or more, they said.

“We’re certainly not leaving this store dark,” said Ari Swiller, Ralphs vice president of external affairs. “We’re actively trying to get the property leased. But it’s not an attractive site.”

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The residents and merchants group has asked the city to place the center in a redevelopment zone, which would allow the city to take control of the property. But officials said they are reluctant to intervene.

“Our economic analyst has indicated that it’s not a viable area for redevelopment,” Mayor Glenn G. Parker said. “It doesn’t meet the criteria.”

However, Parker said, “we are doing everything else we possibly can to provide support to the efforts to lease the site.”

Muzdakis and other residents said they think the city should become involved before the center declines further.

“The city says it doesn’t meet the test of physical blight, but how much more blighted does it have to get?” Muzdakis asked.

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NEIGHBORHOODS

Northwest Brea

Bounded by: Los Angeles County line to the north, La Habra city limits to the west, Lambert Road to the south, and Brea Boulevard to the east.

Population: Approximately 11,000

Hot topic: Deterioration of the Brea West Shopping Center at Central and Puente avenues.