No retail lease, no city taxes, few real winners

Most of the audience at City Hall was jumping for joy when the City

Council rejected women’s wear retailer Sophea Parros, which was

planning to open a large, designer-wear shop at 381 Forest Ave.

The council, invoking its right to approve or disapprove of

downtown merchants based on what they sell, decided that there are

already too many dress shops in the area and that the retail

atmosphere couldn’t support another one -- especially one that would

have been up to 10 times larger than some existing shops.

Laguna Beach wants to keep its merchant community intact, and

that’s a good thing. But there’s a down side to taking sides in a

business dispute.

The Sophea Parros owner-- outnumbered by his smaller, more vocal

competitors -- left disappointed, but he’ll have other opportunities

to open shops in other trendy, high-traffic areas.

But the landlord, Dominique Morel, is left in a difficult bind.

It was Morel’s second attempt to lease the building, which had

housed a Banana Republic before that outfit pulled up stakes more

than a year ago.

A previous plan for a bank, a small women’s shop and offices fell

through due to city requirements about splitting up spaces that

soured the lessees on the deal.

Enter Sophea Parros, an up-and-coming retailer willing to take the

entire 5,000-square-foot space.

But apparently Morel should have done his homework and counted the

number of women’s shops that had opened up since Banana Republic left

town.

That’s what the council’s decision came down to -- the fact that

nearly half a dozen dress shops have come in since the space was last

rented.

Funny, no one acted on the “over-saturation” of women’s wear shops

until the Sophea Parros store wanted in. No one stopped the other

shop owners in their tracks.

So, as the summer retail season surges on, one of the downtown’s

largest retail spaces remains vacant, and the city is losing out on

taxes that could help the city’s finances.

Were there any real winners here?