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Kmart's closing leaves south Oxnard no comparable store
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Photo by Brett Ziegler
Special to The Star
Eleanor Oxborough, who shopped at the Kmart in Oxnard for eight years, finds the store closed.
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Photo by Brett Ziegler
Special to The Star
Kari Palmer walks away from the shuttered Kmart. A big box retailer requires 10 to 12 acres to accommodate a building and parking, and Oxnard has few parcels of that size, the city's community development director said.
Anthony Tinoco rolled to a stop in front of Kmart in south Oxnard ready to buy some Pampers but left crestfallen at the sight of yellow police tape across the store doors.
Two large makeshift signs, emblazoned with orange spray paint, told the story: "Store Closed Hard Hat Area Beyond This Point."
"I've got to go to the other side of town," said Tinoco, 21, a rehabilitation counselor and Kmart regular.
"This side of town, there's nothing around here," he said. "The only thing we got is the 99-cent store and grocery stores."
Residents, neighborhood leaders and city officials agree that Kmart's decision to close leaves south Oxnard without a comparable store: a big-box retailer that sells a gamut of merchandise such as compact discs, furniture and children's clothing.
Sears Holdings Inc., Kmart's parent company, announced two weeks ago it was permanently closing the store at Channel Islands Boulevard and Ventura Road.
The store had closed for three days after a Jan. 22 rainstorm caused part of the roof to collapse. It reopened for a day and a half, then closed again after company officials determined it was "inoperable."
A Sears spokeswoman cited the rain damage and a decision not to renew a property lease that expired Jan. 31 as the reasons for shutting down the store.
Next year, Home Depot plans to raze the 104,000-square-foot Kmart, its 9,300-square-foot garden center and an adjoining 16,000-square-foot strip mall.
Home Depot is proposing to build a 106,000-square-foot store and a nearly 35,000-square-foot garden center, plus 604 parking spaces. An environmental impact report on the project is being prepared by the city.
'They're all disappointed'
The Kmart closing has flustered Lucrecia Jimenez, 39, who lives a few blocks away from the store and shopped there up to three times a week for soap, shampoo and other goods. She also went to the store to drop off payments for a crib she bought at Sears.
On Wednesday, Jimenez drove up to the store's entrance but never got out of her minivan after seeing the signs.
"They don't want to fix it?" she asked with a sigh. "I wish they could open another store in Oxnard."
That doesn't seem likely. Last month, Kmart closed two other local stores, one each in Ventura and Simi Valley. The company still operates single locations in Santa Paula and Camarillo.
Jimenez said she would likely shop at Target at Esplanade in Oxnard or the one in Camarillo.
"But I'm not going there often because it's far away," Jimenez said.
Nancy Pedersen, chairwoman of the Cal-Gisler Neighborhood Council, said she can reach the Target store in Camarillo faster than one in Oxnard because she doesn't have to negotiate traffic lights on Saviers Road and Oxnard Boulevard.
"If you want to try and torture yourself, try to get to Target from here," Pedersen said.
South Oxnard — where there are largely low- to middle-income neighborhoods — is left with discount stores and supermarkets. But grocery stores charge too much and the 99-cent store lacks variety, Tinoco said, adding that he would also likely trek to Esplanade.
Mervyns operates a store at the Centerpoint Mall at Channel Islands Boulevard and Saviers Road, and Wal-Mart is located at Shopping at the Rose by Highway 101 and Rose Avenue.
But Pedersen won't shop at either, saying neither has what she wants.
James Daniels, a resident of the seniors-only Hueneme Bay complex on Channel Islands Boulevard, said Home Depot is no replacement for Kmart.
Many of his neighbors don't have cars but could walk to Kmart, said Daniels, vice president of the Hueneme Bay Clean Living Association, which represents homeowners.
"They're all disappointed that it's closing," said Daniels, 81. "Kmart had a little of everything."
By virtue of its size — greater than roughly 80,000 square feet — Kmart fit the definition of a big box, said David Wilcox, senior vice president of Los Angeles-based Economic Research Associates.
Home Depot will not fill that retail void, he said.
"It's not young, family-based," Wilcox said. "It's people scrambling around to get the irrigation fixed or something installed."
Wilcox speculated that Oxnard would not have stores like a Kmart opening any time soon. He noted that proposals for Kmarts and Targets in the Inland Empire have stalled, partly because of the credit crunch and economic slump.
Consumer discretionary spending is waning as wallets get pinched by the high cost of groceries, gas and healthcare, Wilcox said.
Little available space
Curtis Cannon, Oxnard's community development director, said the city has been trying for 10 years to lure another big box retailer like Kmart.
"I do agree there is a need for that type of store and product in the south end of town," Cannon said.
The problem is one of available space, he said. A big box retailer requires 10 to 12 acres to accommodate a building and parking, and the city has few parcels left of that size, Cannon said.
The old Skyview Drive-In near the city's Five Points intersection is a possibility now that The Olson Co. backed out of plans to develop homes there, Cannon said.
Beyond that, it means persuading multiple property owners to give up space to form one large parcel, Cannon said.
"I'm not saying it's out of the realm of possibilities," Cannon said, "but it's difficult when it's not in the control of one property owner."
Posted by lrgvanman on February 17, 2008 at 7:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Too bad we will have yet another closed and abandoned site boarded up and tagged to look at instead of once functional businesses. Nancy Pedersen's comment in this article says a lot when you can get almost twice the distance away to another location faster in another town than if you went half that same distance through our beloved traffic with (stop at each and every signal)signals and such.
Posted by lrgvanman on February 17, 2008 at 7:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh yeah, the envy other towns will have when they find out we will now have THREE Home Depot's with the third included as El Rio's left behind structure.
Posted by AnaCapa on February 17, 2008 at 8:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why are they trying to force a Home Depot on us when we don't need it. There's a Do It center right down the street. Why not put another Wal-mart there?
Posted by B8R_N4MD on February 17, 2008 at 11:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think Pedersen is being overdramatic once again. Check it out for yourself, from the Cal Gisler neighborhood to Kmart you have 4 signal lights to drive through on Channel Islands Bl. Probably a 10 minute drive at the most. There is no way you can drive from there to Camarillo in 10 minutes. Hopefully one day she will embrace the city she lives in instead of bashing it.
Posted by B8R_N4MD on February 17, 2008 at 11:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oops, I went back and reread, she was referring to the Target, not Kmart. Me bad. I still question her loyalty though.
Posted by cason on February 17, 2008 at 11:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Loyalty, complaints, These are bad choices for all of us. We have to stop supporting large corporate companies
and start supporting small businesses.
I know a lot of mexicans think they are doing a good thing by supporting the big corporations who are only planning to use them as slaves in the future. Don't sell your self out. Save our lifestyles and planet, support your local small business avoid the corporations whenever you can.
Posted by lrgvanman on February 17, 2008 at 12:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yep, some good points made here and too bad some out there can't observe reactions and listen to the people for suggestions. Why have two home improvement stores in such a close proximity, anyway? If someone built one on Anacapa Island, you can bet the competition would be after a space nearby.
Posted by egg on February 17, 2008 at 3:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
PEOPLE THERES RIGHT AID AND LONGS ON CHANNEL ISLAND AND THEY HAVE GOOD SALES ON SHAMPOO AND HOUSE WARES...JUST A THOUGHT
Posted by lrgvanman on February 17, 2008 at 7:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
And, Noah_Bennet, I agree. The fact that Home Depot has an abandoned store in El Rio (Oxnard's first) says not so much good about the proposition of a successful store at this location. Do It Best is about three quarters of a mile away. What kind of a catastrophe will they think of next? Will they now change this area to Commercial/Industrial? You'd never know.
Posted by narc121 on February 18, 2008 at 12:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Boo HOO! Like driving to Target is SOOOO far! Come on people, if you shopped so much at Kmart, it wouldn't be closing in the first place! Most people in Oxnard drive to Wal-Mart anyways, so what's the big deal?
Posted by roger on February 18, 2008 at 2:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
When does Nancy Pederson ever have anything positive to say about Oxnard. Worse, why does the Star keep asking here for a statement. She is just another one of the political gadflies who don't ever look at the big picture.
Posted by moleman on February 18, 2008 at 5 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Noah, I couldn't agree more. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to name a more inappropriate business for that location.
Interstingly, Home Depot is trying to pull the same thing in Thousand Oaks. They bought the land and the attaced strip mall and want to tear it down and build another store. City planners need to wake up and look at the bigger picture. Allowing a Home Depot on every empty lot is not looking at the bigger picture.
Posted by shaver_one on February 19, 2008 at 9:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Three Home-Depots. Let's not forget the Loew's that is going up on Gonzales and Oxnard Blvds. That four DIY outlets.
Sears is probably planning on closing down K-Mart altogether.
Posted by jay3777 on February 19, 2008 at 11:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Cry me a river, you are still in the same city when you drive to Target or Wal-mart in the North side of town. What? 10-15 minutes is to far? I know people in the mid-west that drive 30 minutes just to get soap and shampoo at there local Wal-mart. So I don't feel your petty. What next? You want a Century 16 Theaters in the south side of town too? When flying cars come out in the next 10 years, you won't have to worry.
Posted by H8War on February 19, 2008 at 2:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good ole Home Depot is doing to Oxnard what it tried to do in Sunland-Tujunga. Exactly the same scenario: they closed down a popular Kmart and wanted to put in an unwanted Home Depot. They tried every trick of political bribery and unethical persuasion in the book. They even packed an LA planning commission meeting by bussing in a hundred paid goons wearing "We Love Home Depot" (or something like that) t-shirts! Luckily, they got caught doing this by the local media (http://www.thefoothillspaper.com ) and got slapped down by local opposition and the LA City Council. So Oxnard, get ready for a fight with some really nasty people. Personally, I would never shop at the unethical Home Despot.
Posted by BeaHappi on February 19, 2008 at 4:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Let's face it, the Oxnard K-Mart was a pit...just like the Ventura store. It's too bad that the company's not doing well enough for them to put $$ into a remodel and keep it open.
The only upside to Home Depot going into that space is that it won't be another empty big-box eyesore. However, the fact that it's a Home Depot makes no sense to me. Geez! Between Ventura & Oxnard we've got enough home improvement stores to rebuild New Orleans.
Posted by RC on February 19, 2008 at 4:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I hated Kmart in Oxnard. It was always dirty and some of the workers were so GHETTO. As a customer, I had exchanged a few words with several of the workers and never returned after that . The customer service was horrible and I am glad it is gone!
Posted by Asterisk on February 20, 2008 at 2:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't think anyone will go to that Home Depot. One is enough.
Posted by My2Cents on February 20, 2008 at 11:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
carson<--- Why would you focus on 'Mexicans' selling out and supporting big box chain stores? Frankly, I don't feel that ethnicity has anything to do with the matter at hand. What is at hand, is the underhanded methods possibly being used by these big corporations to bring in an over abundance of DIY stores. Recall, there's a little community further down the way, a.k.a. Port of Hueneme, and of course the local community, that may NEED a full-service store closer to their home, respectively. A Target would be, in my 2-cent opinion- a better fit than Home Depot.
Can anyone answer why (at Ventura's Pacific View Mall) a Target is being built in the old MayCompany space? Particularly, when down the street---approx. 1-mile away--there is already one? Now what's up with that???
The city is getting larger. And replacing K-mart with a well, kept store would be a better benefit. Heck, stick in a Kohl's! Along w/a coffee house, bookstore, shoe-shine place, or whatever, but NOT a Home Depot.
By the way, anyone remember the old pic-n-save and how long it was left burned down and unattended... Hope that Kmart's commercial realator is on the ball. Otherwise, this space can become a magnet for vandals---as noted by a previous comment.
What about the old grocery store on the corner of Hemlock and Victoria---anyone have ANY idea how long this space has been vacant???
What about the old in-door swampmeet----a.k.a. the old bowling alley. How long has this area been out of commission?
I wonder if these areas have been considered.
Well, let's just see what tune the City Counsel will dance to. After all, they're the entity that make the final deci$$ion$.
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