Best Bargain is a Good Deal for Whittier

While some Whittierites are not excited about another dollar store opening in the old Battel's property, it's actually a very good thing from a land use perspective. In this post, I explain why.

The new Best Bargain store has opened in the old Battel's. This photo was taken on a recent Friday morning, 10/4/2019.

The Retail Apocalypse

As consumer spending has accelerated in its shift from brick and mortar to online shopping, so has the pace of traditional retail closures. Just one year ago, the owner of Battel's blamed flat sales due to competition from Amazon as the reason for his decision to close.

A victim of the retail apocalypse, Battel's old awning sign sat in the alley behind the store.

Indeed, e-commerce giant Amazon and other online shops have hastened the pace of brick and mortar closures of both large chains and mom and pops alike. According to CNN Business, store closures could reach 12,000 by the end of this year, nearly double the 6,700 closures tallied in 2017.[1] The graph below illustrates the dramatic shift from brick and mortar to online shopping in recent years in dollar terms.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/05/the-retail-apocalypse-summed-up-perfectly-in-one-chart-commentary.html

Of course, Whittier has seen its share of closures. The old OSH store in East Whittier remains shuttered more than a year after it closed. Located in Whittier Council District 3, the incumbent is up for re-election next year and faces a serious challenger.

The Stater Brothers store on Whittier Boulevard and Sorensen is closing and should be re-opening at a nearby location in the future. And while our Sears remains open, it's hard to say for how long. Sears is also located in District 3.

Whittier's Dollar Store Boom

Exactly one year after Battel's Hardware closed in September 2018, Best Bargain Bargain opened in it's place. While some residents refuse to shop there, others already do. This is because dollar stores offer a variety of goods, including name brands, at favorable prices. This makes demand for dollar stores strong and that's why more of them are opening.

While the sun has set on Battel's for the last time, it rises each morning over Best Bargain, and the property remains a retail use; September 2018 versus October 2019.

In fact, Arnie's Dollar+ celebrated their One Year Anniversary on Sunday, October 20th. It's hard to believe a whole year has passed since Arnie opened his store and I wrote about it.[2]

In addition to Arnie's and Best Bargain, a couple other dollar stores have opened in the last year. In 2019, Dollar Ye$ opened at the site of the old tropical fish store in East Whittier, and Five Below opened this month in the old Old Navy store at the Quad, next door to the Dollar Tree.

Therefore, we clearly see that the dollar store retail segment is strong.

Best Bargain is a Good Deal

While a dollar store may not have been the first choice for many Whittierites, we have good reason to be glad. If we're opposed to retail stores being replaced by apartments or condos, Best Bargain may have just prevented the old Battel's Store from that very fate. This is because the subject property rests in the Whittier Boulevard Specific Plan area. More precisely, the store is located in the Shopping Cluster District.

In the Shopping Cluster, as previously reported, multifamily development is permitted by right above the first floor. On the first floor, residential units are allowed with a conditional use permit (CUP). Shortly after Battel's closed, it was reported that the company was exploring options for the store’s building. [3] We know redevelopment into apartments or condos was a possibility, especially since the City has permanently lost three commercial spaces to residential development.

Nearly a year and one half since I first wrote about this serious flaw in the Whittier Boulevard Specific Plan, nothing has changed. The City Council has not changed the Specific Plan. Therefore, we're fortunate the property owner, Best Bargain, and GM Properties were able to work out a lease agreement to save this precious retail space from the wrecking ball and excavator.

The site of Whittier's historic Battel's lives. This is excellent news. With that, let's support Best Bargain and shop there, especially during the upcoming Holiday Season. Let's do our part to help this new business succeed.

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/30/economy/forever-21-retail-apocalypse/index.html

[2] https://www.friendlyplaces.net/post/in-whittier-retailers-come-and-go-but-sometimes-retail-spaces-just-go-which-space-will-be-next-1

[3] https://www.friendlyplaces.net/post/dear-whittier-even-if-we-use-our-retail-space-we-may-still-lose-it