Soon, if you need a prescription filled and you live near Mockingbird, you won’t have to drive very far to get it taken care of.
That’s because Carlisle Interests, Inc., owner of the Wilshire Village Shopping Center at Mockingbird and Skillman, has made a deal with CVS for a new freestanding pharmacy, which should be open by the end of this year.
But as far as the retailers who lease space in that shopping center are concerned — longtime neighborhood businesses such as Mockingbird Postal, Keep U N Stitches, Action Chiropractic, Eddie’s Tailor Shop, and many, many others — the news isn’t so convenient: They’ve been sent packing.
Carlisle recently gave the businesses three months’ notice; they have to be out by April 30 to make way for the wrecking ball. New development will house not only CVS, but also a fast-food restaurant, which Carlisle wouldn’t name but which the retailers say will be McDonald’s or Kentucky Fried Chicken. One other parcel remains unleased.
For many of the business owners at this busy intersection, the news was a blow. Mockingbird Postal has been at its Wilshire location for more than 13 of its 17 years in business.
“Everybody’s pretty upset about it,” says Steve Hazen, who has owned the company for 10 years. “I was upset for a long time, but then I realized, ‘There’s nothing you can do abut it.’ The one with the most money wins.”
Gina Volpe, owner of Keep U N Stitches, echoes this sentiment.
“I’ve got nothing against the owner here. He’s probably just doing what other Americans do … make money for themselves,” she says. “But it’s sad for commerce in this area when we lose out to a chain.”
For his part, John Pearcy, president of Carlisle Interests, says inadequate parking and economic considerations were the two biggest factors in the decision.
The center, constructed in the early 1980s, “was built with the parking lot away from the corner as opposed to the more typical development of parking in front of the building.” Because of this layout, the largest retailer in the center, MJ Designs, is hidden from the intersection of Skillman and Mockingbird.
“This decision was not made without concern for the smaller tenant,” Pearcy says. “However, after reviewing the long-term economic conditions for the center in its current configuration, it became clear that without a financially stable anchor tenant and substantial rental increases in the small stores, the shopping center could not survive.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to secure a tenant willing to take the MJ Designs location at a lease rate comparable to CVS, with the building facing the parking lot,” he says.
Still, it perplexes many of the existing businesses as to why CVS would choose to be sandwiched between two of its biggest competitors — Walgreen’s and Eckerd’s — which are both less than a mile away.
“There’s nothing wrong with fair competition,” Volpe says. “But when there’s a drugstore on every corner, how does that improve the retail mix in the area?”
Says Pearcy: “This mix in the neighborhood provides for competitive pricing and benefits the customer.”
Many of the retailers plan to stay in the neighborhood. Hazen is changing the name of his shop to Postal General and is moving near Oram and Skillman. And Volpe, who has lived in Hollywood Heights since 1991, hasn’t secured a lease yet, but is looking to find space near Gaston and Garland.
