Queta Botero remembers times when families from across the Valley spilled into her salon for a haircut on weekend afternoons, drawn to the neighborhood by the massive J.C.Penney.

But the department store left the San Fernando Mall in 2012 after anchoring the plaza for several decades. Customer traffic began to slow down. Several family-owned businesses abandoned their leases. Foot traffic at Botero’s salon at on San Fernando Road at the outdoor mall has gradually declined.

“People don’t come here anymore,” said Botero, the manager at Toque Nuevo as she sat in an empty salon on a recent afternoon. “We used to see a lot of people in the area, but not anymore. We miss J.C.Penney.”

The abandoned 60,000-square-foot building a few doors down from Botero’s salon in San Fernando represents the struggle of many business owners who say after J.C.Penney left the downtown district, they have been scrambling to woo new customers.

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Since 2012, the store’s site has remained empty. Parking meters that once lined up along downtown streets were removed. A large neon sign from the 1950s, which adorns the building’s front site, is the only reminder of the San Fernando Mall’s heyday.

Some owners of downtown stores say it’s up to Severyn Aszkenazy, the building owner, to find a new anchor store.

They say Aszkenazy could help bring a renaissance to the 2.5-square-mile city by finding a new anchor for his vintage property.

But Aszkenazy, who owns multiple buildings in the city, two development companies, and the San Fernando Sun newspaper, said finding “a qualified anchor store” that would be willing to move to the San Fernando downtown area has not been easy.

The property’s parking lot across the street is not accessible to the building, according to Aszkenazy.

Plus, department stores want to be in the company of other major stores, he said.

“Even if you attract one, where do you put the other?” he said, adding that he purchased the building in 2004.

Malls across the country have been beset by a number of closures of anchor stores as consumers turn to online shopping. In the San Fernando Valley, Macy’s, Sport Chalet and the Montgomery Ward gave way to mixed-use projects and office space.

Nick Vyas, an assistant professor and executive director for the Center for Global Supply Chain Management at the USC Marshall School of Business, said shopping malls across the U.S. have been grappling with a rise of e-commerce.

“Anchor stores used to draw a lot of people to the malls and surrounding communities,” he said. “But malls are dying. It’s getting hard for small businesses to draw foot traffic.”

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A few years ago, Aszkenazy proposed to build a four-story mixed-use development with retail space and 101 residential units. The city approved the project, but it failed to find support among residents or nearby single-family houses.

Eventually, Aszkenazy put the project on hold.

The developer said it’s challenging to do business in a district where the city is the major property owner of parking lots, sidewalks and streets. There has been “no serious investment into the infrastructure of downtown,” he said. “We need the city to be investing in downtown. When you’re dealing with a government sometimes they say they want to do things but it just doesn’t happen.”

When new business owners come to the downtown area, he added, they see “an old lighting system,” and “lack of landscape design.”

“The same things you see in a shopping district, you don’t find them in downtown San Fernando because of the lack of investments,” he said.

But city officials paint a different picture.

Alexander Meyerhoff, the city manager, said local businesses have been “very successful” despite the lack of an anchor store.

“I think businesses in the downtown area are strongly performing,” he said.

More than 1,600 businesses, including restaurants, gas stations and pharmacies, are based in the city where employment opportunities are “plentiful,” according to Meyerhoff.

The city continually invests in its infrastructure, Meyerhoff said, including streets, parking lots, sidewalks, street lights and parks. He added that over the last 10 years, retail sales in San Fernando have consistently grown, having increased between 8 percent and 10 percent annually.

Meyerhoff said the proposed 9.2-mile East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor, which will connect Los Angeles and San Fernando, is expected to bring more retail stores and employment opportunities to the city. Currently, Metro is considering several options for the transit project, including a light-rail train and a bus rapid transit service.

Since 2017, the city removed and replaced about 2,100 square feet of sidewalk. Approximately eight curb ramps were installed with truncated domes. A landscaped parkway was constructed in front of two parking lots, according to Yazdan Emrani, director of public works and city engineer.

In 2017, San Fernando proposed a plan for economic development and revitalization of the downtown area with funding provided by Metro to encourage transit-oriented development.

The transit corridor project is still in the pipeline and is expected to begin construction in 2021.

The city’s J.C.Penney opened at the San Fernando Mall in 1953 in a classic art deco building at 1140 San Fernando Road and quickly became a popular site among San Fernando shoppers.

“I purchased my first pair of tennis shoes there,” said Bart Trevino, a San Fernando resident, adding that he began coming to the store as a child. “This place was booming, and people would come from all over the place to shop here. Now, we have to commute away to buy simple things such as clothes and furniture.”

San Fernando road in San Fernando has very light foot traffic. The J. C. Penney store in San Fernando, has been empty for about six years. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Ariat Martinez at Dreamshoes says foot traffic has declined a great deal since the closure of the J.C. Penny store. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Sound The gallery will resume in seconds

Pablo and Marco Solis of Jims Western Wear, continue to do a good business despite the closure of the JC Penny store almost 6 years ago. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Bridal shops remain popular along San Fernando road despite the closure of the JC Penny store almost 6 years ago. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A for lease sign on a building near the former J.C. Penny. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)



Famous handprints including Shakira’s along San Fernando road in San Fernando. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A closed outdoor mall along San Fernando road. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

For some, J.C.Penney was more than just a department store. For the city of about 24,000, 92 percent of whom are Latino, it was “personally significant” and provided many San Fernando workers with “their first experience” in the workforce, giving them “a sense of independence,” according to a letter a resident wrote to the city officials in 2012, asking them to give the 1950s building a landmark status.

But during the first quarter of 2012, J.C. Penney reported losses of $163 million. Shortly, the store said it would vacate the San Fernando mall. Back then, San Fernando city administrator Al Hernandez told the Los Angeles Daily News that J.C. Penney was rebranding and the San Fernando store did not fit with their vision.

After J.C. Penney posted signs announcing its closing, a group of community members showed up clutching signs that read: “JCP: Don’t kill a dream.” Several residents cut up their J.C.Penney credit cards in protest.

The city’s reputation took a hit when J.C.Penney departed, leaving an empty building behind and delivering a major blow to the city’s tax revenue.

RELATED STORY: Venerable J.C. Penney in San Fernando closing its doors Saturday

Botero, from the beauty salon, who worked in the downtown area for 22 years, said there are a lot of empty sites here because many stores are gone,” she said. “If you have a birthday or baby shower, where do you go shopping for gifts?”

But Pablo and Marco Solis of Jim’s Western Wear said the store’s closure has not affected their business. They remember times when J.C.Penney employed a lot of people.

“The store used to draw a lot of traffic,” said Pablo Solis said, noting that he has been working in his store for about 50 years.

Ariat Martinez, the owner of Dreamshoes, a shop located a few doors down the street from the empty lot, stood on a stool on a recent afternoon, attaching a mannequin dressed in a mariachi costume to a glass door after another one was stolen.

“It’s not as crowded as used to be,” she said. “Why wouldn’t they open a store that would bring more people?”