Oxnard Takes Aim at Thrift, Discount Stores

Attempting to clean up storefronts and continue the renovation of downtown Oxnard, the City Council is prohibiting new thrift or discount stores from opening downtown and making it more difficult for such stores to open elsewhere in the city.

Some store owners feel unfairly singled out, and their value-conscious customers worry that the recent council actions will make it more difficult to find a bargain.

City officials say cluttered windows, dirty exteriors, smelly used clothing and handwritten cardboard signs prompted the city to investigate how the popular stores are being operated.

City staff identified about 30 “thrift stores” offering second-hand items and “discount” stores offering new items for less than $2. Staff members also found windows blocked by products and signs, cluttered displays, unwanted merchandise stored outside and used clothing that hadn’t been properly laundered.

“The intent [of the crackdown] is to still allow them, but that they keep their appearance up,” Oxnard planning manager Marilyn Miller said.

Earlier this year, the City Council voted to ban new stores that sell used merchandise from opening downtown. On Tuesday night, the council approved an ordinance extending the ban to new discount stores--defined by the ordinance as establishments that sell most of their products for less than $2--in the central business district, which is between 2nd Street and Wooley Road.

The ordinance also prevents existing downtown thrift and discount stores that cease operating for 30 days from reopening.

The council’s action Tuesday also subjects retailers seeking to open thrift or discount stores in other parts of the city to added requirements. Such stores would have to obtain a use permit, which requires a public hearing, and comply with aesthetic standards.

“They shouldn’t make it more difficult to open a store. The way we operate is what works,” said Angelica Reyes of Reyes 99 Cents and More store in downtown. The city report criticized the Reyes store for having its windows blocked by items for sale, but Reyes said her mostly Latino shoppers enjoy viewing products from the street.

Under the new ordinance, which takes effect next month, incoming discount retailers must keep windows clear of any materials that block visibility into the store, while thrift stores will now be required to launder or dry-clean all used clothes before resale.

“Government shouldn’t be meddling in the free-enterprise system,” said Michael Pliske, chairman of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce. “You can’t force the economy.”

Pliske, who is also president of the Oxnard Harbor District’s board of commissioners, said the city may have good intentions, but officials should support businesses.

“Ventura in downtown used to be trashy with crummy thrift stores, and pretty soon you started seeing very nice antique stores. Look at it now,” Pliske said, adding that Oxnard “should encourage business rather than pick and choose.”

Store owners say they are just trying to make sales. Eduardo Navarro, who recently purchased a discount shop in downtown Oxnard, said he supports clean stores but is becoming weary of city officials who have visited him nine times in the three months he has been open.

His store, 99 Cents and More, y Mas, offers most products for under $2, including household cleaners, drinks, party favors and gifts. But Navarro plans to change the name of the store to Lalo’s General Merchandise to avoid the negative impressions that some officials have of 99-cent stores, he said.

“I’m trying to make a living and be successful,” Navarro said.

Other retailers are upset that now they will be shut out of downtown altogether.

“Oxnard is the first city in America that has made it illegal to have good buys,” said Russ Wolpert, a vice president of Commerce-based 99 Cents Only Stores, which operates a store in the northern part of the city and has outlets in Ventura, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and Simi Valley.

With more than 130 stores in Southern California, Phoenix and Las Vegas, each 99 Cents Only Store averaged $4.6 million in sales last year, Wolpert said, and should be an attractive retailer to any city. For some Oxnard families, the stores are their only option.

At Luna’s Thrift Store on Oxnard Boulevard, Francisco Centeno sifted through racks of clothes. “We come here a few times a week. You can always find good clothes, and cheap,” Margarita Centeno said. With her husband’s earnings as a gardener and a part-time assistant at a fast-food restaurant, the family cannot afford to shop at malls, she said.