READERS RESPOND

AT ISSUE: Huntington Beach officials want to relocate Burlington Coat

Factory and Wards from Huntington Center.

Burlington and Wards should be a part of The Crossings at Huntington.

It is close, and all the buses go there. We have shopped at Wards for 35

years. You can get everything at that store. They are the nicest store

and will do everything for you.

THELMA ALLARD

Huntington Beach

On behalf of the 75 residents from the trailer park I live in, we are

for Burlington and Wards staying in the mall. We are value-right

customers looking for value-right merchandise that we feel the new mall

won’t have.

DALE MATHER

Huntington Beach

I’m very doubtful about this new plan for the mall. Twenty-two movie

theaters -- is there space for all those cars? What about demand for

movies? In case nobody has noticed, in addition to the bankruptcies, the

last couple of months have been very disappointing for the film industry.

Upscale retailers? Which one? Nordstrom? Saks Fifth Avenue?

Bloomingdale’s? Tiffany? Or are we going to get an assortment of

independent stores with minimal name recognition who will not be able to

compete successfully for the dollars of the upscale shopper who is

rewarded for their loyalty to the major department stores with special

sales, services and other incentives?

A home store has been mentioned, but is that really what will attract

people to the mall? We already have stores like Pier One, Expo and

Levitz. Although the Block at Orange and the Irvine Spectrum seem like

what The Crossings should be modeled after, many of the retailers have

had difficulty making money -- people just go to walk around, look, eat

and play video games.

The Spectrum has the draw of live entertainment, such as The Improv

and Crazy Horse. Given all these questions, it seems that Wards and

Burlington Coat Factory should stay.

No one knows if their under-performance is due to current mall

conditions. Let them invest the dollars for upgrading instead of us

paying them to relocate. At the very worst, if they continue to

under-perform and are forced to close, The Crossings has tenant-ready

buildings available. Reduce the number of theaters to 10 to 12 so that parking and traffic do not become unpleasant. Explore the possibility of

live entertainment and a video or virtual-reality game place like Dave

and Busters.

Oh, and by the way, can we have a Hallmark store?

CHERYL WYRICK

Huntington Beach

They should remain in the mall. They have great prices and should stay

here.JOE MARGAN

Huntington Beach

I believe Wards is a good store and has done a lot of business with

the city. The city should be loyal to them.BRIAN WALMAN

Huntington Beach