Business San Fernando Valley

What kind of year was 1994 for local businesses? According to economists, 1994 was a recovery year. But that glosses over the more complicated saga of Jonas and Judith Gurvis and their pet-supply shop in Sherman Oaks. The Gurvises came out of retirement at the beginning of the year to run the business. On the day they were scheduled to take ownership--Jan. 17--the Northridge earthquake hit.

Buying an American flag for today's Fourth of July holiday is easily accomplished at any local discount or dry-goods store, but to San Fernando Valley flag dealers, there's something unsavory about those $9.95 models. For starters, they're made of cheap material and tend to wear out quickly. Worse yet, at least from the dealers' point of view, they're made in Taiwan--not the good ol' U.S. of A.

As retailers head into what is traditionally their busiest time of year, San Fernando Valley shoppers won't only be heading for the malls. They'll also be heading for a proliferation of big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Costco, out-sized specialty retailers like Sport Chalet, and so-called "power centers" that include collections of both. While hardly any new regional malls have been built in recent years, free-standing big-box stores and power centers have been popping up all over the Valley.

The city has paid out $550,000 in claims for businesses, autos and apartment buildings damaged when a corroded water main burst under Ventura Boulevard last year and unleashed 6 million gallons along the trendy streets of Sherman Oaks. Claims for another $515,000 are pending, angering some business owners who say the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power should have reimbursed them long ago for repairs made after the March 1 break near Ventura and Kester Avenue.

With the whir of Hollywood Freeway traffic in the background, Lenny Sage sat in his office last week and pondered his geographic identity crisis. The Sage family calls its car dealership Universal City Nissan. But some would argue that it is not really in Universal City, though it's just across the freeway from Universal Studios. And it's not in Studio City, though many people think it is, Sage said.

In ways immense and small, my life changed two years ago with the arrival of a tiny taskmaster with curly brown hair and a killer smile who answers to the name of Kyra Michelle. Being the astute observer that I am, I knew that motherhood would mean major adjustments in my social life (I haven't any) and my disposable income (I haven't any).

Craig Shandler and Anthony Raissen, both executive vice presidents of a Calabasas-based breath freshener company, learned early on that you can't just tell people in Japan that they have bad breath. "Bad breath is something that's more open in the United States, where you talk about bodily functions," said Raissen of Breath Assure Inc., an erstwhile Encino start-up that now pulls in roughly $30 million in annual sales.

Twenty-four San Fernando Valley businesses and their owners were lauded for perseverance despite hardship at the Valley Economic Development Center's Phoenix Awards Wednesday. The honorees included: * Brian Sheehan of the Eclectic Cafe in North Hollywood, whose business suffered twice--damaged by the Northridge earthquake and all but obscured by MTA construction. Relying on his personal savings and credit cards, Sheehan kept the cafe afloat.

Omigod! The shopping mall that totally introduced the world to the high-pitched, grody-to-the-max Valley Girl vernacular is, like, coming back. Fer sure! After being dead for two years, the Sherman Oaks Galleria, a national icon of 1980s teenage mall culture, immortalized in the Frank and Moon Zappa song "Valley Girl" and films such as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," is being resurrected into a high-end, open-air retail and entertainment center.

Imagine conveniently hopping from trendy coffeehouse to movie theater and classy restaurant, all during a Sunday-evening stroll through a pedestrian shopping village in this land of tract homes and malls. Traditionally, residents of the north San Fernando Valley have traveled in excess of 20 miles to such places as Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade or Old Town Pasadena to enjoy that kind of ambience.

http://www.onsitelasermedic.com: On-Site LaserMedic. Information on the company, online customer service as well as trouble-shooting tips for laser printer problems. http://www.bizmove.com: The Small Business Knowledge Base. Information on starting a business, creating or dissolving a partnership, business plans, loans, a resource guide and more. http://www.score.org: Service Corps of Retired Executives. Counseling service in cooperation with the Small Business Administration.

The market for industrial real estate in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys remains strong, according to the 8th Annual Market Review and Forecast by the American Industrial Real Estate Assn. Last year, more than 6.5 million square feet of industrial space was leased or sold in the region. In the Santa Clarita area, lease rates and sales prices rose over 7% due to a 3% vacancy rate.

Omigod! The shopping mall that totally introduced the world to the high-pitched, grody-to-the-max Valley Girl vernacular is, like, coming back. Fer sure! After being dead for two years, the Sherman Oaks Galleria, a national icon of 1980s teenage mall culture, immortalized in the Frank and Moon Zappa song "Valley Girl" and films such as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," is being resurrected into a high-end, open-air retail and entertainment center.

The Valley Economic Development Center and the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, two of the Valley's most visible business organizations, hope to team up to buy a $3.1-million office building in Van Nuys, officials said Monday. Development center President Roberto Barragan said the organizations expect to close escrow this week on a 25,000-square-foot building at 5121 Van Nuys Blvd. that was formerly leased by the state.

While Wall Street kicked off the millennium by taking most of tech to the woodshed, one San Fernando Valley-based company raked up share price gains that outstripped many marquee names in high tech. For the year, Van Nuys-based GenesisIntermedia.com Inc., which gets some of its revenue from tech-related ventures, gained 194.62%.

GenesisIntermedia.com finished 2000 as the top gainer among publicly traded San Fernando Valley businesses, with its stock surging 195% on the year, to close Dec. 29 at $17.13. The company generates most of its revenue selling consumer goods--including health and fitness products and self-help materials--via infomercials and direct telemarketing campaigns, said Robert Bleckman, director of investor relations for the company.

'Tis the season to be jolly, not wet, so Burbank pool store owner Bill Thuesen washed out his summer stock and replaced it with artificial Christmas trees, ornaments and other holiday decorations. And he's not the only Valley retailer to replace his regular merchandise with seasonal items. Pool stores, patio shops and nurseries are finding that providing Christmas merchandise from October through December is a good way to boost winter sales.

State water regulators Monday released a list of 142 San Fernando Valley sites where they have asked property owners to help determine whether chromium 6 may have been discharged in ways that contributed to soil and ground water contamination. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board sent letters to the Valley businesses on Nov. 8 to help pinpoint the source of pollution by chromium 6, a suspected carcinogen featured in the film "Erin Brockovich."

The San Fernando Valley has relatively few state-of-the-art movie theaters for its size, but it isn't likely to see many new screens until well after troubled theater operators emerge from bankruptcy. Retail and real estate consultants say that, except for a Pacific Theatres complex under construction at the Sherman Oaks Galleria and an AMC project proposed in Burbank, no cinemas are on the drawing board locally.

Gee, it's been two whole years since I began chronicling the gripping pathos and searing drama that is the San Fernando Valley business community. Valley@Work had birthday No. 2 last week. Sometimes, people use anniversaries to look back upon the peaks and pitfalls of the previous 12 months. But I'd like to look at what lies ahead.