Out of Business From Recession in OC (Los Angeles, Anaheim: Home Depot, to buy)

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by missionhome

Closed (in last year): Bally's Fitness (in the gym spot, gone for a while), Kaleidoscope Gallery, Kelly's Coffee and Fudge, Riptide Sushi Restaurant, Versachee Italian Restaurant, El Torito Grill, Color Me Mine.

Poor Kaleidoscope, the place has been doomed from the start.

Wow, color me mine too! Well I guess with the recession no body has any money to put into hand-painted piggy banks anyways! Doesn't surprise me about the sushi place though.

Yea, that place was never designed very well from the start. Main problem is the goofy parking arrangement. You have to park several levels down, and it seemed as if 80% of the time the up escalators were always out of order. Also, the stupid elavators there are slower than molases in January!

[recycled]

I just noticed a new sign out in front of the empty Chrysler Jeep dealership in Foothill Ranch that says it is the new home of Foothill Ranch Mercedes Benz. It shows a fancy remodeling of the (almost new) existing building. It's one of the worst possible locations for a car dealership. It's not visible from passing by on any main street or highway. Few people except the people that live in Lake Forest drive up the hill to shop in that area, and that's not enough to support a new luxury car dealership. I can't believe that anyone would put up money to plunge into the luxury car business in such a lousy location at a time like this.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by recycled

new home of Foothill Ranch Mercedes Benz. It shows a fancy remodeling of the (almost new) existing building. It's one of the worst possible locations for a car dealership. It's not visible from passing by on any main street or highway. Few people except the people that live in Lake Forest drive up the hill to shop in that area, and that's not enough to support a new luxury car dealership. I can't believe that anyone would put up money to plunge into the luxury car business in such a lousy location at a time like this.

How ironic, autos are selling like cold cakes. I would think luxury autos are in even worse shape. Similiar indicator, Harley is scaling down big time and laying off.

Luxury Car Sales Keep Skidding - BusinessWeek

HOG slaughtered: Harley Davidson profit falls 58% - BloggingStocks

Could be a decision was made months before the severity of the economy was taken into account, or

Could be a decision was made to get in presumably cheap now while the economy is down (sort of like hedging) to be in a good position for the recovery.

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by recycled

I just noticed a new sign out in front of the empty Chrysler Jeep dealership in Foothill Ranch that says it is the new home of Foothill Ranch Mercedes Benz. It shows a fancy remodeling of the (almost new) existing building. It's one of the worst possible locations for a car dealership. It's not visible from passing by on any main street or highway. Few people except the people that live in Lake Forest drive up the hill to shop in that area, and that's not enough to support a new luxury car dealership. I can't believe that anyone would put up money to plunge into the luxury car business in such a lousy location at a time like this.

I totally agree with you, that is a horrible location. There is a reason that the Foothill Ranch "Auto Mall" has only one dealer. Not much of a mall if there is only one choice, Chevrolet. The former Chrysler dealer is not visible from the 241 tollroad and not off of a huge street. Residents of northern Lake Forest and the Foothill Ranch/Portola Hills neighborhoods are the only people who head up there often. I would assume most people from Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Coto de Caza, San Clemente, Dana Point, Mission Viejo, and Ladera Ranch, San Juan Capistrano, etc.... would never even know this dealer even opened.

A better location would have been the Irvine Auto Mall, but I think Mercedes Benz of Laguna Niguel can handle serving South OC, especially in this economy. Fletcher Jones in Newport Beach tends to serve the Newport, Costa Mesa, Tustin, Irvine crowd and also is so large it pulls from the whole county. The last thing you would want to do is open a luxury auto dealer in a location so far from the freeway and the majority of the population.

[cabolissa]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

Wow, El Torito finally pulled out of Kaleidescope? I went there many a time back when I lived there. Is there anything left at the Kaleidescope now? I remember that gym used to change hands about once a month, as well as most of the restaurants there. About the only stable tenenats other than the theatre were Bristol Farms and Roccos Pizza.

Yep, my FAVORITE restaurant in South OC - Riptide Rockn' Sushi & Teppan. Trendy, but oh, so yummy! Someone listed it on the closed list, but it's still open.

[cabolissa]

I bought a car from that Urban Chrysler Jeep Dodge last January. They didn't go out of business due to the economy - the owner got taken for a ride by his General Manager, who was doing dirty deals (not transferring title, selling cars witout title, not paying DMV fees), and ran the place under ground. Sad story really. He pocketed the tax & license fees I paid for my car, and didn't pay the DMV. I just got my plates/registration worked out a couple weeks ago (a year later)! My poor credit union had to post a bond to get the title paperwork from them.

There are a long line of people who fared worse than I did, so I feel pretty lucky.

[Fontucky]

That's what they get for building in that hole formerly occupied by the kiddy farm.

[CMartel2]

Originally Posted by antibes

People, George W. Bush has sold you out. The man should be shot! He signed the free trade agreement with China, which killed about 80% of your own production, your jobs, your salaries. He also encouraged outsourcing of jobs, which added even more burden onto the population and put so many into unemployment or forced them to take poorly paid jobs that could not cover all bills. This is the core reason for the economy; the problems from the banking sector only has come afterwards..

This post is so full of misinformation and an incomplete understanding of the economic realities the US (and the West) has gotten itself into that it's hardly worth addressing.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

Wow, color me mine too! Well I guess with the recession no body has any money to put into hand-painted piggy banks anyways! Doesn't surprise me about the sushi place though.

Yea, that place was never designed very well from the start. Main problem is the goofy parking arrangement. You have to park several levels down, and it seemed as if 80% of the time the up escalators were always out of order. Also, the stupid elavators there are slower than molases in January!

I remember a "color me mine" in the the upland area and NOBODY would ever be in there! I use to think to myself, who's idea was it to create a store like this??? There was one but went by a different name in the Puente hills mall near city of industry and it was the same issue.

What I think happens is that the first and the very first store opens up in some unknown area in the county and it does well and then they decide to franchise it or something of that nature; a well looking business model is written up and the bank lends the cash not understanding that there just might not be a demand for it which is why many business fail.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by CMartel2

This post is so full of misinformation and an incomplete understanding of the economic realities the US (and the West) has gotten itself into that it's hardly worth addressing.

Exactly how are they wrong? I happen to agree with this posters assessment but just because I agree does not mean that it''s right.

For the most part, when I throw around the term gangster, crook, mobster you associate those terms with Italian mafia and the bloods and the Crips but you then turn around and kiss the a## of presidents and politicians not realizing that they are nothing more then the most highest level of crooks.

More or less, because they wear suits and ties and regulate the currency you use everyday you suspect nothing. Let me school you; family's that keep there blood out of the normal population run the world and have been running it since Egypt was the power of the world. These family's have been behind all wars, behind economic collapse and behind the overall flawed standard of living where as only a few are at the top and live off the back of others. Do I need to submit documentation?