Has the time come for El Paseo to stay up late?...


	Has the time come for El Paseo to stay up late?...


	Submitted by admin on Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 11:36
	If El Paseo stayed open later, would you shop there more often? Shoppers and employees of stores along El Paseo talk about how early closing times affect them. �It's nice if you can go to dinner and shop a little afterward. The day seems to get away from me, and now (early evening) is when I come down here.�Spends six months a year in Palm Desert and the other six in Salt Lake City. October 25, 2005It's 6 p.m. Thursday on El Paseo, and Julie Osgood of Anchorage, Alaska, is hitting the upscale shopping district for the first time. One small problem: Most of the street's tony galleries and clothing shops are closed and dark. "I expected things to be open," said Osgood, visiting the city with her husband, who is attending an engineering conference here. The small number of stores open on El Paseo after 5 or 6 p.m. is a conundrum not only for potential shoppers but also for some businesses on the street that would like to see later hours and more foot traffic. How to do that is on the agenda when the El Paseo Business Improvement District has its inaugural meeting with landlords who own buildings on the street, set for tonight at Tommy Bahama's. The district has more than 20 landlords, with about half expected to attend, said Robert Fliday, general manager of Davis Street Land Co., which owns The Gardens and The Village on El Paseo. Together, the two projects account for 66 of the estimated 250 shops on El Paseo, which has been compared to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills for its mix of high-end retail shops and galleries, but on a smaller and slightly less pricey scale. Unlike Rodeo Drive, El Paseo's sidewalks are empty at sundown. "There's no consistency on hours," said Fliday, who is also a member of the district's board of directors. "If everyone is trying to make the street successful, why don't we have consistent hours?" At the heart of the issue are the changing demographics of Palm Desert and how its central shopping district will respond. The city's median age is now 39.7 years, according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, down from over 60 a decade ago. And the city's general plan envisions attracting more young, working families to the area. "With the desert getting younger, it doesn't make sense (for businesses to close early)," said John Gregory, a stylist at Faith European Salon who was busy cutting hair at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The salon sets its hours - generally 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. - to meet the needs of its professional clientele. "We never say no," Gregory said. At Edith Morre, the street's grand dame of retail shops, owner Donna Steinback is equally adamant about her 5:30 p.m. closing time. The women's clothing store has been on the street since 1957, said Steinback, who has owned it since 1973. "By 5 p.m., (business) is pretty much over. We tried staying open for Art Walk, but it was no-go." The monthly Art Walk Thursday, now in its fifth year, is one of the harbingers of change on the street. October through May, galleries on El Paseo stay open till 9 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month, and it has become an increasingly big draw, said Lisa Dempton, president of the Palm Desert Gallery Association and owner of the A Gallery on El Paseo. "People come to Art Walk because they know the galleries are open," she said, "and we encourage other businesses to be open." Dempton did not have exact figures on Art Walk attendance, and she said her gallery usually closes between 5:30 and 6 p.m. "It doesn't pay if one person's open, and we're at an end where everyone closes at 5 p.m.," she said. The increasing number of national chains with later hours may provide that kind of critical mass. At The Gardens, national retail stores like Talbots, Brooks Brothers and Ann Taylor stay open till 7 p.m. not only because it's their companies' policy but also because later hours are written into their leases, Fliday said. Revenue is up 10 percent in the past year, which Fliday attributes to a combination of the five restaurants in The Gardens and its later hours. Dempton of the gallery association would like to see businesses stay open till 7 p.m. Thursday to Saturday in season, as a first step. "It would be nice if the street could be consistent with The Gardens," she said. "Seven or 8 p.m. would be plenty." Bert Bruning of Palm Desert Tobacco, which stays open till 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, agrees that any later than that would probably not work for El Paseo. "This street, you have to do what makes best business sense," he said. The impact of later hours is clearly on view in Palm Springs, where the Main Street downtown merchants association has focused on making Palm Canyon and Indian Canyon drives an entertainment center for the region, said Joy Meredith, the group's president. More businesses there are open until 7 or 8 p.m., she said, driven in part by the 67 restaurants in the area. Meredith's own shop, Crystal Fantasy, a New Age gift boutique, does more than 50 percent of its business after 4 p.m., she said. The standard bearer for later hours on El Paseo is Tommy Bahama's, the restaurant and resort retail shop that stays open till 11 p.m. "I've told people, some of our best sales come between 9 and 11 p.m., probably because we are a resort community," said Michael Shimer, who is president of the El Paseo board in addition to being general manager at Tommy's. "Most of the activity is outdoors and takes place in the daylight hours. Tourists are looking for something to do in evening, to shop and dine." But Shimer downplays the importance the issue of business hours may have at tonight's meeting. The board has had "no communication or interaction with landlords themselves," he said. "We want to let them know who we are." Ruth Ann Moore, the business support coordinator for Palm Desert, also emphasized that any move toward consistent business hours on El Paseo should be seen as part of a "long-range plan." "For a long time, stores didn't open on Sundays," she said. "Now, almost all stores open on Sunday, and I think this (later hours) is probably the next step to providing fuller service to residents and tourists." Shimer puts it more succinctly: "Open the doors, and they will come." This is cache, read story here [ login to post comments ]