By: BRIAN ECKHOUSE – Staff Writer
MURRIETA —- The parking lot fronting this city’s “furniture row” increasingly resembles a number of homes in this community.
Empty.
Two years after it opened, the 230,000-square-foot Home Center marketplace has yet to become the hit many city leaders believed it would be, despite its choice real estate at Interstate 215 and Los Alamos Road. However, the center isn’t the complete failure some residents have made it out to be, either.
An aesthetic sore point for some officials and residents, the marketplace has been a new source of sales tax revenue for Murrieta.
“It’s still generating money, which is better than not having businesses there,” said Teri Ferro, Murrieta’s administrative services director. “But if there was an anticipation that it would be a draw for nearby valleys to come to Murrieta, unfortunately the housing downturn seems to be coming right at the same time.”
From late 2012 to early 2014, the Home Center has accounted for 7 percent to 9 percent of the city’s sales tax base, reaching a high of nearly $247,000 in the second quarter of 2013. But quarterly sales tax revenues slipped to $212,000 and $224,000 in the final two quarters of last year, before hitting about $232,000 in the first three months of this year, the latest for which the city has figures.
With the closing of a couple stores recently, however, the city expects those numbers will dip again.
Analysts and observers believe the plunging housing market —- on which the furniture industry relies heavily —- is greatly to blame for those struggles, which aren’t limited to stores in Murrieta.
“People are not worried about furniture,” said resident Barbara Nugent, who actively opposed the project when it came before city commissions —- in part because of its design. “They’re not worried about replacing that mattress they’ve had for 15 years because they’re worried about paying their mortgage.”
That’s particularly true in Murrieta: A handful of stores have closed at the Home Center and several others offer deals between 60 percent to 80 percent off.
“With the housing downturn … people are not buying the big-ticket items like furniture, spas and barbecues to upgrade their homes,” Ferro said. “That’s a large segment of the retail business.”
Of the nationwide housing crisis —- which is so acute in Southwest Riverside County —- Plummers manager Francis McTiernan said: “It’s hurting everyone in this business. It’s true of us and everybody else. But things go in cycles. We’re waiting for that next turn.”
Managers at some of the Home Center’s stores, including McTiernan, say they are still turning a profit in the slow market.
“It could be busier, but it’s still good,” said Floyd Remey, the manager of Sit ‘n Sleep. “This is not one of our busiest stores, but it’s profitable for us.”
But that isn’t universal. Of the 22 storefronts, nine are vacant.
Wacky Wicker closed down recently, as did a store called Basix. Before Wacky Wicker closed, a small piece of paper was affixed to the glass door promoted “a gigantic quitting business sale.” HomeComfort Furniture had a clearance sale of up to 60 percent off items.
Industry analysts and store managers may point to the troubling housing market as the explanation for the furniture row’s struggles, but Nugent and others suggest a different reason: poor concept and indistinctive design.
Nugent has been especially critical of the “tacky” design of the center, complaining frequently to the Planning Commission that the city’s architectural standards need to be raised because of the three-building marketplace.
“No one’s drawn to it,” she said. “There’s nothing that makes it stand out so people would want to shop. It looks like any other strip mall along so many freeways.”
Yet, Linder’s Furniture in Murrieta thus far is on target to hit 95 percent of its annual projected revenues, said its manager, Steve Anderson. Customers, he said, recognize Linder’s from his company’s Orange County locations and through direct advertising.
“I think the destination stores do advertising,” Anderson said. “They will pull in more traffic for the area. The guy next door who doesn’t do advertising is acting as prey.
“But people walk in here, leave to browse other stores, then come back and buy here.”
That’s assuming shoppers even stop at the center. In a half-hour period late Friday morning, just two couples entered Home Center stores.
Tyrone Tate, 37, of Temecula said he was drawn to Linder’s because of a sale advertised in that morning’s paper.
“Before that, I didn’t even know (the furniture center) was here,” Tate said.
That could explain why one Plummers employee joked Friday morning: “Could you round us up some shoppers?”
Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.
