Earlier this month, Dealer Joe’s celebrated the grand opening of a brand new retailer positioned on the bottom flooring of an house advanced in Sherman Oaks.
The chain isn’t new to the neighborhood, nonetheless. Simply throughout the road is one other Dealer Joe’s — a “legend” that has served prospects since 1973, retailer representatives mentioned.
The preliminary plan was to shut the previous location when the brand new department was prepared — each are off the 101 Freeway on Riverside Drive. However ultimately, the corporate determined it could be “enjoyable” to maintain each open, in keeping with Matt Judd, the brand new retailer’s supervisor.
“Our enterprise on this metropolis has been so great, so we determined to maintain them each,” he mentioned. “The town deserves it.”
The brand new retailer is about 40% larger than the one throughout the road, with a big collection of merchandise and extra aisles for purchasers to browse, Judd mentioned. It additionally presents parking in an underground storage — a giant draw for purchasers cautious of navigating the previous cramped parking zone.
On Friday round midday, prospects flowed out and in of the neighboring shops.
The brand new retailer is about 40% larger than the one throughout the road.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Instances)
“This one’s method higher,” buyer Steve Emrick mentioned as he grabbed a purchasing cart to go into the brand new retailer. “The opposite retailer can get fairly congested, and the parking was not as tight right here.”
One other shopper, Jacob Ruiz, mentioned he frequented the older location, however was excited to go to the brand new one for the primary time. He mentioned parking was a breeze, and as he left, he swore he’d “by no means return” to the opposite location.
However he additionally didn’t assume the growth was utterly mandatory for the world.
“Not right here. They need to enterprise out to different neighborhoods,” he mentioned.
Each shops have been nonetheless crowded — Judd mentioned he anticipated numerous prospects to remain loyal to the 1973 Dealer Joe’s.
Olga Virov mentioned she’s shopped on the smaller retailer for about 20 years. She was impressed by the parking choices the brand new retailer supplied, however since she usually walks to the grocery retailer, she didn’t see the necessity to make the change.
“This one is extra handy. It’s cozy, and it’s simpler for me to get to, so I want to go to this one,” she mentioned of the older location. “I’m not planning to go to that one except I’m purchasing on the mall.”
Melany Figueroa-Garcia stopped on the older Dealer Joe’s on a grocery run. She mentioned she plans to maintain purchasing there, calling it cozier. Plus, she mentioned she thinks the parking system on the new location is complicated. However she did like the choice of an even bigger location.
“If this location doesn’t have one thing I need, I stroll over to the opposite location and get it,” she mentioned.
In an announcement to The Instances, Dealer Joe’s mentioned that each shops are anticipated to stay open.
“Our aim is all the time to carry scrumptious merchandise at nice values to as many individuals as we will,” the assertion mentioned. “The easiest way to do this is to open extra shops.”
