LocalCenters.com » Featured Articles

Starbucks New Logo

LC — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:10:01 +0000

Starbucks CEO and Founder Howard Schultz has announced a new logo for Starbucks. In this video, he explains the evolution of the siren, and how it was time to “take her out of the circle.” So far, the comments have been reported to be overall negative. Do you find it interesting that the company name has been removed, and what do you think of Starbucks logo 2011?

Pick Up Stix Closes 26 Stores Without Notice

LC — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:46:31 +0000

Pick Up Stix, a San Clemente,CA based chain of fast casual Asian restaurants, has shuttered 26 stores in Northern California, Nevada, and Arizona as of January 15, 2008. Apparently there was no notice given to the local employees, according to the buzz on Elk Grove, CA based Elk Grove Online (requires registration).

Why Strip Mall Landlords Should Avoid Using the Consumer Price Index

Dave Durrett — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:51:23 +0000

Using the CPI Can Cause Major Problems in Collecting Those Rent Increases!

By Legal Contributor David Durrett, Esquire–Cohen Durrett, LLP

Many commercial lease structures include rent adjustment provisions that rely on changes in the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) which is assumed to reflect the cost of living increases, if any. Unfortunately, landlords do not appreciate that the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes many indices and does not publish every index every month. Also, the base year for comparison, the year on which the rental increases is to be based, has been changed for some indices. The calculation of the rent increase can be done for the single year just completed or for the period of time back to the original date of the lease.

Ironically, the negotiation of a CPI clause often results in a tenant’s desire for a ceiling (e.g., not to exceed five percent per year) and a landlord’s desire for a floor (e.g., not to be less than two percent per year). In essence, each party desires some certainty concerning the rent adjustment.

Because of the risk of using a CPI provision, landlords may be better served by simply increasing the rent by a fixed percentage each year.

Aside from often not clearly indicating the appropriate index, landlords often forget to enforce the CPI clause and to make the required calculations. If a landlord should fail to make the calculation and advise the tenant of a rent increase, then the landlord may be surprised to learn about Section 2076 of California’s Code of Civil Procedure.

Section 2076 requires a person receiving money, at the time the money is received, to object if the money tendered is insufficient. If no objection is made, then the person receiving the money is considered to have waived any right to additional payment. Based upon this statute, the California Supreme Court held in the case of Julian v. Gold, 214 Cal. 74 (1931), that

a landlord cannot demand payment of rent for past months if he has already accepted partial payment for those months without objection

. A similar result occurred in Bettleheim v. Hagstrom Food Stores, 249 P.2d 301 (1952), where a landlord was entitled to an increase in percentage rent from two percent (2%) to four percent (4%), but who continued to accept two percent (2%) by mistake. The appellate court held that the landlord lost its right to demand the additional two percent (2%).

Too often landlords contact attorneys after they have forgotten to send the tenant a notice of an increase based on the CPI adjustment. Section 2076 poses a problem as to the rent already collected. Landlords would probably be better served by using a rent schedule that shows fixed percentage bumps that require no future calculations by either party over the course of time. Of course, this still does not relieve the landlord of comparing the check with the rent schedule. The underlying theory for such a schedule is to keep it simple. If landlords feel that complexity makes the provision better, then attorneys will profit in resolving the complexity.

Attorney David Durrett has practiced as a shopping center lease specialist for over 25 years in Northern California. David has represented Fortune 500 clients and sole practitioners. He can be reached durrettatcohendurrett.com, or at (916) 927-8797. Neither Cohen Durrett nor Mr. Durrett are offering legal advice with this article, and any legal questions pertaining to this content should be directed toward your legal counsel.

Blogging for Profitable Strip Mall Retailing

LC — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:34:34 +0000

While blogging is still in its infancy for most traditional businesses, there are certain sectors that can benefit greatly from maintaining a blog or interactive web presence. These sectors include professionals, consultants, and yes…..strip mall retailers and developers.

Too many small retailers default to the old expression, “what matters in store success is location, location, location.” I disagree, although if completely true that would be nirvana for our development company; we’d take no blame for poor store performance if others were doing well in the same center.

I’d amend the tired phrase to “location and operations.” All businesses should strive for some form of monopolistic competition which involves a great deal of non-price competition (based on subtle product differentiation, and blogging can be one of the most cost effective marketing tools available.

from Retail Wire (requires registration)

12/28/07
The Marketing Power of Blogs

By Tom Ryan

For many small businesses, blogging is proving to be a low-cost, high-return way to create public awareness.

Across businesses, blogging companies are still a small minority. According to a recent American Express survey, only 5 percent of businesses with fewer than 100 employees have blogs.

And blogging experts don’t recommend blogs for the majority of businesses. Among the challenges is that they require some writing skill and a large time commitment. “If you’re a clothing manufacturer or a restaurant, blogging is probably not as high on your list as making good food or good clothes,” Guy Kawasaki, managing partner of Garage Technology Ventures and a prolific blogger, told The New York Times.

But Aliza Sherman Risdahl, author of The Everything Blogging Book, told the Times the most obvious candidates are consultants. “They are experts in their fields and are in the business of telling people what to do,” she said.

For those in the professional sector, such as advisors or lawyers, blogs can not only help gain business and publicity but also serve as a networking tool and position the blogger as an expert in his or her field.

For other companies, it can be a challenge to find a legitimate reason for blogging unless the sector served has a steep learning curve (like wine), a lifestyle associated with a products or service (like camping gear or pet products) or a social mission (like the environment or a charitable cause). Even in those niches, companies need to figure out if they have enough to say.

“As a consultant, blogging clearly helps you get hired,” Ms. Risdahl said. “If you are selling a product, you have to be much more creative because people don’t want to read a commercial.”

Blogging’s a Low-Cost, High Return Marketing Tool – The New York Times

The Architect’s Role in Strip Mall Development

LC — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:02:00 +0000

A Guest Article by Ernie Moore, AIA

The strip mall construction phase may be defined as the progressive transformation of an vision into a physical space in which people can function as intended. In strip mall development, that space is the point at which display and sale of goods, or the transaction of agreements or services can take place.

The major players on a strip mall building project are the developer, the architect, and the building contractor. Governmental authorities, consultants, community groups, attorneys, and others may have additional influence on the development, depending on the nature or scope of the project. Each has their own agenda, but these stakeholders share a common goal of seeing the process to an acceptable end.

The project architect refines and transforms the client’s concepts into a set of working drawings a contractor puts out for bids and later uses to direct actual construction. The architect’s prime goal is the satisfaction of various goals and directives that the client (in this case the developer) has ,at least in the client’s mind articulated.

These may include the look and feel of the final product, the building and spaces sizes, access to utilities, storage, and trash enclosures, public amenities, materials used in construction, and the general construction and materials quality.

In addition to client-driven goals, the architect must also incorporate various legal mandates, codes, and regulations into the project design. Particularly in commercial construction where publics are the prime users, the architect, under review by code officials, is the responsible party for insuring that development of those considerations is consistent with local codes, regulations, planning guidelines or other restrictions a local jurisdiction may have enacted. If a conflict exists between a client request and what a local code articulates, the code requirements prevail. Although it may be possible to argue or appeal a code official’s decision, appeals are expensive and time-consuming and require all parties to be well versed in the details of the arguments.

The architect’s knowledge of local, state, and federal codes, combined with a talent for mediation, can save the client weeks of time and thousands of needless expenditure dollars.

Besides the contractual role as the client’s agent and representative before the governing authority, it is often the unspoken but self-appointed role of the architect as the maker of aesthetics, the creator of the beautiful building. Although within the architectural community this role may be considered the architect’s main purpose in life, in reality this aesthetic factor fills the available spaces between the mandates of the client and governmental agendas. In an ideal world there would be no conflict; but in reality if a particular component of a space or building is “economically defective” or doesn’t make code, no matter how beautiful, it doesn’t get built. To avoid such conflicts, what “succeeds” as a design is what has been done before, and the architect’s role defaults to a previous body of “successful” work, either his or others’, on which to base their current design.

The architect’s role also envelopes various conceptual goals the architect may like to see furthered in the project. These could be sustainability, new urbanism, mixed use, community enhancement, or a particular style or theme of which the architect is fond and is trying to promote. These schematics would be discussed and evaluated as to viability early in the design process. Especially when a local jurisdiction is attempting to mandate a particular design, these underlying designs could be the reason a particular architect was engaged.

The sum of the architect’s functions places his role as an integral facilitator and resolver of the client’s objectives, an interpreter and executive of government regulations, and an overseer of the development of initial concepts into a set of drawings by which the entire construction process shall be driven.

Ernie Moore in the principal architect in the Sacramento, CA firm ArO. Ernie designed a building for us that was a finalist among four others out of approximately 300 entries in the Community Enhancement category. He may be reached at emoore@aro-dm.com or (916) 428-2351