Penny Lane hits end of the road
By Elizabeth Jensen
Oct. 31, 2005 9:00 p.m.
Longtime record retailer Penny Lane shut its doors Monday for
the final time, going out of business after 18 years in
Westwood.
Penny Lane is the oldest independently owned music and video
chain in Los Angeles, according to the retailer’s Web
site.
The Westwood branch of the store is closing due to a lag in the
market for used CDs and DVDs, prices on new releases being undercut
by larger stores such as Amoeba Music and retail chains such as
Best Buy, and the drop in music purchases due to increased online
music downloads.
Penny Lane is the last of many music retailers in Westwood to
shut down in the past three years.
“It doesn’t seem like anybody’s buying music
anymore. … Honestly, we’ve made most of our money on porn
rentals,” said Kevin Thomas, a Penny Lane employee and
third-year engineering student.
Other Westwood retailers who recently shut their doors include
Golden Oldies, Wherehouse and Frequency 8 ““ which was only
open one year before closing its doors ““ as well as two
record retailers in Ackerman Union.
In 2002, Tower Records opted to attempt to revamp its appeal to
college students by closing its Westwood store and reopening as
Pug’z, a supposedly “hipper” music retailer. It
lasted only six months.
“It is very sad, but the reality is it’s not an
economical business model,” said Steve Sann, cofounder of the
Westwood Business Association and UCLA alumnus.
Penny Lane offered a variety of merchandise, including CDs,
vinyl records, DVDs, stickers, buttons, apparel and posters.
Specializing in used CDs, DVDs and VHS movies, Penny Lane relied
on customers coming in to trade merchandise, but now that students
can buy new DVDs cheaply at larger stores such as Best Buy and
Amoeba Records, fewer students are interested in dealing in used
goods, Thomas said.
“I think the closing of Penny Lane is just another
punctuation in the story of what’s going on in the music
business,” Sann said. “Now corporate buyers at Best Buy
make decisions about what music students can buy.”
Penny Lane made various changes to try to stay in business,
lowering the price of rentals to $2.50 and offering 10 percent
discounts to students.
But the changes were not enough to offset losses.
Penny Lane found itself in increasing financial difficulties and
asked their realtor, Topa Property Management, for a rent decrease
so they could keep their Westwood location.
“We were looking for a rent decrease, because the Village
has definitely declined in foot traffic and that has really
decreased sales,” said Steve Bicksler, owner of Penny
Lane.
“But they didn’t want to lower. … As much as we
wanted to stay, we just couldn’t continue to pay the bills
there,” he said
Penny Lane recently opened a new location across from Pasadena
City College, selling mainly vinyl and funky discount items such as
specialty toys, Mexican wrestling masks and designer vinyl
figurines.
“(The) new store in Pasadena is what I had really wanted
to do in Westwood if the landlords had lowered the rent,”
Bicksler said.
When Penny Lane let the store’s Westwood lease lapse at
the end of its term, new and used clothing retailer Buffalo
Exchange decided to move into its former Westwood location.
“Buffalo Exchange approached us … a year and a half ago
and expressed interest in a Westwood location, but we didn’t
have space at the time,” said Darren Bell, vice president and
director of leasing at Topa Property Equities.
“So when we found out that this space was becoming
available, we were able to contract them pretty quickly,” he
said.
To Penny Lane employees, however, the closure seemed abrupt.
“It was all of a sudden,” said Thomas.
“We didn’t find out we had to leave until about a
week ago. We thought it was going to be the end of November, but
then they told us we had to be out on Monday. … I feel a little
used, a little bitter, because it was sudden and now I’m out
of a job.”
Penny Lane’s Westwood location shut down with a minimum of
fanfare, posting a gravestone-shaped sign on its door stating that
Monday, Oct. 31, was its final day of business.
The store will transfer all its stock to one of the three
remaining Penny Lane locations.
Bicksler said the economics of doing business in Westwood were
the overriding reason for giving up the location.
“It really does pain me and the staff to have to leave,
but it really is a financial decision, and I think we’ll do
better in our new location,” Bicksler said. “But if we
can ever make it down to Westwood again, we’d love to come
back.”
