Students work to keep Sandbags in business

The lunchtime rush crowded Sandbags on Saturday, a rare sight as of late.
Nearly every seat was occupied as the sounds of chatter filled the store.

Longtime patrons as well as new customers stood in line waiting for lunch, and for one day Sandbags seemed to be thriving.

Justin Boogaard, second-year business economics student, organized a massive Facebook event with more than 1,200 members in an attempt to attract more customers to the struggling sandwich shop.

Boogaard, a sales representative for the Daily Bruin, first heard of the shop’s problems while attempting to get the owner to buy advertisements in The Bruin. When Sandbags’ owner, 27-year-old Eric Cho, said he could no longer afford the advertisements, Boogaard said he realized the problems faced by Sandbags and all small businesses in Westwood.

Cho bought Sandbags, located on Westwood Boulevard, in 2007. The business was doing well until the Great Recession. When the collapse happened, many of the Fortune 500 companies on Wilshire Boulevard began laying off employees, and some went out of business altogether.

“Ninety percent of business came from Wilshire. I don’t have a big UCLA student following,” Cho said.

Cho said he did not think the economic collapse would affect him, but the effects soon trickled down to small businesses. After the collapse left him with few customers, Cho was forced to take desperate measures. He forfeited his salary and had to let three employees go. Cho expects Sandbags to lose 50 percent of its business by the end of 2011 and is not only behind in his rent but owes money to the bank.

Cho has tried numerous promotional tactics to salvage his shop. He has passed out fliers on Bruin Walk, put up online coupons, increased store hours, and even started selling tacos two summers ago. But none of those methods have been able to improve his situation.

However, last month Boogaard developed a new tactic: Bring UCLA students to Sandbags every Saturday in February.

“If we let Westwood die, we are slowly degrading the atmosphere and environment of UCLA,” Boogaard said. “These businesses are cycling through, and none of them can stick.”

Boogaard said the recent closure of the Thank You Mart really put things into perspective. He said that it’s going to be tough trying to save every store in Westwood, but the UCLA students need to at least try.

On Saturday, nearly three quarters of the Sandbags’ customers were UCLA students who decided to come after hearing about the Facebook event.

Taylor Payne, a first-year undeclared student, said the recent closure of Thank You Mart affected her greatly, and she did not want to see the same happen to Sandbags. Payne said she learned about the Facebook event and decided to bring her friends along.

However, not all Westwood eateries are declining. Cho said he thinks the reason eateries such as Diddy Riese, Socko’s and Enzo’s are prospering is that they are located close to the UCLA campus and are accessible to students.

Boogaard said he understands that students prefer swiping in at the dorms, but going out once a week to a local Westwood store won’t be difficult.

Although Cho said he sometimes feels defeated, after the January sales he does see a little upward trend. He has also had more catering orders to the remaining businesses on Wilshire Boulevard and completed a big order to the UCLA Anderson School of Management just last week.

Cho said he understands that it is going to take more than a few catering orders to save his business, but the upward trend is the best thing he has seen in a long time.