The Boutique Battle is On: Which Centers Will Attract the Best Stores?

Get out the boxing gloves, because the Boutique Battle is on!

This is good news for Santa Clarita residents, because the Boutique Battle will likely result in some attractive new stores and restaurants opening up in the Santa Clarita Valley.

With the Old Town Newhall Revitalization Plan attempting to create a new shoppers' paradise in Downtown Newhall, The Commons coming to the old Smiser Ranch property near Calgrove and the I-5, and now the Valencia Town Center Mall announcing that they're planning on expanding by almost another 500,000 square feet within the next 18 to 24 months, there's going to be a lot of competition to attract the "best of the best" to the Santa Clarita area in the coming months.

The retail study prepared for Old Town Newhall clearly identified the potential boutique shops for the Santa Clarita area by showing which had a presence in the region already, and by indicating what the requirements are for the larger stores. While Old Town Newhall completely failed the test for the larger stores, there's always the possiblity that the larger-scale and more accessible The Commons or the Valencia Town Center Mall will be able to take their pick of some of these top candidates. They'll also most likely have the pick of the smaller boutique stores as well, since both Valencia Town Center and The Commons will have the anchor stores and other tenants in place to attract the foot traffic needed to support the smaller stores.

Seems this is going to be much like the finals in "The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll", where all three finalists had talent but one was clearly not quite in the running because "she can't dance". It will be interesting to watch the makeovers and the "dance" as these three retail developments attempt to attract the prize of the best boutique stores and restaurants.

This also puts another dent in the Old Town Newhall Revitalization Plan, since that area can't "dance" as compared to the other two contenders. Why continue to evict and threaten eminent domain actions against the current businesses there, when the likelihood of Old Town Newhall becoming the hoped-for retail mecca decreases day by day?

It would seem that with a goal to increase sales tax revenues in the City as being one of the primary mandates for the Old Town Newhall Revitalization Plan, that the City would be better served by taking advantage of the growth of these other developments to gain the same revenues. With the expansion of the Valencia Town Center Mall (on property already controlled by the mall) as well as development at The Commons (the old Smiser Ranch property, which is also already privately held), the City would not have the requirement for obtaining land and buildings to turn over to some unknown developers for future construction (and profit).

And the local businesses who have been Newhall fixtures for so many years would be allowed to remain instead of being chased out because they're "locals only" businesses. Yes, it would be nice if Old Town Newhall area businesses were encouraged (as in being given financial incentives) to give their buildings a "face lift" to make the area more attractive, but I can't say that I agree with chasing anyone out of the area, especially in light of the Boutique Battle being staged between these other larger (and privately owned) developments.