Businesses in Pacific Palisades are closing during this economic crunch, but others are expanding into vacant spaces and new enterprises are opening. Since January, Emerson-LeMay Cleaners, Piccolomo Italian Ice Cream, Chefmakers Cooking Academy, Roy Robbins Gifts & Stationery, Adana and Margano (a women’s clothing store on Sunset) have closed in the heart of town. Here’s an update on who’s going where: 1. Adana, the high-end shoes and accesories boutique at 1045 Swarthmore, quietly closed on June 28. The 800-sq.-ft. store, which opened in November 2006, was owned by Andreea Benuciu and Daniela Vasile. 2. Chefmakers’ local owner, Richard Klein, closed his retail store at 872 Via de la Paz and is currently conducting cooking camps at his former 700-sq.-ft. office space at 865 Swarthmore, next to Amazing Music. ‘We’re here at least for the summer, and hopefully beyond,’ Klein said. 3. Rumours, a teen clothing store at 1014 Swarthmore, lost its lease at the end of June, but the store is still in operation. Owners Ceci Dean and Ivy Greene hope to find a new owner for their store, which opened in September 2005 after they revamped the interior (which hadn’t been updated since the 1950s) with black-and-white floor tiles, new paint and a handicapped-accessible bathroom. 4. On the encouraging side in the business district, BOCA Man is relocating from 15260 Antioch to 1020 Swarthmore in the space that was formerly Ivy Greene for Kids, which is now at 875 Via de la Paz. Owners Mike Mangimelli and Denise Martinez, who are married and who also own the adjacent BOCA women’s clothing store on Swarthmore, are currently renovating the Ivy Greene space, adding skylights and knocking out a wall to open everything up. The new store, scheduled to open around September 1, will aesthetically nearly match BOCA, which underwent a complete renovation in 2005. 5. Kier Design, which for the past five years has been located in the courtyard at 863 Swarthmore, next to the Prince’s Table and Beech Street Cafe, will move to the space BOCA Man is vacating next to Susan Carroll’s Gift Garden Antiques. ‘We want to do more furniture, custom design and interior decorating,’ said Simeon Kier, who manages the store and is the father of owner Heidi Kier-Isaacs. ‘We feel that we’ll get more exposure on a main road (Sunset) and more window space.’ 6. Sabrina Nails, located on La Cruz Drive, will add a second salon’Bellagio Nails’at 15228 Sunset, next to Philips French Cleaners in the Margano location. The owners are waiting for final inspections and hope to open the end of July or early August. 7. Meanwhile, Rosie & Nails at 829 Via de la Paz is expanding to a second location at 15333 Sunset, in the space previously occupied by Emerson Cleaners (between Via and Swarthmore), with plans to open the end of August. 8. CalNational Bank, which was renting a large space in the 984 Monument building until its new branch office was completed on the corner of Swarthmore and Sunset, has moved out and prospective tenants have been studying the space. 9. Next door, a sushi bar will be opening in the space previously occupied by Piccomolo. Sushi details have not yet been revealed. 10. The one new business opening in the Village this year (in June) has been Denni Geed’s London Colour Studio, a hair salon on Sunset across from Ralphs. There are currently four vacancies on the 1000 block of Swarthmore, all of them belonging to Palisades Partners, a multi-family trust that owns 19 storefronts on the street. The Partners also own two empty stores on Sunset: the former Nest Egg (which closed in January 2008) and The Office Supplier, which closed in March 2006 but relocated to a much smaller location 860 Via de la Paz.
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