What Makes an Old Town?

I’ll address the question by abusing an old proverb – if a business opens in Old Town and no one is there to hear it, will it ever make a profit?

The answer of course is, “maybe”. But is a business owner looking for a place to set up shop going to take that bet? Especially with the (big box) Marketplace and (vital to the future) Legacy competing for his lease dollars? As an owner myself a couple of times over, I know I always look for as sure a bet as possible. So the real question is, can we offer that in Old Town? And if not, how do we change it?

I can see the emails now, “Hey Geoff, you opened in Old Town. What gives?” My response: We didn’t really take the bet. We brought our customers with us. So did Armstrong Gardens. So did Bally’s. The common thread here is “destination business”. If someone is looking to purchase a palm tree, they look up their nearest Armstrong and drive there. Likewise if they are looking for a good work out. Our clients drove to see us in Huntington Beach and continued to come after we moved to Tustin. A destination business doesn’t rely on walk-in traffic to survive. But it’s a fact of life that most businesses do – especially many of the ones that make Old Town such a pleasant place to be.

So can we have it both ways here?

I look forward to hearing your feedback on our website, but it’s TOTA’s opinion that in order to jump start Old Town and keep it self sustaining, and most importantly to allow non-destination business to thrive, Old Town needs anchor establishments to draw in new shoppers and diners in the first place. And the quickest way to do that is to actively seek out a brand name franchise or two to put down roots on Main or El Camino Real.

The obvious poster child for a business that fits that definition and still fits the ambiance that is Old Town, would be a coffee house – like a Starbucks or Diedrich’s. It’s too bad the new Trader Joes couldn’t have been persuaded to consider the area. Even a large drug store/general store would pull people in that currently end up on First or Newport Ave.

If you agree that a flourishing Old Town is as important to Tustin as the MarketPlace and Legacy then the push to land an anchor business will require a unified effort from TOTA, the local property owners, the Chamber, the Planning Commission and of course City Hall. As a first step, voice your support for the type of business you think would put Old Town on the map. Then again, if you feel this effort would make us look too much like Old Town Orange and that is a bad thing, let us know that too. We’ll publish the results in a future column.

Next week we’ll begin our regular practice of devoting a part of every column to profiling a TOTA member business. If you have any favorites you’d like to hear more about, drop us a note. Until then, we’ll see you on Main Street.

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