A Santa Monica product designer is putting hard numbers to what locals have long known in their bones: nearly three in 10 storefronts on the Third Street Promenade sit empty.
The designer built an interactive map tracking occupancy along the corridor, and the numbers aren’t pretty — 28.5% of storefronts are vacant, a bleak snapshot of a once-buzzing beachside shopping strip that has been hollowing out for years. He did not respond to The Post’s requests for an interview.
The outdoor Santa Monica Mall, two blocks from the beach, used to be bustling with shoppers, but online shopping and homelessness in the city changed all that.
The data has been revealed by The Post just days after yet another blow to the strip: The Misfit Bar and Restaurant, a softly-lit gastropub inside the city’s historic Clock Tower building, announced it will shutter this weekend after 15 years. You can view the map here.
Elsewhere in Santa Monica, on Thursday The Britannia pub also announced it would close in the future to make way for a Taco Bell Cantina, much to the dismay of locals.
Owner LGO Hospitality opted not to renew the lease, citing ongoing frustrations with the property — including inconsistent building ownership — as well as a decline in foot traffic and overall conditions.
Big retailers like Old Navy, Gap, H&M and AMC have already fled the area, further eroding the foot traffic that once made the promenade one of LA’s most popular shopping destinations.
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City officials have scrambled to reverse the slide. Santa Monica recently voted to expand an outdoor Entertainment Zone — or a mini Bourbon Street — allowing adults to drink outdoors along the promenade, and allocated $3 million in economic development funds to support restaurant attraction incentives and business recruitment.
A large music festival planned for September is also in the works, with organizers hoping to draw between 30,000 and 35,000 attendees.
But for locals watching storefronts go dark one by one, the mood is grim.
“I hate this so much,” one Redditor posted about the Misfit closure. “My fave bar in Santa Monica. Absolutely insane, there’s nothing left downtown.”
Read the full article here
