Calabasas leads in retail growth.

While the Grove in Los Angeles and the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica may be high-profile hot spots, the greatest growth in retail sales is occurring in other cities, led by Calabasas, West Hollywood, Baldwin Park and Palmdale.

All of these cities posted retail sales growth rates exceeding 20 percent in 2004, more than double the countywide growth rate of 8.9 percent, according to figures released by the state Board of Equalization.

The City of Los Angeles posted a modest growth rate of 7 percent. That pales in comparison to the 27 percent growth in West Hollywood's retail sales during 2004, which was driven mostly by the opening of the West Hollywood Gateway project at La Brea Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard, which includes Target and Best Buy stores.

"With this project, West Hollywood actually is now sucking sales out of Los Angeles," said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

The opening of a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. big-box store in Baldwin Park in mid-2004 powered that city's 21.9 percent growth that year, according to the city's chief executive officer, Vijay Singhal.

Both West Hollywood and Baldwin Park are expecting retail sales growth rates well above the countywide average in 2005 because these big-box stores were open the entire year.

Retail sales growth in suburban communities such as Calabasas (33 percent) and Palmdale (21.6 percent) has been driven by the opening of several stores and shopping centers to serve rapidly expanding population bases, Kyser said. The growth in Calabasas was also spurred the opening of a BMW dealership.

Santa Clarita, also a fast-growing suburban center, grew at a more modest 13 percent.

Among the county's biggest cities, Long Beach grew at 12.9 percent in 2004, driven largely by the opening of the Pike at Queensway Bay and the redevelopment of a downtown shopping mall.

But Glendale grew at only 5.9 percent as Burbank and Pasadena continued to draw from the Glendale market. A long-delayed shopping mall proposed by Grove developer Rick Caruso next to the Glendale Galleria is only now getting off the ground, following a successful voter initiative and the decision last month by the owners of the Galleria to drop a lawsuit challenging Caruso's project.

A few cities actually saw drops in retail sales during 2004, including generally lower-income areas like Cudahy (-3.7 percent), La Puente (-2.6 percent) and Bellflower (-1.9 percent). All of these cities have struggled to keep shoppers as big box stores and major shopping centers have opened in nearby cities.

Ringing Up

Several L.A. County cities have seen an explosion in
retail sales.

                     2004 retail sales    Percent change
City                    (millions)          from 2003

Calabasas                    429               33.0%
West Hollywood               733               27.7
Baldwin Park                 398               21.9
Palmdale                   1,302               21.6
Walnut                        97               20.8
Los Angeles               27,013                7.0
L.A. County Total         86,497                8.9

California Board of Equalization