Major retailers, malls come slogging back from quake; some use rebuilding as an opportunity for remodeling.

Nearly all the major retailers whose outlets were damaged in the Jan. 17 earthquake, both in malls and freestanding, have either already reopened or plan to reopen this year.

"I think all the majors (in the San Fernando Valley) will be back," said Richard Leyner, vice president of the Encino-based brokerage firm Zugsmith-Thind Inc.

And Matthew May, director of retail for the Westside office of Beitler Commercial Real Estate Services, said he wasn't aware of any retailers on the Westside that weren't planning to reopen.

Topanga Plaza, Promenade Mall, Sherman Oaks Galleria, Fashion Square Sherman Oaks, and Fallbrook Mall, all of which suffered at least some damage during the quake, are all at least partially open for business.

Meanwhile, Northridge Fashion Center, the mall most severely damaged by the quake, remains closed.

At Topanga Plaza in Woodland Hills, 100 out of a total of 116 stores are operating, including an earthquake-battered Nordstrom, according to a mall statement.

Nordstrom reopened Feb. 26 "right on schedule," after glass shelving was replaced, the marble flooring was repaired and the carpet was cleaned, said Nordstrom spokeswoman Caroline Brown. Replacement of the store's brick facade is expected to be completed within a few weeks.

The plaza's three other anchors -- Broadway, Robinson's-May and Montgomery Ward -- remain closed. A remodeled Broadway is targeted for a June 1 opening, and Montgomery Ward, hit with severe structural damage, is slated to open in mid-August without any remodeling, said Montgomery Ward spokeswoman Sarina Butler.

The Topanga Plaza Robinson's-May is expected to undergo a complete remodeling before reopening in late fall.

Sixteen stores in Topanga Plaza remain closed, eight in space once occupied by part of May Co. and eight in space that formerly housed a portion of Montgomery Ward.

The stores near Montgomery Ward are expected to reopen, although there is no target date yet, while the fate of the stores near May Co. is unclear, said mall Marketing Director Annette Bethers.

All of the smaller shops but only one of three anchors, Bullock's, is open at nearby Promenade Mall, said the mall's marketing director, Elizabeth Knapp. The I. Magnin's cracked brick facade is being repaired and the store is expected to open on schedule in mid-April, Knapp said. But Saks Fifth Avenue will not reopen, and mall officials are negotiating for a new anchor tenant, she added.

At Fallbrook Mall in West Hills, 95 percent of the stores are open, and sales for the mall rose by double digits during February compared with February 1993. Customers who would normally go to the Northridge Fashion Center are coming to Fallbrook Mall instead, said General Manager Eric Knudson. "Everything's back in order," he said.

All the anchor tenants are open with the exception of Sears, which is being replaced by a well-known, value-oriented national retailer Knudsen wouldn't name. "We were going to replace Sears anyway," he said. The earthquake "just expedited things."

Fallbrook Mall's other anchor tenants are Mervyn's, Target, JC Penney Outlet and Ross Dress for Less.

The Sherman Oaks Galleria has been open since the end of January but remains without its twin Robinson's-May anchors. Both should open by summertime, said galleria Marketing Director Karalyn Lucci.

Remodeling was planned for both Robinson's-May outlets prior to the earthquake, Lucci said. Since the stores were closed by earthquake damage anyway, they are being remodeled now and thus will be closed longer than would otherwise have been the case, she said.

Six other galleria stores remain closed. Women's World and Radio Shack plan to reopen, but Animal House and Howick's Fine Gifts are still assessing damage and looking into the availability of loans before their owners decide their fate, Lucci said.

The remaining two closed stores, which Lucci declined to name because the mall is embroiled in legal problems with them, will not reopen, she said.

To the east of the galleria, Fashion Square Sherman Oaks reopened its doors March 19, with 27 of its 129 stores open for business. It closed the next day, March 20, following the 5.3 aftershock but reopened Monday, March 21.

Anchor tenant Bullock's opened temporarily in the mall's former I. Magnin location while the crushed fourth floor of the permanent Bullock's site is being rebuilt, said Merle Goldstone, a spokeswoman for the western division of Macy's/Bullock's.

The temporary Bullock's is selling ready-to-wear clothes, women's shoes, accessories, jewelry and cosmetics, according to a mall statement. Bullock's plans to reopen the first and second floors of its permanent location by July and have the entire outlet open by the holiday season, Goldstone said.

Two floors of the Fashion Square's Broadway are expected to open by August, said Kim Hughes, marketing manager for the Broadway's parent, L.A.-based Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc. Broadway's third floor is expected to open Oct. 1, said mall Marketing Director Sandy Turner.

More than 60 percent of the mall's stores are expected to be reopened by April 30, Turner said, while the rest are opening on a day-by-day basis.

Eight mom-and-pop stores were suffering from poor sales prior to the quake and have decided not to reopen, Turner said.

Several other Fashion Square stores that are reopening have chosen to completely remodel and, in some cases, expand. These include The Gap, Brentano's, Natural Wonders and The Bombay Co., Turner said.

Meanwhile, the quake-ravaged Northridge Fashion Center is shooting for an autumn opening, said mall General Manager Lloyd Miller. Two anchors, Sears and Broadway, and possibly the Robinson's-May in the southern part of the mall, are expected to open along with it, he said.

Hopefully, most of the mall shops will open then too, but a few may not reopen at all, said Miller, who would not name which ones. The remaining anchors, Bullock's, Penney's and the northern Robinson's-May expect to open by spring 1995, Miller said.

Most freestanding major retailers in the San Fernando Valley have either reopened or plan to reopen, said Leyner.

In the Northridge community, "there are very few that haven't reopened," said David Turner, owner of Turner Group, a retail consulting and real estate firm based in Woodland Hills.

Target, Mervyn's and Kmart have already reopened and Marshall's plans to reopen at any time, he said. Levitz Furniture Corp. and Best Products Co. Inc. are repairing their damaged spaces and also plan to reopen.

But tenants vying for space in Northridge want to take over the space that The Wherehouse and Lenscrafters occupied before the quake, Turner said.

During the quake the roof of that building fell in. The Wherehouse and Lenscrafters want to reoccupy the space after all the repairs are completed, but other prospective tenants might be able to cut a better deal with the landlord and win out over them, Turner said.

Southward, "everything on Ventura Boulevard is coming back," Leyner said.

In Tarzana, Boot Barn is not reopening, said Ken Meany, president and owner of Placentia-based Am-Pat Inc., which operates the Boot Barn stores.

Under the terms of the Tarzana store's lease, Am-Pat would have had to pay for all the repairs to its building. Instead Am-Pat is canceling the lease, Meany said. "We elected to take a hike," he said.