Everything Glendale

Filed Under: Barnes and Noble, Blockbuster, Borders Books, CVS, Downtown Glendale, Glendale Exchange, Glendale Fashion Center, Ice Cream, Longs Drugs, Mervyn's, News, Shopping, The Americana, Thrifty Ice Cream

The closing of all Circuit City stores across the nation, including the one on Maryland and Broadway, is the latest big news of the worsening economy. (I'm generally an optimist, but 34,000 lost jobs can't be good.) This leaves downtown Glendale looking a bit bleaker—witness the gutted space where the Mervyn's used to be, and the Exchange shopping area is becoming a dead zone. Now, Glendale Avenue is going to take a couple of hits.

The Longs Drugs on the lower level of the Glendale Fashion Center across from Ralphs will be permanently closing its doors on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. CVS bought Longs last year, but decided to shut down this location rather than changing the name. This sucks for me because Longs is within walking distance of my house, and the Rite Aid up the street is not (though the siren song sung by Thrifty Ice Cream may be enough to entice me to walk the few extra blocks).

As if that weren't enough to dampen my neighborhood spirit, the Blockbuster on Glendale and California is closing on February 15, 2009. (Last day to rent is February 8; last day to return is February 19.) Which means I have to drive to the Pacific location or Colorado location for DVDs or stay home and read—I don't like any of those choices.

What will become of you, Glendale Avenue? As much as I love The Americana, I thought it was a pretty crappy move to close the Barnes & Noble in the Glendale Fashion Center and move it to The Americana, especially since there's a Borders just a block away. It's good planning for The Americana, but bad planning for the structure of a city. I live between downtown Glendale and Glendale Avenue, and things seem a bit off-balance. I don't like that feeling.


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