4 Shopping Centers Report Increased Sales

Retail sales for the county’s four regional shopping centers sharply increased in the final three months of 1989, according to the most recent data released by the state Board of Equalization.

The biggest increase in sales occurred at the Buenaventura Plaza, where sales rose by 8.7% over the previous quarter, the data compiled for the Los Angeles Times Marketing Research Department shows.

Retail sales climbed 5.6% at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks. At Janss Mall in Thousand Oaks, sales went up by 1.8%, while business at The Esplanade in Oxnard grew by 1.5%.

The Buenaventura Plaza sold more than $119 million in non-taxable merchandise in 1989. The Oaks sold about $207 million in such goods. Janss Mall sold more than $57 million and The Esplanade sold about $83 million, the data shows.

Keith Smith, a spokesman for The MaceRich Co., which owns the Buenaventura Plaza, said the opening of Circuit City, a large electronics store, may have helped boost sales at the end of 1989.

Smith said a huge renovation project that began in late 1989 also might have helped attract shoppers. “People just love to see what is going on,” he said.

Karen Erenberg, manager of the Janss Mall, said holiday shoppers and the opening of Toys R Us in November, 1989, helped that shopping center increase its sales.