Malibu Cinema
Bonnie Blue, the city’s planning director, confirmed that a new tenant has applied to take over the Malibu Cinema space at the Malibu Village Shopping Center.
“It’s not expected to remain a movie theater,” she said, in a phone call with The Malibu Times on Jan. 9.
The decision on whether to approve or deny the application will occur “probably this week,” according to Blue.
Malibu Cinema held its last showings on Sunday, Sept. 10, despite locals’ hopes the theater could remain in operation. Prior to its closing, the theater had been operating on a month-to-month basis.
Candy shops
The planning director could not provide many details on Malibu’s newest candy shops—SweetBu Candy Co. and Shelby’s Sugar Shop.
The former, which is now operating in the Trancas Country Market, was given planning clearance last August and opened near the end of 2017.
As for signs that recently went up advertising Shelby’s Sugar Shop (located in the Malibu Lumber Yard), Blue said the application “probably hasn’t come in,” though there were signs at the Malibu Lumber Yard announcing the candy shop’s impending arrival as of Tuesday, Jan. 9.
Dean & DeLuca
The grocery store chain Dean & DeLuca first announced a Malibu store in September 2016 to the excitement of many residents. The store, slated to fill the retail space once occupied by Banana Republic in the Malibu Village, has no projected opening, and information has not been forthcoming.
“They were interested in adding, I think, alcohol sales,” Blue said. “They were going to apply for [a] conditional use permit.”
The company so far hasn’t move forward with the plan.
“The ball’s in their court,” she said, of the grocery chain.
In a press release from 2016, Dean & DeLuca had plans to open a store in Plano, Texas, as well. According to a statement from October 2017 to Dallas News, the company’s president Laura Lendrum said of the Plano store: “…We have decided we will not be expanding our retail footprint at this time, but instead renewing our focus on our existing retail operations as well as our digital operations.”
Representatives for Dean & DeLuca were not available for comment.
Granita
Though rumors have been swirling around the future of the former Granita storefront—which began undergoing obvious renovations in late 2017—little solid information was available about the future of the former restaurant. The Granita site is just one of many empty storefronts in the Malibu Colony Plaza—aka the Ralphs Center—and has become a leading example of the issue of vacant retail spaces in the city.
“I am not aware of anything in planning,” Blue said, regarding Granita.
She wasn’t aware of issues with other city departments, though she did make clear that the Planning Department had not received any applications for new tenants.
Objects With Purpose
In a phone call with The Malibu Times, Ianthe Mauro said her pop-up “Objects With Purpose” is closed after a 14-month-long run.
“The whole thing was a blessing,” Mauro said. “ … [The] community was so great to us.”
The pop-up was originally meant to last three months, but its lease kept extending.
Mauro posted a photo to the pop-up’s social media, announcing moving day.
In the new year, she hopes to “strengthen our wholesale side of things,” which includes providing products to other retailers as well as improving their online presence.
Objects With Purpose candles can be found on its website (objectswithpurpose.com).
Calypso-St. Barth
If you are on the lookout for discounts on upscale fashion, Calypso-St. Barth is having a store closing sale featuring savings of up to 50 percent off its high-priced merchandise.
Representatives from the upscale women’s clothing store—which had temporarily closed its location in the Malibu Country Mart—say the store expects to be open through February 2018.
Multiple news reports published in December stated the chain—which operates stores nationwide in addition to a retail website—would be liquidating and closing all of its stores following a bankruptcy filing in November.
Malibu Newsstand
The newsstand at the Ralphs Center is still standing, despite operating on a month-to-month basis for more than a year.
In August 2016, Malibu Newsstand owner Nathan Shields set up an online pledge drive to help his business, citing, he said, the decline of print media, as one reason the newsstand had fallen on hard times.
Though there is no longterm projection for the future of the business—a favorite among locals—it and its offering of newspapers, magazines and more made it into 2018.
Emily Sawicki contributed to this report.
