North Hollywood is NoHo Gym District

Feb. 23, 2011 - PRLog -- http://bit.ly/eXucLX

I admit, I was one of those HOWS Grocery store groupies that just loved the experience of shopping at HOWS and frequenting the wine room on Friday evenings. HOWS had a certain “Mayberry” feel to it. The employees were really cool, the owners took the time out to talk with you.

Enhancing ones knowledge of fine wine was never more fun than through the HOWS wine room, and the community wine tasting group tours to Santa Barbara Wine Country we took
When HOWS closed we were sad, but we all figured another supermarket would come in. Although the experience would never quite be the same as HOWS, we’d adapt and except the change as a product of the down economy. Then one day, much to our surprise, the community found out a large corporate fitness center was going into the space. WHAT????  That doesn’t stir up images of Aunt Bee buying some fresh apples to bake a homemade apple pie does it?!?!

As a private personal fitness trainer and wellness coach, I love the fact that NoHo has lots of small private gyms that cater to the community and a plethora of Yoga, Kickboxing and Pilates classes as well.  In addition to all these community gyms and classes, all the new apartments and lofts have state-of-the-art fitness centers built inside of them for the residents. A healthy community is ideal, and I love being a part of it. However, the thought kept crossing my mind; wouldn’t a grocery store have fulfilled the long-term vision of the community better? Do we really need another fitness center here in NoHo? So, I set out one day recently to get the pulse of what the locals who live and work here were thinking about it. Here’s what they said:

“I work in the NoHo Commons Plaza at Wells Fargo and I really wanted a grocery store. HOWS was a bit expensive, but I always went over there for my snacks and beverages and lunch. Any kind of supermarket would have been great. I’m not going to be tempted to join the new gym because I work out at home. I don’t think the new gym will increase traffic to our branch, although we felt a little bit of business go down after HOWS departed.”
Vegen Pogosyan
Premiere Client Manager
Wells Fargo Noho

"I loved HOWS! I live over at the Gallery Apartments just adjacent to the NoHo Commons. I really miss HOWS. Shopped there all the time. It was a special place. I would have liked to have seen a Trader Joe’s go into the old HOWS space.   I workout at LA Fitness so I’m not going to join this new gym going into the HOWS space.”
Lori Marick

“As a Libertarian I'm all for free markets and letting demand drive the types of businesses that choose to invest in our community. That being said, in my view, the business decisions to site a 24 Hour Fitness in the former HOWS site is an extremely poor one that will have significant negative impact on the community as a whole. Despite what the property owners and their representatives say, there is clearly both a demand and need for more retail in the area, and certainly more options are required for food and groceries. The failure of the HOWS Market had little to do with the dynamics of the community (a fact borne out by the failure of the company as a whole which is now shuttering locations all over Los Angeles) and more to do with less than spectacular management, a poor selection of offerings and pricing.  HOWS simply failed to capitalize on what it did well (the wine room and excellent service at the checkout) and did nothing to address what it did poorly (service deli, meat counter and pricing/selection of groceries). The Downtown NoHo core area is a vibrant, dynamic one that could take root fast if allowed to.  It remains hamstrung by near autocratic control by the CRA and an absentee City Councilmember, both of which seek to highly discourage any organic business leadership coupled with outside investment from uplifting the area.”
Michael Higby of Mayor Sam Blog
Lives and works in NoHo

“I’m a student at the Art Institute across from where HOWS was. I would have preferred a grocery store, or maybe even an art supply store. Right now the culture is changing in NoHo, and I understand with the economy we have to just accept what’s going into the old HOWS space. I have a membership at AT 1 Fitness, so I won’t be joining this new corporate gym.”
Jide Gbemudu
AI Student

So, while this wasn’t an accurate random sample and would cause any statistics teacher to demand a re-write, I bet if I interviewed more people the results would be somewhat the same. We the community needed and deserved another supermarket.
As the 2010 President of the Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, I was disappointed that we were never consulted regarding this matter. We had even formed a committee to showcase dynamic NoHo to potential supermarket owners interested in the HOWS space. But neither the owners of the plaza, nor the landlord of the plaza ever made contact with us.

While we should all welcome the new large corporate gym to the community, we should never forget those special couple of years when we all met and shopped and had good times as the NoHo community at HOWS.

Visit http://www.nohoartsdistrict.com for more information on the NoHo Arts District in North Hollywood, CA.

Jack Witt is a local health and fitness consultant providing corporate wellness programs, personal training, and group exercise classes. His website is http://www.getfitwithWitt.com

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The NoHo Arts District is a one-mile community home to more than 20 live, professional theatres, art galleries, dance studios, music recording venues, vintage boutiques and a myriad of dining options. NoHo is where the arts are made. Visit www.nohoartsdistrict.com for everything NoHo.

Since 1998, nohoartsdistrict.com has forged a strong following of arts lovers and local residents who use the site as a source for theatre, things to do in the District, places to dine and local businesses to frequent. With a growing circle of nearly 10,000 opt-in email subscribers, news from nohoartsdistrict.com reaches a wide audience of arts patrons from all over greater Los Angeles, folks in the NoHo Arts District and across the San Fernando Valley.