Since then, the tenants said they have lost business and are having trouble balancing their bills.
“It’s really bad for us right now,” 20/20 Video owner Javier Moctezuma said. “It’s very tough . . . We are losing money.”
Kanner said signs for the businesses will be coming soon.
“We are in the process of getting signs, but they spent six months [trying to get] the cheapest place,” she said.
Kanner gave the tenants 90 days from the start of their leases to put up signs, she said. She said she will not allow the tenants to put up banners.
But tenants said Kanner rejects every contractor brought in to install the signs.
Moctezuma said customers have entered 20/20 Video and asked him whether his business was open, because the shopping center appeared to be under construction.
Since he opened the video store in November, Moctezuma said he has lost 80% of his business because there are no signs with the name of the store on the center’s exterior.
Moctezuma said he has spent about $30,000 to $40,000 on building and repairing the store as well as getting it open.
He has had trouble paying for his home’s rent, so he taken out loans to pay for both his home and business rents.
Before moving to the center, 20/20 Video was at a shopping facility at Chevy Chase Drive and Brand Boulevard. At that location, a sign with the name of the business was on the outside of the building, Moctezuma said.
Postal Pack n Ship owner Robert McEvilly leased his unit at the shopping center because it was close to major shopping centers, such as the Glendale Galleria and the Americana on Brand, and because 28,000 to 30,000 people travel on Central Avenue, he said.
McEvilly has lost about 35% of his customers since the banners were removed from the exterior of the center.
“It’s extremely tough to make rent,” he said.
To get more customers, McEvilly said he has paid for fliers to be attached to pizza boxes and an ad inside The Yellow Book.
“There is nothing like signs,” he said.
City officials cannot force a property owner or manager to put up signs with the businesses’ names, said John Brownell, city neighborhood service supervisor.
“The property manager has the right to pull banners,” he said.
A property owner or manager must give permission to tenants to place signs on the exterior of the shopping center, Brownell said.
