City of Covina: The Tour: North Azusa

Azuza Avenue Commercial Corridor - North

AZUSA AVENUE COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR-NORTH
(updated July 2000)

The Azusa Avenue Commercial Corridor-North is located mid-way between the Interstate 10 Freeway and the 210 Freeway on Azusa Avenue (State Highway 39). Arrow Highway, the north boundary of the corridor is the most heavily traveled surface artery in the east San Gabriel Valley.

The Azusa Avenue Commercial Corridor's centerpiece is a power center known as Covina Town Square which has, as it's primary anchor, a newly constructed AMC 30 Screen Theater (largest in Los Angeles County). Covina Town Square's other major tenants include Home Depot, Outback Steakhouse, Petsmart, Michael's, Home Town Buffet, Shakey's and Staples. The center has a total of 400,000 gross leasable square feet.

The AMC Complex, which features torus screens, stadium seating and multiple concession stands attracts over 40,000 people a week to this center. During the summer of 1999 the Covina AMC 30 Theater was ranked 28th in the nation in attendance. This activity along with the 120,000 square foot Home Depot store makes this one of the most dynamic retail centers in the east San Gabriel Valley.

This activity coupled with the newly opened Wal-Mart and Toys R' Us Center almost directly across the street, makes this area one of the most heavily traveled corridors in the east San Gabriel Valley. The Wal-Mart store, which is the new proto type for the "Wal-Mart of the future" is 135,000 square feet and serves approximately 4000 customers per day. The entire project including the new 45,000 square foot Toys R' Us store sits on 17 acre site. The project is connected to the Covina Market Place Shopping Center to the north by a bridge over the flood control wash. This effort will be a joint project between the center's management and the Redevelopment Agency. The Covina Market Place shopping center includes a Hollywood Video, an Office Depot, a Fashion Bug store, a Gigante Super Market and a One and More clothing outlet.

The new Toys R' Us features approximately 20% more sales floor space than their previous Covina facility. With this additional floor area the store displays much more merchandise, which is highlighted by improved signage, interactive exhibits, highly visible icons and much more point of sale product information.

The Toys R' Us Covina store has been designed to be a very customer friendly site. The floor is staffed with 60 to 150 employees (depending upon the season) and a full-time customer information booth.

In 1998, Carvin Guitars moved from West Covina into the former Speed Shop store located on the southwest corner of Arrow Highway and Azusa Avenue. This company manufactures its own musical instruments and sound equipment and then directly markets those products through retail outlets. Carvin's operation on the Azusa Avenue Commercial Corridor just down the street from the Guitar Center, and with the existence of The Fret House in Downtown Covina, Covina's status as the East San Gabriel Valley's musical instrument center is solidified.

Many other opportunities exist along the corridor, which contains a mix of stand alone retail outlets including Albertson's, Pep Boys, Guitar Center, several furniture showrooms and as well as most national fast food chains.

NORTH AZUSA AVENUE COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR'S LATEST ADDITIONS -- BERT'S MEGA MALL, OFFICE DEPOT AND GIGANTE SUPER MARKET

Covina is now the home to Bert's Mega Mall the largest motorsport showroom in the nation. The new 137,000 square-foot Bert's Mega Mall will house 10 times the inventory of any motorsport dealer in the USA. On display will be the complete product lines of Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, Ducati, Excelsior-Henderson, Seadoo, Crown Boats and Baja enclosed trailers. There will be over 1000 units on display with total worth of over $10 million.

Customers are expected to be drawn to the unique "stores within a store" design with sections like Bert's Parts and Accessories Garage slated to house 52,000 parts in 13,000 square feet of showroom space. Also included in Bert's Garage will be an array of high-end clothing lines that will appeal to the motor sports enthusiasts. The new Bert's will also boast the largest, best-equipped service center in California, with factory-trained technicians and 30,000 square feet of service area. A state-of-the-art service drive through means owners can drive their vehicles, even full-size boats into the shop. More than four acres of parking will hold approximately 800 cars to handle the projected increased business.

Recently opened in the corridor is Gigante supermarket, which is a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Grupo Gigante, Mexico's third largest supermarket chain. Gigante is operating in 50,000 square feet of the Covina Market Place shopping center. In the past two years Gigante has opened two other stores in Los Angeles County and is planning to operate as many as 20 establishments in southern California over the next three years. Also new to the Covina Market Place shopping center is Office Depot, which is operating in a 26,000 square building. Office Depot is the largest seller of office products in the world conducting business in 868 stores throughout the United States, Canada, France and Japan.

Gross sales for the Azusa Avenue Commercial Corridor-North topped over 140 million dollars in 1998. Traffic counts on the major arterials is nearly 80,000 cars a day. Estimated population within a five-mile radius is nearly 420,000 with 50.2% between the ages of 21 and 54. The average family income within that same five-mile radius is $62,042 and 66.5% of the population has an annual family income of over $50,000.

Please contact Nuala Gasser, Marketing Manager at (626) 858-7277
or e-mail at ngasser@ci.covina.ca.us for additional information.


The Wal-Mart store is the new proto type for the "Wal-Mart of the future." It is 135,000 square feet and serves approximately 4000 customers per day. The entire project including the new 45,000 square foot Toys R' Us store sits on 17 acre site.