Canyon Crest Towne Centre in Riverside seems to have added a hot new business: a rumor mill. It’s busy pumping out hearsay, half-truths and chisme. Say what you will about its business practices, this mill knows its way around social media.
Ever since beloved independent bookstore Cellar Door Books announced Jan. 19 that it had lost its month-to-month lease, gossip began flying that five or six other businesses had also had their leases vacated.
Many accepted this number as fact, even though nobody could name more than two other businesses, one of which turned out to be leaving by coincidence. Then on Thursday, Jan. 26, an online news site posted a story that said “we have spoken to other business owners who have had their leases terminated” before naming six goners.
Except this list was faulty too. The owner of The Sacred Journey said she has a lease and had not been contacted by the site. The writer admitted to her in an email that he had merely “reported what I was told by other business owners.”
Where is Perry White when you need him?
Having already written about Cellar Door’s situation, I went back to the Towne Centre on Friday morning, Jan. 27, to talk face to face to those six businesses. Here’s the rundown:
Who is leaving: Cellar Door Books, Kiddos 101
Who is staying: The Sacred Journey, Canyon Crest Ice Cream and Water
Who is in limbo: Romano’s Italian Restaurant, Marisa’s Italian Deli
In other words, so far the fatalities total only two.
“We have never been a month-to-month tenant here. We just signed a new lease in November,” said manager Trisha Smothers of Lot 22 Olive Oil, which has been named on Facebook, NextDoor and Instagram as being in jeopardy.
“Thank you for coming in instead of printing something without checking with us,” Smothers added. “It’s caused a lot of chaos here in the shop this week. Hundreds of phone calls, people coming in and asking if we’re closing.”
How would such a rumor get started? “Your guess is as good as mine,” Smothers said.
Canyon Crest Ice Cream and Water is midway through its five-year lease and isn’t departing either.
“That’s someone spreading a rumor,” said Dal In, whose wife owns the shop. “Many people are asking me.”
The Sacred Journey isn’t going anywhere either, at least not on the physical plane.
“We have not had a lease termination. We have a lease and we’re still under lease for several more years,” said Cary Pealer, whose wife, Michelle Orlijan, owns the store that stocks spiritual tools like candles, incense and stones.
Pealer said his wife spent Thursday replying to social media posts that listed her store as getting the boot. Orlijan also posted an email of apology from the news site that had included her store.
Pealer was, commendably, calm and composed despite rumors of The Sacred Journey’s premature end.
However, Kiddos 101, an indoor play space for young children, must close March 31, just like the adjacent Cellar Door Books. Both have month-to-month leases and are not paying common-area maintenance fees.
As toddlers played with toys or on Kiddos’ inventive soft features, parents joining them, Julius Hahn, who founded the business in 2016 with wife Larissa, said management offered no conversation about the lease, just a notice to vacate.
He called that a “cold and callous approach” and a far cry from the warmth of Mark Thompson, who founded the neighborhood center in 1979 and ran it until his death in 2021.
“He built this up from scratch. He believed in small business,” Hahn said of the man he always called Uncle Mark. “You’re dismantling a man’s legacy.”
Some 15 children were playing quietly amid classical music and ambient sounds, sunlight streaming through the windows. Hahn said he can’t afford to move anywhere else and the business will go out with a party.
“We’re planning on closing on our anniversary, March 23,” Hahn told a customer.
Parent Malorie Rutledge said her daughter Asher, 2 1/2, is “a true COVID baby” who didn’t like people and had no social skills when they started coming to Kiddos. Now, “her social skills and motor skills have just blossomed. It’s honestly changed her life,” Rutledge said.
Asher, who was wearing a ballerina outfit and a “Toy Story” backpack almost as big as she was, used to cry when she saw Julius Hahn (or almost anyone else). Now she gave him a high-five and a hug.
The lease situation is in flux at Romano’s and its sister restaurant, Marisa’s Italian Deli. “We’re still in the process of negotiating,” said employee David Ludden, who said the restaurants are on month-to-month leases but are current on rent. “We’re told they will get back to us next week.”
Romano’s will mark 24 years at Canyon Crest in April — if it’s still there by then. Romano’s on Jan. 15 closed its downtown outpost, Raincross Pub and Kitchen, which had live music, and the next day began building a stage inside Romano’s, where live music should return on Fridays and Saturdays starting Feb. 16.
“We’re hoping for the best,” Ludden said of negotiations.
Center management didn’t reply Jan. 19 when I asked what other businesses, if any, were affected and didn’t immediately respond to a second request Friday.
The back-and-forth on social media about the changes at Canyon Crest has been politically charged.
Cellar Door and its customers questioned whether its ouster is payback for its inclusive attitude, masking policy and quarterly Drag Queen Story Time.
Many conservatives pushed back, saying that if six other businesses were getting the boot, that proved Cellar Door was not targeted.
One woman has left dozens of Facebook comments to that effect, demanding apologies from Cellar Door and Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, who visited the store in support. Canyon Crest management also said those complaints were “totally and completely unfounded and could not be further from the truth.”
That’s a strong denial. Or it might be protesting too much. Regardless, the online gossip is confusing the public, either accidentally or deliberately.
“It is very curious,” bookstore owner Linda Sherman-Nurick told me Friday, saying she thinks it’s deliberate. “Sure looks like a diversion to me. It seems incredibly disingenuous.”
David Allen’s contributions crest on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.
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January 29, 2023 at 11:01PM
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Gossip rampant about changes at Canyon Crest Towne Centre in Riverside - The Press-Enterprise
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