I chuckle when I see posters in Thousand Oaks reading, “Buy local.� About a half dozen local storeowners have recently gone out of business in Newbury Park. How can we shop locally when local businesses are closing their doors? The closing of our favorite Ace Hardware Store was most devastating.
The closures of the local stores have taken place at Wendy Drive and Old Conejo Road — a deli, a barber shop, a bar, a feed store and the local Ace Hardware. Jo-Ann has moved to a new location in Moorpark.
A clerk at Ace informed me a developer had propositioned the city to condemn a number of homes under eminent domain to convert the property into a shopping mall, but the City Council stood its ground on behalf of the homeowners and rejected the offer.
We moved to Thousand Oaks to escape the population density and congestion of Los Angeles, but the density and congestion is fast catching up to us.
It’s interesting to note that the “shop locally� stickers I’ve noted pertain to Thousand Oak and Westlake. Newbury Park was excluded. Doesn’t Newbury Park have a chamber of commerce?
— Samuel M. Rosen, Newbury Park
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