Two Retailers Emerge to Possibly Fill Former Sport Chalet

After discussions with several national retailers, IDS Real Estate Group has narrowed the field to two potential tenants in line to fill the empty former Sport Chalet store in the Town Center, according to Rob Fuelling, senior vice president at IDS.
Fuelling declined to name the potential tenants or to offer a general description of which retailers they might be, except to say that they are both national companies. He said an announcement with more details could come within a couple of months.
“It’s a process,” Fuelling said. “The large corporate retail groups tend to move very slowly, very deliberately, so it’s probably going to be another six to eight weeks before we have anything official to announce. But we are encouraged with the activity we’ve had over the past six months; we’ve made great strides getting to a point where we’re excited about two great retailers.”
The 45,000-square-foot retail space anchoring La Cañada Flintridge’s largest shopping center has been vacant since early July, when Sport Chalet — the sporting goods retail giant that was started in LCF by Norbert and Irene Olberz 57 years earlier — closed its doors for the last time.
The chain was purchased in 2014 by Vestis Retail Group, which last April filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced plans to shutter all 47 Sport Chalet stores, including the one that was the mainstay at LCF’s Town Center, which IDS acquired in 2011 from the Olberz family.
“Retail has changed quite a bit in the last several years, where the large 45,000-square-foot buildings have kind of taken a different course from a demand standpoint,” Fuelling said. “But the best retailers still have a need for that size, so we’re excited that we’ve got a couple that we’re pursuing.”
He said LCF’s demographics as well as the future addition of City Hall to the Town Center is attractive to the retailers who are considering moving in.
“It’s great for the city and the retailers that are at the Town Center,” Fuelling said. “Just the energy of having City Hall located within the Town Center, the use of the park, the overflow into the Town Center and just more activity for our retailers to capture.”