In Their Own Words: Traveling Tough Road to Recovery By SLAV KANDYBA Staff Reporter Many small businesses in the Valley were hit hard by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Most experienced many of the same problems, including damages to property and loss of clientele. Some were back to normal in about six months’ time, while others took years to get back on track. The Business Journal asked four owners to describe their journey on the path to recovery. Ramin Saberzadeh Exotic Image, Northridge “I opened the business in 1993, so it was a fairly new business at the time of the earthquake. Basically I didn’t have much business. Slowly it picked up, after about five or six months. The majority of my customers are health-conscious individuals between 35 and 55 years of age. I had two or three tanning beds on which acrylic shields broke. The beds were worth about $5,000 to $7,000 each. I could’ve fixed them, but I never wanted that part of the business, so I expanded it into a gym. After the earthquake, it was like ‘why have a tanning bed?’ I didn’t want to deal with them. “On a regular basis, I get anywhere from 55 to 100 people here per day. The outlook is I’m trying to expand it further. I want to make an impact and emphasize people should get healthier before going for fat loss. I think the recovery is complete. Not everyone was that fortunate.” Roya Saberzadeh Rochie’s Greek Row, Northridge “It hasn’t been a full recovery, and it will be full when I pay the debt. We got two SBA loans. We definitely changed our format of doing business. Now we see the signs of business coming back fully. We were dependent on the university there is a direct correlation with the growing enrollment. All the people left immediately after the earthquake, including fraternities and sororities. For the people that were left, the economy didn’t permit to belong to different organizations. “We certainly had a lot of damage, and lost our entire store. We were kind of like a gift store, and we had lots of things inside, a lot of glass and wood. For three weeks we were collecting broken glass and debris so we could start walking. “There was nothing really standing. This building is very old and we didn’t have any coverage. We’re right across the building that was totally demolished. It took a few years for regular life to resume. Now, almost 10 years later, people just have a distant memory.” Howard Meister Wine & Liquor Depot, Van Nuys “A quarter of a million dollars went down in a few seconds. Much of the stuff was piled up high in boxes. We moved into this store four days before the earthquake and weren’t opened yet, as we brought over all our products. We had to let all the employees go. My son and I did everything little by little as we came back. When you don’t have employees, you scrub the floors yourself. Now there are six people. “We started advertising and people started telling others that we are the best discount store in the Valley. We went from a full-service store on Ventura in Encino to a lesser rent area where we are a discount store. Our advertising and Web site help. “We now wire the bottles in, so if another earthquake comes, we won’t lose as much. We don’t carry a lot of those extremely expensive things. Business has been going up since Sept. 11.” Alan Beutler Old Friends Antiquities, Canoga Park “My building was extensively damaged and it was red-tagged. I thought it was the end of my economic future, and I have been here for 25 years. For some reason, the day after the earthquake I got a bug to do something, so I put what was left in the storage, and started cleaning up. Low and behold, we got the red tag removed and up and running four to five months later. Business was never better, since the earthquake. I went from a dark cloud to a cornucopia of sorts. I have primarily antique furniture and we were able to repair some of it. “Doing restoration for people in the area who had stuff damaged opened a whole new business for me. The earthquake benefited me big time. The revenues increased rather dramatically, although I had a lot of money going out. “It took me several years to recover, and it has been OK ever since. Business has generally been good for me. It’s been a full recovery. I went from this terrible disaster to a great business.”
