KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | Businesses Continue to Close in Northeast Fresno Shopping Center

Businesses Continue to Close in Northeast Fresno Shopping Center

By: Ashley Ritchie

Ted and Dixie Switzer eat out every night.

"We used to come here probably a lot more than we do now. All of our favorite restaurants are closing or a lot of them are," Ted Switzer said.

Living near Fort Washington and Friant, the Riverview Shopping Center was convenient, and for a while, boasted a lot of options.

But lately it seems instead of menus in the window; more people are walking up and finding for sale signs.

"The restaurants we can choose from in this area are really slimming down in a hurry. And I don't know, maybe they weren't good concepts. But we enjoyed eating at a lot of them," Switzer said.

In the last couple of months, both the Red Door and Bentley's Bistro have shut down.

And the building that once housed Flamenco's Tapas of Spain, still sits empty.

"It's a tough time right now," Pino Borrelli said.

Borrelli's Italian restaurant "Gigi's" is situated between the two doomed dining spots. And he says when a business leaves, so too, do potential customers.

"It worries me for foot traffic. It's great to have a great shopping center like this, it's in a great location, beautiful shopping center, you have five or six restaurants to choose from," Borrelli said.

But Borrelli is adapting to his more penny-conscious clientele.

He's added more than 60 bottles of less expensive wine to his menu that he changes on a daily basis.

"You gotta work and keep it going and just serve the best possible food that you can to keep the people coming back," Borrelli said.

For Ted and Dixie Switzer, what happens at this shopping center affects more than their dinner spots.

"If it's popular, our home values are worth more, everything else is worth more," Switzer said.

So they'll continue coming to Gigi's.

"Good Italian is hard to find in this town," Switzer said.

And they hope other people and businesses will soon follow.

We tried to contact the owners of the Red Door and Bentley's Bistro, but they could not be reached.

What we have been told is rent in this shopping center is anywhere from $7,000 to $12,000 a month.

But if that's the reason these businesses are closing, we can't say for sure.

Pino Borrelli says he's hoping the property managers can find businesses to fill the vacant spots that will be able to survive the tough economy.