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Nipomo, Calif. – The long-planned new Nipomo Mall is now open for business, bringing more shopping and traffic to the busy downtown area.
Located near the intersection of S. Frontage Road, Teaf Street and Highway 101, the shopping center features four new businesses.
The mall is located on the site of the former Nipomo Recreation Center, which burned down in 2008.
After that, the abandoned property became the site of a temporary skateboard park. The park will be demolished in April 2021 to make way for the construction of the new mall.
O’Reilly Auto Parts opened its doors earlier this month, and the Grocery Outlet Bargain Market opens at 7 a.m. tomorrow.
“I’m so excited,” said owner Nesrin Rabia. “I can’t even wait. I want to open today. We’ve seen 10, 20, 30 people come, we’ve seen them get really excited. I’m excited to open the doors tomorrow.”
Tractor Supply Co. is expected to open next month, while the Wendy’s restaurant is still under construction.
Also at the beginning of this month, Dutch Bros., which is not part of the new shopping center, but is located next to the property in the former location of the Little Joko restaurant, opened two weeks ago.
Once all the new businesses open, it will give shoppers in the South San Luis Obispo community an opportunity to keep more of their purchases in town, as opposed to driving out of the area.
“I think it’s a great idea to have more places to shop here in Nipomo,” said Nipomo resident Ross Brothers. “If you go down to Santa Maria, it’s nine, ten miles. If you go to Arroyo Grande, it’s nine, ten miles, so it’s good to have more shopping here in Nipomo.”
In addition, the new stores will provide more job opportunities for Nipomo. Grocery Outlet currently has 35 employees, including those set to work in Tractor Supply and also currently working in O’Reilly.
“It’s going to open up jobs for a lot of people my age, from my age, a little over, to high school, and it’s great, there’s going to be a lot of jobs,” said Grocery Outlet Cashier Amanda Reid.
Rabia is targeting Nipomo for the new grocery store, citing the market potential and demand she sees in the growing city.
“I’m local,” said Rabia. I live here, I live in a neighborhood, I’m here to support my community, I’m here to support my city by making a big difference, by giving some good prices on the products we choose, when it comes to the products. We have it on the floor, the deals we’re offering, the customer service we bring. We want to be here just as a positive change, but we also want to be here to support our community, we want to have choices. We want to be here to support our customers.
While the new stores will bring more shopping choices to the growing community, at the same time S. It could create more congestion on Frontage Road, which has been plagued by traffic problems for years.
“I’m very concerned about the increase in traffic,” Brothers said. “Most of the roads here, especially away from the main road, are two lanes, one way in each direction, and I think that’s going to back up a bit with traffic at any time of the day. Just in the morning and after work hours.”
San Luis Obispo County has been working on easing traffic problems on Teff Street and other nearby roads for the past several years.
Last year, the county completed a major road improvement project that widened both freeway lanes. In addition, the timing of the stop lights on Tuff Street has changed, and left turns from S. Frontage Road have been restricted.
“Be patient,” said Rabia. “I understand there’s going to be a little traffic on Frontage Road. We know it. We’re going to be patient with each other. We know there will be in the beginning, especially at the grand opening, the first week. Traffic, we’re going to be patient with each other, we’re going to love each other so that we can have something great for Nipomo.”
An opening date for the new Wendy’s restaurant has not been announced.
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