I took 5 hours to walk the street fair yesterday, I hope everyone in the retail business did well. I'm starting to get to know some of the long time store owners (40 or more years on Main St.) and they all say the same thing. That the new landlords are raising the rents by 2 or 3 times on new leases and forcing the long time stores to relocate, so the flavor of Ventura Main Street is changing. People used to come here from all over the country to go to the book stores etc., and now the new stores are just any city chain stores no one cares about.
The same thing happened on Hollywood Blvd., during the 4 years I lived there. The landlords didn't live in Hollywood and were clueless about what made the tourist come to Hollywood. Now it's just supergraphics advertising covering all the buildings. Yuck.