The Times

Saturday, November 20, 1976, page 2 (of 24)

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Gables Bazaar merchants determined to make it go

By ANA MARIA ALVAREZ Staff Writer Despite the growing number of empty windows and vacant display ares in the Bazaar of Coral Gables, the 29 merchants left under the large Miracle Mile roof are determined to make a go of it. The large department store located at Two Miracle Mile started out with 58 individual boutiques when it opened its doors on Sept. 24, 1975. The number of shops has slowly dwindled down to nearly half that size. Shoppers might have gotten the impression that everyone at the Bazaar was closing up shop because many of the display windows that run along the Douglas Road and Andalusia Avenue sides of the corner building are empty. But those merchants who have stuck it out, have huddled together and intend to make it through the holiday season. "We would like everyone to know that we will be here for Christmas and that we will guarantee our merchandise," said Norma Greenstein, who along with her husband, Howard, runs the All That Glitters boutique. The Bazaar has been plagued with problems even before the store opened. The Miracle Mile Merchants Association was against the idea of having different licenses under one roof from the onset. Months before the store's opening, representatives of the association went before the Coral Gables City Commission to argue that the Bazaar did not fit the concept of a department store as set out by the city's zoning regulations. The merchants along the Mile were also concerned with the parking problems a store with 50 to 60 units would create on the Mile. While the zoning regulations did not prove to be a problem, the parking situation has. "What's hurting us is the parking meters," said Mrs. Greenstein. "I have gone out and put money in my customer's parking meters many times," she said. When she does, a card which reads: "It was our privilege to save you a parking fine by putting a coin in the meter" goes under the windshield wiper of her customers' automobiles. "Customers first have to find a parking space, and then when they do, they worry about the meter running out," said Pearl Sagona, owner of Gazella's a baby shop and secretary of the Bazaar Merchants Association. "If they took away the parking meters, customers could take their time to shop. That's why poeople shop at Dadeland or other malls, they don't have to worry about parking," Mrs. Greenstein said. Ed Dowling, director of parking for the city, said that if the owners of the Bazaar had checked the feasibility of such a store at its present location, he would have advised against it. "If they had come to me at the time they were planning the store, I would have told them that it was impractical, Dowling said. "The store borders on City of Miami, so I have no control on Douglas side. Jackson Byrons is across the street and they generate a great deal of traffic. They have a large office building behind them and on the same block with the Bazaar are several beauty salons that are always packed," he said. In addition to the parking situation, the Bazaar has had its share of financial difficulties and promotion problems. According to the store merchants, the owner of the Bazaar Daniel Barry, is broke. They also say that the two month security deposit required of all boutique owners when they moved in, was supposed to be placed in escrow, but it wasn't. "If the building ever defaulted we would lose our licenses with the city because the Bazaar holds the licenses, not the individual store owners," said Mrs. Sagona. "If individual shops close up, they won't get their deposit back because it was spent." The Bazaar Merchants Association is practically running the entire show — collecting the rent and paying the bills — and the shop owners say they have managed to stay alive thanks to Martin Fineman, owner of the building which houses the boutiques, and was once Modernage. "Another problem is promotion," said Mrs. Sagona. "The Bazaar is not just for the rich, it's for everyone because we have things ranging from $2 to $500, but people seem to think that everything is too expensive. "We are hoping to be here for Christmas and January, February, March . . ." said Mrs. Sagona. The Bazaar . . . merchants will stick it out

A house that became a 'City Beautiful'

When Rev. Solomon Merrick and his 13-year-old son George came from Massachusetts to settle on a 160-acre tract of land near Miami, they probably had no idea that someday a City Beautiful would spring from their property. But it did. And on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. Merrick's original Coral Gables Home built in 1906 and located at 907 Coral Way, will be the site of an unveiling ceremony of a historic marker. Planned by the Coral Gables Historic Preservation Board of Review and the Coral Gables chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the ceremony will be followed by tours of the house. Called "Coral Gables," Merrick's house was built of native limestone rock quarried from a nearby site which is now Venetian Pool. In 1966, W.L. Philbrick purchased the home, which had become known as the Merrick Manor and created a foundation by the same name to maintain the building as a historic site. This year, the foundation donated the home to the people of Coral Gables. The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and its beginning to undergo restoration.

Printing costs have risen but not income

From Page 1 $500 to produce on eight-page paper, and they are required to have eight to 10 issues a school year. The funds from the school board plus the money generated from advertising don't begin to cover the total expenses. "The School Board is setting up unreasonable goals for us by requiring eight to ten issues a year, yet tying our hands financially," said Kathy Briggle, moderator for The Highlights. "My editors are out selling ads instead of writing because the School Board won't give us enough money," she added. "And even ads are hard to sell. Many of the people who bought ads from us last year haven't paid us for them." The funding problems for both the Gables and Ponce papers, as well as others throughout the county, started several years ago when the School Board decided that every student should be entitled to receive a free newspaper, therefore eliminating the paid subscriptions. Instead of the subscriptions, the School Board would allocate a certain amount of money to the newspaper for each pupil in a school. At Gables, the board gives the school $500 plus 75 cents per student. The funds, however, have not increased in the past three years, despite the rise in the cost of printing. "I'm all for every kid having a copy of the newspaper, but it takes away revenue we received from subscriptions," said Ralph Moore, principal of Ponce. "It costs us anywhere between $2,500 to $3,000 to print seven or eight issues of the paper," said Moore. "We get about $450 to $500 from the School Board and we sell about $300 worth of ads, which only covers the cost of two and a half, maybe three issues of the paper. 'The Rambler, the Ponce newspaper, is a four-page publication that has won several national awards in the past few years. Unlike many junior highs, which publish mimeographed newsletters, Ponce takes pride in their publication and the administration plans to stay with it no matter what. "It provides a tremendous experience for the kids and I for one am planning to stay with it. I'm just hoping that a group, an organization or a parent will see it as something extremely worthwhile and come through with a donation," Moore added. The paper has managed to stay afloat thanks to a few donations from parents, excess funds from other accounts which were transferred to the paper's, and from money generated by the paper's annual flower sale. "If Gables is bad off, we have even less money than they do because we are a junior high," said Brenda Feldman journalism teacher at Ponce. "Last year we went before the School Board and asked to be made an exception so that we could at least get as much money as the senior highs receive," she said, adding that the request was refused." "At most junior highs, journalism is not taken seriously and their publications are inferior," she said. The students who work for the Rambler are the honor English students in the eight and ninth grades. Just recently, their publication won the National Scholastic Press Award. At Gables, there are 22 journalism students, three photographers and one cartoonist who work to put out the paper once every three weeks. Mrs. Briggle feels that the only hope for the paper is if the parents buy subscriptions. "We feel that if every parent would buy a $10 subscription a year, we would break even," she said.