Post #435185 by Mongoloid on Thu, Feb 19, 2009 1:18 PM

On 2009-02-19 11:43, jpmartdog wrote:
I don't mean to be a doomsayer... but, having lived in Belmont Shore, Long Beach for over 10 years just 1 1/2 miles from Sams/Kona, I thought I would throw my thoughts into the thread. (Just moved back to Massachusetts though)
First of all - I love Sams - my restaurant of choice in the LB hood, whenever family visited or whenever I could break my non-tiki gf into having Mai Tais.
Sams is on PCH (pacific coast Highway) - a legend of a highway, but - they are also very close to the 5/405 interchange. The stretch of pch from long beach to huntington beach although scenic is not home to thriving enterprises, in fact most of the road is bound by a naval station, beach parking lots and preserved wildlife refuge. Most commuters opt to travel up Seal Beach Blvd to the 405 or on the other end - up Golden West blvd to the 405, choosing to miss this long barren stretch of highway.

Now in contrast the Kowloon in Saugus, Massachusetts is on one of the heaviest-traveled stretches of Highway in the Boston Metro area - 100's of thousand of commuters travel by the Kowloon EVERY DAY. Restaurants thrive on Route 1 in the Saugus, Danvers area. Kowloon is amazingly busy, with a dining capacity of 1200 patrons, they find themselves with a large waiting line every Friday and Saturday night. One has to remember though that Kowloon has the best exposure that a business could have. When 1000's of people drive by your full parking lot 365 days a year, it pretty much assures you of continued success. Kowloon continues to be as big a legend on Route 1 as the Orange dinosaur mini golf and the plastic cows at the Hilltop Steakhouse!

Sams/Kona/Don the Beachcomber - although loved by us guys, has a tough nut to crack - Restaurants thrive, just 1 1/2 miles away, in Belmont Shore - maybe 35 full service restaurants within a 1/2 mile strip, have waiting lines and bustling streetside cafes every day and night. Sams is on a stretch of PCH that is kind of forgotten wasteland. It is a nice strip to drive for a vintage LA experience with great beaches loved by surfers, but the locals don't even consider it when planning their dinner and lounge outings- "Kinda out of sight, out of mind"

I wish Sams/Kona/DonTB the best, more than you know, but I think this will be an ongoing storyline of underperforming cash flow. Somehow they have to reinvent themselves as being a 'Destination' to lure hungry, thirsty patrons regularly! The restaurant industry is all about volume, and until that happens, they will never flourish. Maybe Don the Beachcombers will become that destination.

The good news is that with the struggling economy, nobody wants to build condominium/office space in that location at the moment - so they probably have bought themselves a few more years of life, just through fate.

Thats what the mafia told Bugsy about building Vegas in the middle of the desert! We know how that story ends! Cha-Ching! Im stoked beyond belief!!!!!!!!

[ Edited by: Mongoloid 2009-02-19 16:48 ]