> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Chains may be broken
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/chains-may-be-broken/
- Published: 2007-11-24T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T04:05:43.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Business, Venice, #archive-import

*Venice residents are voicing concerns over glut of chains on Abbot Kinney*

VENICE Acting on the concerns expressed by a group of Venice residents and retailers over the emergence of chain stores on Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Ocean Front Walk, Los Angeles city planning officials are looking into drafting an ordinance banning so-called formula retail establishments.

The LA City Planning Department is preparing to draft an ordinance that would regulate the appearance of formula retail businesses in certain communities in the city, focusing its primary research, for the time-being, on the Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Ocean Front Walk areas in Venice.

A formula retail establishment is a business that standardizes everything from the services offered right down to the employee uniforms.

The Abbot Kinney community became outraged when a Pinkberry frozen dessert store opened its doors in May, disrupting the anti-chain character of the small business district that prides itself on its somewhat chic, bohemian qualities. Community leaders expressed concerns over the trend of chain stores appearing in Venice, noting that several other formula retail businesses have popped up in the past year, including a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Campos near Windward Circle.

The Planning and Land Use Management Committee directed the Planning Department to draft a proposed ordinance at its June 5 meeting.

The proposed ordinance would be loosely based on a similar law that passed in the city of Coronado in December 2000, after business owners and residents complained about a Boston Market and Petco moving into the San Diego County city’s downtown shopping district.

Planning officials are expected to start implementing the ordinance with a pilot program in Venice.

The ordinance would also address issues with signage — ensuring any signs would fit in with the character of the shopping district — as well as lot consolidation, regulating situations where property owners would combine several lots in favor of a larger scale development project.

“Abbot Kinney and Ocean Front Walk have a strong sense of local identity,” according to a staff update report compiled for the Planning and Land Use Management Committee’s meeting last week. “They are inviting places to live or to visit and are built upon a fabric of pedestrian-scaled independent businesses.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 24, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/112407.pdf?ref=smdp.com)