The days of walking into a store and buying an official San Diego city street sign are over for now. The City Store closes for good today. KPBS reporter Katie Orr has details.
The store has been open for 17 years with branches in several locations. Managing Partner Bob Hood says the most popular items were the “swimsuit optional” signs that were used near Blacks Beach. Hood says as the store’s popularity grew, they had to get merchandise from other places.
Hood: Originally, uh, all the surplus we sold was from the city. Because of its popularity we exhausted that supply. So we went to their sign manufacturer and bought the same streets signs, but just bought them directly from them. So they were replicas.
Hood says the cost of renting space for the shops has gotten too high and there was the potential to lose money next year.
Katie Orr, KPBS News