Wexler and others are launching a GoFundMe campaign to raise $50,000 to allow the store to continue at another location. One of them is Joshua Wexler, whose title at entertainment company Pure Imagination Studios in Van Nuys is “chief executive of fun.” Some of the store’s biggest supporters have refused to give up. This is a real piece of Southern California history.” “The people who work here are so friendly. I come in every couple of months,” he said. “I’m very sad to find out that this joint is closing,” said Neil Cohen, a writer and illustrator who visited the store last week. The store did so well that her husband retired from Douglas Aircraft at age 35 to work his retail dream full time. The store opened in 1948 on Pico Boulevard, moving to Ocean Park Boulevard in 1955, Evett said. “Those were the busiest days of the business, before I came along.” “He told me he used to have controllers stacked 4 feet deep, awaiting repairs,” Evett said. She said her husband obtained a ham radio license and spent five years refining the technology to fly an airplane remotely, using a radio signal controller. Yvonne Evett started helping out at the shop in 2000 after she became Evett’s second wife. Post-World War II Santa Monica was home to aerospace firms such as Douglas Aircraft Co., which later became part of McDonnell Douglas Corp. It had collectible toys like Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots and the flying saucer from ABC’s prime-time science-fiction drama “The Invaders” in their original boxes.Įvett’s was one of the pioneers of radio-controlled cars and planes, built with the expertise of Navy veteran Colby Evett, who was also an aircraft mechanic. It had balsa wood gliders, some of the latest radio-controlled cars, planes, and the parts to keep many early and older models running. “The rent everywhere in Santa Monica was too high.”Īt Evett’s, customers could find that elusive color of brush or spray paint that no other store seemed to have. “There were over 100 vacant stores in Santa Monica that we looked at,” she said. The last increase was too much for the shop to handle, and Evett couldn’t find anything affordable, even for a downsized store. The average monthly retail rent in Santa Monica is $6.58 a square foot, up 75% from $3.77 a square foot in 2006, according to research by CBRE.Įvett’s pays $4,200 monthly for its 1,100-square-foot space, up from $1,200 a month in 2012, Evett said. As Santa Monica home prices have soared, so has commercial rent. On top of the toll from e-commerce, Evett’s has been hit hard by the increasing cost of Westside real estate. “They just want the finished product and the controller,” he said. What’s more, Orrin said, the customer base has changed, with buyers less likely to want to spend the time building their radio-controlled vehicle. They have been active on other social media and tried selling through EBay for a time, but online sales never seemed feasible for such a small shop. Orrin said he and fellow employee Gene Duarte turned to YouTube to promote the store with step-by-step model builds, unboxings and detailed product reviews.
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