This story has been updated (see below).
The Rio Rancho Discount Mall and Swap Meet in Riverside, Calif., has been shuttered to make way for an incoming Cardenas grocery store. The Cardenas chain owns the swap meet’s property. After years of effort, the Riverside County Economic Development Agency has managed to evict the flea market, according to a report in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
Vendors were forced to move out yesterday, about a month after management gave verbal notice that the market was coming to an end. Feb. 14 was the last day of business, according to another Press-Enterprise report.
The newspaper described the location as “rundown,” and quoted vendors and a market manager, Dennis Park, about problems meeting rent.
The newspaper article reads: “Park said he already was having problems collecting rents from tenants … ‘I can’t operate that location without people paying me rent,’ he said. Cardenas Markets has sued Victorville Discount Mart for nonpayment of rent. Park denied those charges.”
Photo credits, with thanks: The Riverside Press-Enterprise.
Feb. 17 Update: FleaMarketZone circulation director Brandee Carl-Werner spoke with Dennis Park on Feb. 11, and at that time he not only confirmed that the Rio Rancho location in Riverside has now closed, but he reports that another swap meet he manages in Pomona, Calif., may close very soon as well.