More than 20 retailers and restaurants at Westfield Topanga and The Village are looking to fill as many as 300 jobs as they gear up for the busy holiday shopping season.
The businesses will hold a job fair from 3-5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22 at Westfield Topanga on Level 1 near California Pizza Kitchen. It will be the retail center’s third job fair this year and more could be coming, officials said.
Participating merchants — including Abercrombie & Fitch, Blaze Pizza, Forever 21, Kids Foot Locker, Macy’s, Spencer’s, Starbucks and Victoria’s Secret, among others — have openings for a variety of roles ranging from sales clerks, team leads and line cooks, to servers, merchandisers and store managers.
100 to 300 new hires
“On average, each business will be looking to hire five to 15 employees,” said Brian Parent, general manager for Westfield Topanga and The Village.
That means 100 to 300 workers. Filling all of those slots won’t necessarily be easy either.
“A lot of tenants have relayed that they find the hiring process to be much slower than in years past,” Parent said.
The full list of openings can be found at https://bit.ly/2YUpLdf.
Westfield Topanga and The Village combined have more than 340 shops, restaurants and service providers across 2.1 million square feet of retail space.
Helping stores stay afloat
Parent said some stores at Westfield have been forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic, although most are still up and running.
“We’ve worked with tenants to make sure they can continue,” he said.
That includes reduced hours of operation if necessary, social media promotions and “pop-out” operations in the mall’s common areas.
“They’ll have carts out there, which gives them more brand exposure,” Parent said.
A new addition
A new dining and entertainment district is set to be unveiled at Westfield Topanga in 2022. It will fill a vacant 180,000-square-foot space that used to house a Sears department store.
Luxury retailer HermeÌs has signed a lease for a 7,500 square-foot store that will anchor the expansion, and the Hermès Topanga boutique is slated to open in 2023. Pinstripes, a Chicago-based dining and entertainment complex offering Italian-American cuisine, bowling, bocce ball and private event banquet space will also join the expansion.
Holiday forecasts from three different firms predict a sharp jump in year-over-year spending this holiday season.
Bain & Co.‘s analysis predicts total U.S. retail spending could hit $800 billion during November and December — a 7% sales growth rate, fueled by store sales and continued e-commerce growth.
Deloitte forecasts sales growth of 7% to 9% this holiday season, while Mastercard SpendingPulse says sales should jump 7.4% from a year earlier and climb 11.1% on a two-year basis, fueled by a rebound in in-store shopping and ongoing consumer demand.
Early shopping
“We’re expecting customers to shop much earlier than in the past this year because there may be a shortage of some products,” Parent said.
With the holidays fast approaching and supply chains clogged, retailers big and small are scrambling to get holiday goodies on their shelves. But back-ups at Southern California ports and a shortage of warehouse workers and truckers will likely make that a tall order for merchants.
The gridlock stems from the temporary closure of factories, warehouses and other key facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many workers moved to other jobs, while others are leery of returning to work amid the delta variant.
The shortage has created a supply-chain backup amid a climate of rising consumer demand and increased e-commerce.