-Editorial
Red and yellow banners outside Garlan’s located at 235 W. Second St carried a simple message: “EVERYTHING MUST GO. STORE CLOSING.”
For shoppers passing through downtown Calexico on Sept. 9, the signs marked more than another sale. They signaled the final weeks of a longtime downtown business that is preparing to close after 66 years.
Inside the store, customers browsed racks of clothing and remaining merchandise as Garlan’s continued selling its final inventory. Owner Robert Gronich could be seen assisting customers and speaking with people who stopped by the store.
In a brief conversation with Imperial Valley Insight, Gronich was asked why the longtime family-owned business was closing after more than six decades.
“It was time to move on,” Gronich said.
Garlan’s is expected to remain open until early or mid-November.
Its eventual closure will bring to an end a business with roots stretching back to the beginning of the 1960s and a family history closely tied to downtown Calexico.
The store’s origins date to when a Lebanese family from New York City opened a Calexico business called “Bueno, Bonito y Barato.” The owners recruited Charles Leo Gronich, a young man from El Paso, Texas, who had experience working at a department store, to manage the business.
The original owners sought a manager with retail experience who understood the dynamics of operating a business along the U.S.-Mexico border. It was also at the store where Leo Gronich met Clara, a customer who would later become his wife. The couple married in 1968.
When the original owners decided to sell the business in 1973, the Gronich family was offered the opportunity to take it over.
Leo Gronich eventually sought to transform the business by bringing a department store-style shopping experience to Calexico. The “Bueno, Bonito y Barato” name was replaced with Garland’s, a name created by combining letters associated with members of the Gronich family.
Over the decades, the store built a customer base on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, selling clothing for men and women and becoming familiar to generations of shoppers from Calexico and Mexicali.
Customer service and relationships with shoppers became central to the business. Beginning in 1978, Garlan’s also extended store credit to customers from Mexicali, helping the business develop relationships that continued across generations.
Garlan’s spent years on Second Street across from California Market. The family later purchased the former Western Auto building, allowing the business to move into a larger location while remaining in downtown Calexico.
For a time, Garlan’s also sought to expand its presence in Calexico by opening a second location, Garland’s Collection, near Walmart.
Garlan’s Collection operated for several years before eventually closing, while the original Second Street store continued serving customers from Calexico, Mexicali, and surrounding communities.
