The Promenade Shops at Dos Lagos opened two years ago in Corona, aimed at serving the legions of people moving into upscale new housing tracts in the surrounding hills.
Discount center it isn’t. This is where you go to find a $3,300 home espresso machine at Sur La Table, a $500 handbag at Coach or a $6 cup of Pinkberry frozen yogurt.
Harder to find are paying customers. On a recent weekday afternoon, most stores had fewer shoppers than salespeople.
Outside the Starbucks, Melissa McVicar was selling sunglasses from a cart, $12 a pair. Five hours into her shift, McVicar had sold only six pairs. And most of her customers weren’t paying cash.
“People are buying on credit, even if it’s only $12,” she said.
Most construction workers on large projects in So. Calif. are illegal aliens. That skews whatever point the author is attempting to make.