A 2025 report put Fairfax District retail vacancy at nearly one in five as Los Angeles merchants blamed steep rents, lost traffic and neglected streets.
Along Fairfax Avenue, once-busy storefronts now sit empty while surviving merchants struggle with high rent, weak foot traffic, poor roads and limited parking, The Post reported.
Power Commerce placed the Fairfax District’s retail vacancy rate at 19.5% in 2025. Matthews put Los Angeles’ citywide rate at 5.83% during the second quarter of 2026, the city’s highest level in more than a decade.
Nick Starr, the owner of Cofax Coffee, grew up in the neighborhood. He said local owners once lived near their properties, but later generations have taken a different approach.
“Now it’s their children or their grandchildren,” Starr said. “They’re really more interested in extracting the highest rent than they are of taking care of their properties.”
Starr said at least two landlords were seeking what he considered “Beverly Hills rents for Mid-City property.” Those spaces, he added, have remained vacant for years in some cases.
That choice carries a cost beyond one unpaid lease. Empty stores reduce the number of reasons for shoppers to visit, while smaller merchants lose the traffic that larger businesses once brought.
Supreme opened on Fairfax in 2004 and remained for 19 years. The streetwear brand moved to Sunset Boulevard in 2023, leaving behind a gap that merchants say the corridor has yet to fill.
Power Commerce cited the departures of Supreme and The Hundreds as major blows to local foot traffic. Its report also cited the aftereffects of social unrest during the summer of 2020.
“I think the block has been kind of trying to find its identity ever since that departure,” Starr said of Supreme’s move.
Simon B., manager of Hall of Frames, also pointed to online shopping, road conditions and parking. Returning customers, he said, are surprised by what they find.
“People that have come here and then come again a few years later, they get shocked that so many shops are closed or gone away,” Simon said.
Some established businesses remain. Trophie’s Burger Club and Indian restaurant Badmaash have stayed on the strip for several years, while Canter’s Deli has operated on Fairfax since 1953.
But other businesses have moved. Genghis Cohen relocated within the neighborhood in 2025 after spending 42 years at its previous site.
Jacqueline Canter, who runs Canter’s Deli and operates the Fairfax Avenue Business Association, said her family’s ownership of its property has made a difference.
“My grandfather was smart enough to buy the property when he did, and so I try to maintain,” Canter said.
She wants other owners to lower rents and fill their storefronts. Canter said some properties have remained empty for roughly 30 years, a practice she said makes no business sense.
Long vacancies may preserve a landlord’s asking price on paper. They do little for neighboring merchants who need customers on the sidewalk.
The Dime LA, a nightlife venue founded in 2003, is seeking another location after being told it must leave its Fairfax space. Co-owner Andy Fiscella said recent years had been difficult for his business and others nearby.
The venue owed $49,000 in back rent and agreed to pay by August 21. Fiscella said The Dime had assembled the full amount by August 24, one business day after the deadline.
Fiscella said the landlord refused to accept the money. The landlord’s identity and account of the dispute were not provided, so his claim cannot settle what happened between the parties.
The Dime had also paid a mandatory $600 late fee while behind on monthly rent, Fiscella said. He questioned whether another party had offered the landlord more for the space.
Co-owner Lucy Treadway said the venue had planned outdoor dining and a front patio that could help the block. She noted that the landlord had other vacant properties nearby.
The dispute captures the bind facing Fairfax. A struggling tenant missed an agreed deadline, while another storefront may now join a corridor already carrying a high vacancy rate.
Merchants did not place every problem at landlords’ feet. Simon called on Los Angeles to clean up the area, repair poor roads and improve the parking situation.
Leo Daube, a spokesman for Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, acknowledged years of weak infrastructure investment. He said the street “desperately needs repair.”
“There was a lack of investment in the infrastructure along Fairfax for a long time, so the quality of the street is not good,” Daube said. “It impacts how people feel about coming to the corridor and driving there, the whole experience.”
Yaroslavsky secured $2 million in state funding through a budget bill, Daube said. Release of that money remained subject to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.
The proposed work would rebuild and repave Fairfax while adding beautification measures. Daube said the street’s poor condition has made funding difficult because repairs require a complete reconstruction from the ground up.
Yaroslavsky’s office also plans to form a Business Improvement District. Such districts generally collect money from local property owners to pay for added services within a defined commercial area.
Organizers hope the new landlords at neighboring Television City will participate, Daube said. Yet the area’s existing neighborhood council has shown little urgency on economic development.
Barbara Gallen, a Mid City West Neighborhood Council board member, said its economic development committee met only once during the previous 14 months. The council has more than 30 board members.
Daube said city officials are laying the groundwork for a Fairfax “renaissance.” Merchants, meanwhile, are dealing with the conditions already in front of them.
Canter does not expect the corridor to return to its earlier form. “It’ll never, ever, ever again be like it was,” she said. “I think those days are just gone.”
Los Angeles cannot dictate every private lease, but it can maintain public streets and demand urgency from local bodies. Landlords also must decide whether empty property serves anyone.
Revival requires more than hopeful language. It starts with clean streets, sensible rents and public officials who treat a struggling business corridor like their responsibility.