A farewell to Farrell's

County's last parlor closes Monday

*By Frank Green *

Saturday, July 29, 2006

The last old-school Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour in San Diego County is
about to draw its final scoop, a victim of rising costs and a changing
marketplace dominated by upscale competitors.

SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
As the days counted down to the closing, Bill Worley, a 27-year veteran
of Farrell's, put the final touches on the pig's trough and prepared to
deliver it to a table - with a song.

The Mira Mesa Farrell's will close Monday after hosting its last
birthday party and serving one last Zoo Sundae ($42.99; serves 10).

No more late-19th century decor of flocked wallpaper, Tiffany-style
lamps, brass ceiling tiles and player piano.

And no more loud drum beats and sirens to signal the start of a bracing
birthday song warbled by waiters in skimmer hats and black vests.

?Our customers are people who liked the nostalgic feel of the place ...
and the noise,? said John Ortman, who opened his first Farrell's
franchise in La Mesa in 1968 and has owned eight in the area over the
years.

The business - which had its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s when the
Farrell's chain grew to 130 stores across the U.S. - has been marginally
profitable in recent years as lease rates and labor costs soared. One
Farrell's store remains, a location in Santa Clarita.

Ortman said he no longer can compete in an industry in which customers
can order a $3.10 sundae and take up a table or booth for half an hour
or more, pushing down average checks compared to other ice cream stores
and restaurants.

Analysts said regional, old-fashioned stores such as Farrell's are
having a tough time keeping cool under the competitive heat from
up-and-comers such as Cold Stone Creamery, Marble Slab Creamery and the
revitalized Baskin-Robbins.

About 70 percent of the $22 billion in ice cream and frozen desserts
eaten each year is now consumed at scoop shops and other retail outlets
instead of at home, according to industry statistics.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Cold Stone has become the Starbucks of the ice
cream business, rivaling top brands Dairy Queen of Minneapolis and
Baskin-Robbins of Canton, Mass. The company, which operates 41 outlets
in San Diego County and 1,350 elsewhere, sells premium-priced,
customized cones that are elaborately assembled by theatrical scoopers
who mix ingredients on marble slabs.

"People in Mercedes cars go to Costco to get bargains, but the same
people will pay tons of money for what they view as an experience," said
Phil Sugar, chief executive at the Smart Button consulting company in
Newark, Del.

Cold Stone expects 2006 sales to rise 22.5 percent to $500 million.

"Ice cream is something people have an emotional connection with," said
company spokesman Kevin Donnellan, adding that virtually no one leaves
the company's stores "without a smile on their face."

To counteract the competition, some older chains such as Baskin-Robbins
and Carvel are fighting back with remodeling plans and expansion programs.

Baskin-Robbins, which has 31 stores in San Diego County and about 2,500
stores elsewhere in the U.S., said it plans to open 170 new shops this
year and another 170 in 2007. Sales at the chain increased 0.9 percent
in 2005.

A systemwide remodeling, begun this year, features a new company logo
and an interior done up in pink fluorescent hues and deep blue tints,
with brushed-aluminum front display cabinets.

Four stores in the area will be remodeled by the end of next month, said
Baskin-Robbins spokesman John Carlson.

"We serve a broader audience (than Cold Stone)," said Carlson, noting
that Baskin-Robbins also has fruit drinks and cappuccino on its menu.

Despite the newer ice cream competitors, Farrell's Ortman said he
believes his concept still has mass appeal, judging from the recent jump
in business as people visit the store at 10606 Camino Ruiz one last time.

"I still get a lot of calls from across the country from old customers,"
he said.

Carol Larsen said she will miss celebrating her birthday party at
Farrell's with her family, a tradition which dates to the 1970s when she
would take her son and daughter to the chain's now-defunct Fashion
Valley mall store.

"This is a special place. . . . It has a nostalgic atmosphere which
brings back a time when we were kids," said Larsen, who was eating ice
cream at the store the other afternoon with her granddaughter, Brianna
Davis.

The Farrell's chain opened in Portland, Ore., on a Friday the 13th in
1963 by Bob Farrell, who styled his restaurant interiors and servers'
uniforms after historic photographs of parlors from the late 19th century.

In 1972, Farrell sold the chain for $120 million to the Marriott Corp.
But by 1975, an economic downturn had contributed to Farrell's losing
$4 million.

(Don't you believe that  -  Marriott drove Farrell's
and Bob's Big Boy into the ground all by itself.)

Marriott, which unsuccessfully tried to remold the chain to attract a
wider audience, sold Farrell's in 1982 for $20 million to investors led
by Richard Blum. By 1985, the chain was sold back to Marriott, which
closed or sold many stores.

As more parlors vanished, Ortman refused to abandon Farrell's, keeping
its old-timey decor in place even during the years of corporate
makeovers. Ortman opened and closed six Farrell's stores from 1968 to
the mid-1980s.

The Fashion Valley parlor, which opened in 1970, survived until 1996,
when it was forced to close because of the shopping center's expansion.
Ortman opened the Mira Mesa outlet six weeks later.

"With high labor costs these days, it's tough to maintain the
elaborate, labor-intensive Farrell's format, replete with singing
waiters," said Ortman, whose staff has diminished from 50 employees per
store to about 30 workers at the Mira Mesa site. "I'll miss this."
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