The Next Century of Retail: Episode 1

The Next Century of Retail: Episode 1

The Awakening — Restoring the Spirit of Innovation

By Edwin Duterte & Jennifer Wolfe
Founders, The Donn Allan Experience

Welcome to The Next Century of Retail. We are documenting the resurrection of a San Pedro landmark. This is the story of how a sleeping giant wakes up.

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The Heavy Silence of History

There is a specific kind of sadness that lives in an empty historic building. It is a heavy, dusty silence.

When you walk past the 1922 JC Penney building at 363–365 W. 6th Street, you can feel it. You feel the ghost of a bustle that used to exist. You see windows that once displayed the height of American fashion now reflecting only the passing traffic. You feel the stagnation of a downtown that has been waiting—patiently, painfully—for its turn to breathe again.

For too long, "Historic" has been a polite synonym for "Obsolete." The retail model that built this structure is dead. The foot traffic that fed it has migrated to glowing screens in living rooms. The building stands like a grand, forgotten instrument, waiting for a musician who remembers how to play it.

In November 2024, we decided the waiting was over. We bought the instrument.

The Resurrection: A Digital Pulse

We didn't purchase a museum; we purchased a machine. And we intend to turn it back on.

Our vision for The Donn Allan Experience is not to preserve the ashes of the past, but to reignite the fire. We are transforming this 1920s department store into a 2020s media engine. We are replacing the silence with a roar.

Imagine the dust being swept away not just by brooms, but by the energy of creators. Imagine the darkened corners illuminated by cinematic lighting. We are taking a space designed for the consumption of goods and turning it into a cathedral for the creation of stories.

The Echo of Innovation

History is not repeating itself; it is rhyming.

When JC Penney opened these doors in 1922, it was the "High Tech" of its day. It disrupted the local general store with standardized pricing and modern merchandising. It connected San Pedro to the national economy.

Today, we are honoring that lineage by installing the new machinery of commerce:

The Stewards of the Legacy

We are Jennifer Wolfe (The Storyteller & Healer) and Edwin Duterte (The Builder & Strategist). We are the "Mom & Pop" Holding Company, stepping in to steward this landmark.

We are doing this for Dr. Allan Wolfe and Dr. Donna Lee Wolfe—whose names hang invisibly above the door. They taught us that a legacy isn't built by hoarding wealth; it is built by opening doors.

We are opening these doors. Not just to sell clothes, but to sell the very idea of San Pedro to the world.

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The lights are coming back on in San Pedro.
Follow our journey as we build The Donn Allan Experience.