• In Clark's History
• Posted April 01, 1980

Growing Pains

In the 1980’s, with the body building phenomenon in full swing, Clark’s helped countless people to tone and build muscle through nutrition and weight training. Clark’s sold 1,000’s of pounds in weights. A large container outside the store was purchased just to hold the weight equipment. People came for miles to purchase what would become known as “sports nutrition” products.

With the San Bernardino store finally running well, the Riverside location was experiencing some growing pains of its own. By the late 1980’s, the store outgrew the downtown parking, located on 10th Street. Although the store was going well, it became apparent that Clark’s needed to move!

The opportunity to renovate the DeAnza Theatre for the new location would turn out to be a much larger task than anticipated. Although, previously a WWII bomb shelter, the city still required Clarks to reinforce the floor with steel and cement rather than the typical wooden joist.

83 semi-trucks of pea gravel and a $350,000 floor later, the remodeling cost was over one million dollars, and significantly more than budgeted for. On Memorial Day weekend in 1990, the DeAnza Clark’s opened its doors to a ready public.