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Robocat Shoes beckons passersby with steeply cut prices for a going out of business sale. Many Westwood businesses are closing their doors.

Over the last couple of months, several retail stores have closed up shop and left the Village forever. Many merchants in the Village are facing dramatic rent increases, and under pressure some have been forced to leave.

The Wherehouse, Monica’s on Broxton, Zone d’ Erotica, Breadstiks, Beyond the Wall poster shop and G.H. Optic have closed recently, most due to lack of sales or rising rent pressures.

Local merchants are continuing to blame the loss of retail stores on lack of parking in the Village and a lack of a unique mix of retail stores which would give shoppers more reason to come to Westwood.

Gary Fieberg, owner of G.H. Optic, which closed late last year, said his landlord raised his rent 50 percent, forcing him to leave.

Fieberg said his landlord was frequently offered tempting offers from various fast food or tea boutiques, and eventually succumbed to the promise of greater profits. As a result another boba tea house will move into the building, which already contains a similar tea house.

“I don’t blame him for that,” Fieberg said. “But the downside is that fast food places might only last two to three years. We sacrifice long-term relationships for short-term gains,” he said, adding that with the exodus of long established retail stores, the Village seems to be loosing its sense of community.

Others agree.

“There is a Gap on every block in America,” said Guy Starkman, owner of Jerry’s Famous Deli. Starkman, who added that he doesn’t believe people will come to Westwood for chain retail stores and restaurants found in many other parts of the city.

Fieberg and other Village merchants have noted that Westwood and the way people shop have changed over the years.

Once a retail and pop culture mecca of Los Angeles through the 1970s and 1980s, Westwood used to be filled “wall to wall” with patrons. However, shopping promenades such as Santa Monica’s Third Street and the Century City Mall, as well as the internet, have siphoned off many customers.

Starkman and others believe the Village is saturated with restaurants, in particular fast food eateries, as well as corporate retail, creating a generic, corporate-dominated shopping space indistinct from anywhere else.

“(The Village) doesn’t have the unique retail where a couple on a date can walk around,” Starkman said. “There is no compelling reason to walk the streets of Westwood.”

Much of the business that is moving out of the Village appears to be retail or clothing stores, such as Beyond the Beach, which closed last summer, and Monica’s on Broxton. Copeland’s Sports, Robocat shoes and Pugz Records will soon follow.

But the loss of retail business in the Village is not necessarily a result of a slow economy.

According to Tom Lieser of the Anderson School of Management’s economic forecast, the national recession was over a year ago.

Lieser said he believed the Village became too dependent on a youth-driven entertainment economy, forcing long-established retail stores out.

“They were overdoing it in the 1980s on the entertainment side (of Westwood’s economy). Major retailers suffered. People were not buying higher-end goods,” Lieser said.

Within the next few months a Chili’s, Corner Bakery, Whole Foods and a CVS Pharmacy will be moving into the Village.

But many business owners said the foremost improvement to be made in the Village is the addition of more public parking spaces.

“Until the Village deals fundamentally with its parking problem, the Village is never going to thrive,” said Steve Sann, a Westwood real estate consultant.