For many years, vehicles liberally filtered through the parking lot of Hanford's Centennial Plaza. Shoppers strolled left and right from store to store. Cash registers rang in sale after sale. That was when Wal-Mart anchored the plaza. Today, Wal-Mart has moved to a gleaming new location a few minutes away, leaving behind a mostly empty plaza, save for the customers who flock to Food Company, Earrings & Gifts and Dollar Tree.

The remaining mom-and-pop businesses struggle for customers, thanks to foot traffic that has slowed to a trickle, according to interviews with store managers. The managers hope an anchor takes over the old Wal-Mart building, a step that should not only bring more foot traffic to their businesses but get their registers ringing again. Otherwise, the businesses may leave when their leases expire, forced out by belt-tightening finances.

"I've been at the plaza for two years and I'm still not breaking even," said Larry McLeod, owner of Cartridge World, a printer cartridge replacement store which is losing between $1,000 to $1,500 a month. "I don't have enough money to pay the bills."

The old Wal-Mart building's owner, the Denver-based Redwood Real Estate Partners, has aggressively pursued new anchors in the past year. It once hoped for the arrival of several new tenants by early this year, complete with a refurbished building, in a push to unleash more foot traffic and inject energy into the plaza.

Today, Redwood Real Estate doesn't have any tenants lined up amid a wobbly economy. A wooden board covers up the entrance to the old Wal-Mart store. And spots that once held stores remain empty, their front windows tattered with dust.

The sprouting of new stores near Centennial Plaza like the soon-to-open Lowe's across the street has created stiff competition for luring in new tenants, said Dick Jacques, a consultant for Redwoods Real Estate. As a result, Redwoods Real Estate has had difficulty persuading tenants to set foot in the old Wal-Mart building.

Some people have stayed away from Centennial Plaza, deterred by its emptiness.

"It's an eyesore," said Linda Robinson, 46, an administrative assistant from Hanford. "It's too ugly."

To be sure, the plaza still attracts customers. One store has even seen its profit spike amid the bleak emptiness.

"We reach our sales every month," said Laurie Cancio, an assistant manager at Dollar Tree, a discount store. "People still come this way."

She attributed low prices and the ease of finding products in her store to her relatively good business. She even went as far as saying some of her customers don't like the bigness of the Super Wal-Mart just minutes south of the plaza. Rather, they prefer the convenience of navigating a smaller store like Dollar Tree, she said.

Earrings & Gifts, a gift shop selling everything from T-shirts and cosmetics to wigs and wallets, has kept its business as profitable as the days when Wal-Mart was in the plaza thanks to its loyal customers.

"We have old customers that come again and again," said Kwang Kim, the owner.

But most stores are barely breaking even. Many managers complain of the weak foot traffic, blaming the empty Wal-Mart building for their poor sales.

"I don't have enough traffic," said Frank Remotigue, owner of Asia's Best, Hanford's only Asian market. "I don't have the exposure that Wal-Mart would have provided."

He says his store, where dried Asian noodles and soy sauce pack the shelves, barely covers its expenses.

Some store owners think of leaving once their leases end. They say the foot traffic is so little and the business is so unprofitable that paying rent to remain in the plaza would choke their finances.

"I don't think I'm going to renew my lease," said McLeod of Cartridge World. "I have one year left."

Many businesses have led the exodus, with Subway and Contreras Fashions shuttering their doors in the months past.

City officials haven't lost hope. They think tenants will discover the old Wal-Mart site as Kings County's population balloons, in a sign of confidence that the area remains a retail powerhouse.

"You have a synergy of stores to attract business," said John Stowe, a senior planner with the city of Hanford, explaining the retail wattage power the area around the old Wal-Mart building provides.

Stores sprinkle the area surrounding Centennial Plaza, an indicator that there remains a potential for more foot traffic. Kings County is home to 146,000 people, most of whom are clustered in three cities: Hanford, Lemoore and Corcoran. Stowe says the retail environment in Lemoore and Corcoran is minuscule compared with that of Hanford.

As a result, residents countywide gravitate to the 12th Avenue and Lacey Boulevard intersection, which the plaza borders, to shop. There are lots of opportunities for customers near the intersection: An air-conditioned mall packed with digital-sound cinemas, a fast-food court and a Borders Express; big box retailers like Target and the soon-to-open Lowe's; and a plethora of chain restaurants like Applebee's, Panera Bread and Denny's. The intersection could be the county's busiest.

"You wouldn't want to place a store by itself in the middle of nowhere," said Stowe, explaining a major store in, say, Avenal, wouldn't churn out as much profit as one in or near Centennial Plaza.

A city councilman echoes that statement.

"I consider the old Wal-Mart building to be a marketable property," said David Ayers, a Hanford councilman. "As the area develops, the traffic count will continue to go up and that property will become more desirable."

There's another benefit. Gary Misenhimer, city manager for Hanford, says the old Wal-Mart building costs less to retailers because it doesn't have an estimated $800,000 sticker fee -- otherwise known as impact fees that come with a new site.

Redwood Real Estate has contacted "all major and minor" retailers directly in the hopes of getting them to sign on with the old Wal-Mart facility, according to Jacques. At a recent international shopping center convention in Las Vegas, it marketed its property to retailers nationwide.

But, despite all the hopes, most managers feel dragged down with their location next to an empty 126,000-square-foot building.

"We took a big hit after Wal-Mart left," said Robert Velasquez, manager for Black Bear Diner. "We'd appreciate it if they put something in."

Another manager echoes his statement.

"There's hardly any foot traffic here," said Melissa Ivey, manager of Susie's Deals, a clothing store. "But we're still hanging in here. At one time, a lot of the community did shop here. You couldn't even find a parking spot. Now it's dead all the time."

The reporter can be reached at 583-2423.