California Apparel News

Just six months after signing a lease representing 1 million square feet of gift showroom space in the California Mart, a Dallas-based group has now broadened its influence with an agreement to take over the majority of management duties for the complex.

The Market Center Management Company (MCMC), which manages the Dallas Market Center (DMC), will now handle the marketing and leasing functions of the three-building Cal Mart, owned by Hertz Investment Group. (Hertz will continue to oversee operations for the complex.)

The deal also calls for renaming the entire complex—which will house apparel, textile, fashion accessories, and gift and home showrooms—the California Market Center.

Bill Winsor, president and chief executive of the California Market Center, said chief among his plans is a gradual unification of the Los Angeles fashion marketplace.

“We think the market here is pretty fragmented,” he said. “There are pockets of parochial and competing interests and the retailer can get caught up in that. We think there should be some solidarity there and think we can cross-purpose buildings in this area.”

Kit Marchel, president of Hertz Investment, said the management deal will be an asset to both the apparel and gift industries.

“I think that the combined management will benefit the marketing and leasing efforts of both industries,” she said. “I anticipate a bigger buyer base because now it’s going to truly be one-stop shopping [at the California Market Center].”

Industry watchers herald the move in anticipation of a focused outreach to the fashion community.

“Finally,” said Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association. “[The current management] has done the very best they can do. But, no one’s been quite sure of what direction to take. Now we have direction.”

DMC, along with show-management company George Little Management LLC and global show producer dmg world media, have been renovating Building C of the California Market Center, putting in wider hallways and bigger showrooms to customize the space for gift-industry tenants.

Winsor put to rest speculation that his organization will merely transplant the Dallas culture to the Los Angeles fashion industry, and he said the two cities will not represent a conflict of interest.

“We won’t take the Dallas way and make it the L.A. way,” he said. “There’s a difference in product here—it’s an extremely forward junior and contemporary place. A lot of Dallas buyers fly to California and L.A. buyers looking for better and bridge go to Dallas—that won’t change. One won’t cannibalize the other.”

Part of the new management’s plan includes beefing up the center’s current staff of six full-time members to around 45 leasing agents, marketing executives and staffers, all based in Los Angeles. Winsor said it wasn’t clear if the current staff of the Cal Mart would be part of the new center’s team.

“We need to evaluate two things—what are the needs of this new asset and what are the resources and strengths of our staff...we don’t want to make decisions arbitrarily,” he said.

Winsor and Cindy Morris, executive vice president of marketing for MCMC and DMC, will split their time between Dallas and Los Angeles.

With the change in name, management is trying to reposition the center in its branding and marketing efforts to lure new and former buyers to it. The name will also be part of an effort to revive fashion week in Los Angeles, an event in which management would like to increase its role.

Also key to the center’s growth will be an ongoing marketing council comprised of tenants who meet on a regular basis before shows to alert management of their needs and wants.

Another goal is to set market dates that are agreeable to both the CMC and DMC tenants, taking into account breaking dates for lines, holidays and other regional market dates, as well as such local events as the Academy Awards. This past year there were conflicting dates with the Dallas and Los Angeles fashion markets in January, April and June that required concessions from both parties.

On a micro-level, Winsor hopes to inject a sense of Southern hospitality and charm into the business culture at the center, which could range from putting vases of flowers in bathrooms to hiring greeters at market events. Buyers got a taste of that strategy at the recent preview opening of the California Market Center, where signs thanked attendees for their patronage and pink carpet and rows of potted plants lined the parking lot bridge. The show, which featured five showrooms on the center’s 12th and 13th floors representing more than 200 lines, drew around 3,000 attendees, more than beating expectations of 400 gift stores, according to Winsor.

“Our goal is to create contiguous categories of product and to create reasons for buyers to come to market,” he said.