California Apparel News

The curtain has risen on Hollywood & Highland, but problems have already crept up behind the scenes at the shopping and entertainment center.

When the $615 million complex opened last November in Hollywood, city officials hailed it as the linchpin to the area’s renaissance. Now, it looks like the center is implementing more damage control than neighborhood transformation.

Retailers say the center—home to Gap, Banana Republic, Bebe, Tommy Hilfiger and Sisley—needs more publicity and better signage along with reduced parking rates. The center’s management team says it’s reviewing the issues and can better address them once the Academy Awards takes place March 24 at the center’s Kodak Theatre.

“The Oscars is the next step for the project to go through to complete its mixed-use offering,” said Russell Joyner, general manager of the center. “We hope to gain a sense of identity and purpose as a destination with millions of people watching.”

So far, two stores have closed—the Avant Premier clothing boutique and Santini Mavardi, a purveyor of designer shoes—but Joyner said the closed venues fell victim to tourism hits.

“Those were two high-end uses that were directly associated with the aftermath in the downtrend of tourism following 9/11,” Joyner said. “Luxury items are not rushing back to strong sales.”As a result, he said, the DFS Galleria, a two-story emporium that opened in February and whose first floor sells high-end, duty-free items by Celine, Louis Vuitton and other designers, may scale back its weekday store hours.

“They’ve got to reassess their strategyhellip;and cut costs in the short run to ramp up for the high tourist season this summer,” Joyner said.

At the same time, the center’s cachet is attracting retailers from area malls. Structure, a men’s clothing store, will leave nearby Beverly Center on March 11 and will reopen as a unisex store, Express for Men, at Hollywood & Highland this June.

Hollywood & Highland’s top three sales categories are restaurants, quick-food and health and beauty. However, women’s apparel is an important component of the tenant mix, said Vicky Sherman, the center’s director of retail marketing.

At Seventeen, a joint venture between Seventeen magazine and club impresario Steve Foster—who maintains an exclusive license for the store and adjacent nightclub, One Seven—new spring arrivals are selling strong, according to merchandiser Michelle Hansel. Peasant tops by Sage are checking, as are two-piece terry cloth suits by Frankie B. and Bella Dahl. Funkier denim jeans with embellishments, embroideries and low cuts are holding ground, Hansel said. Sharagano jeans with crochet or suede leg insets are popular, and Hippie, Seven and Frankie B. are top-selling brands.

“Overall, basic denim is slowing down and denim with treatments are taking over,” Hansel said.

Leisurewear is a key category for the Planet Funk boutique, said co-owner Oren Huy. Sold under the Planet Funk label, combed cotton sets with low-waist flared pants are doing well.

“We have them in a range of pastel colors—and they’re all blowing out,” Huy said.

Flowing, ruffle-edged prairie skirts are also “huge,” he said, as evidenced by window displays of easygoing, hippie-inspired looks.

What’s out?

“Anything not leisure, like cords, is slowing down,” Huy said.

While luxury goods in general may have hit an impasse, higher-priced items are still top draws, especially $160 Paper Denim & Cloth and Jil Stuart jeans, he said.

“If it’s branded, popular goods, they do well,” said Huy, who said his sales projections are on target for the year.

At Ames, where sales are down around 15 percent from earlier projections, interest is heating up for glittery, beaded prom dresses by Alberto Mikali and floral bouquet dresses by Sue Wong, said store manager Galina Itkin.

High-end, distinctive looks are customer favorites, including Angelica Val’s cutout sweaters and swing coats with button sides by Zelda. Sharagano creased-front stretch pants and Soleil de Mandalay suede pants with embroidered flowers and matching fringe jacket are one-of-a-kind looks customers are picking up, Itkin said.

Open since Dec. 27, 4 You is the first U.S. store for the Denmark-based men’s designer and retailer of the same name. The store, which is located along the center’s Awards Walk corridor, carries the 4 You brand’s concepts ranging from a line of trendy basics to higher-end merchandise. Assistant manager Hannah Sylvester said outerwear has enjoyed a strong sales run. Mid-length suede coats have been key items as have men’s blazers. A shipment of suede pants with silk lining sold out in a matter of weeks, she said.

Still, the center’s lack of directional signage has had an effect on store sales, according to Sylvester, who nonetheless remains optimistic about the future.

“I think [the center] has the potential to be really cool,” she said. “Winter is the toughest time in an outdoor mall. I think things will really pick up during spring break and into the summer.”