Retail on the Sunny Side of the Street
When Nina Messiah opened her self-named boutique in Beverly Hills in March, she knew she had staked a claim to one of the world’s blue-chip shopping towns. But Messiah also knew that some of the city’s streets command the attention of shoppers from Tokyo to New York, while other streets strive to increase their retail sizzle.
Several months after debuting the boutique with co-owner and husband Eddie Jackson, the couple knows what it’s like to bask in attention—and to feel a little left out. Their street, Brighton Way, seems to be split between both extremes.
The intersection of Brighton and Rodeo Drive is often rife with tourists bent on finding designer fashions. The intersection of Brighton and Canon Drive, however, claims pedestrian traffic not primarily interested in shopping. Instead, workers from local medical offices and the Paradigm Talent Agency make their way between their jobs and the many restaurants in the area.
The split could be confirmed by area real estate costs. Commercial space adjacent to Rodeo Drive commands $20 per square foot, according to Chuck Dembo, a partner with the Dembo & Associates real estate firm of Beverly Hills. Farther away from that intersection, a square foot of commercial space costs $5.
Messiah and Jackson believe that retail traffic will climb once the high-end restaurant E Baldis opens in their building within the next few months. “Once people realize shopping is down here, we’ll get a lot more traffic,” Jackson said.
They’re already making a name for themselves with funky, sophisticated clothes that seem more like the offerings found in boutiques on Los Angeles’ West 3rd Street than in Beverly Hills. Top-selling items for women include all items by Geren Ford, whose price points range from $165 to $400, and Tshirts by LA Made, whose price points range from $25 to $60. Popular items for men include polos by Canada-based Industry, whose price points range from $50 to $60, and Jet Lag denim, which costs $240.
Retail traffic at Brighton and Canon is fine for Alan Au, marketing chief for Jimmy Au’s For Men 5'8 & Under. He said it’s the largest store for short men in the United States.
“There’s a lot of attention on the Rodeo side,” Au said. “But they are window shopping. So, would I rather have window shoppers or real shoppers? I’d rather have real shoppers, and they are on this side of the street.”
His customers buy designer suits that are specifically made to sell at his 3,200-square-foot shop, which opened Feb. 1. Top sellers include suits by Montreal-based Jack Victor, with a price range of $695 to $1,000. Price points for another top seller, Calvin Klein, range from $495 to $595. The store’s private label, Jimmy Au, has been selling well with its leather jackets, ranging in price from $500 to $800, and its sports shirts, which cost $175 to $200.
If the north end of Brighton Way is up-and-coming, it doesn’t matter to Jilda Shernoff, chief of boutique and beauty firm Jilda Beverly Hills, which opened 18 months ago and is a neighbor to Messiah and Au. She claims that a Beverly Hills address paves the way to the attention of consumers all over the world. “It sells itself,” Shernoff said. “People who aren’t from Beverly Hills are obsessed with this place.”
More than 25 percent of her business comes from overseas consumers looking to buy a product associated with the Beverly Hills name, she said. Jilda Beverly Hills sells its own line of beauty products and will debut a line of designer T-shirts in the next two months.
Shernoff said she was a bit surprised that she landed retail space in Beverly Hills during her first attempt to open a store in town. Real estate executives hold long lists of retailers that would like to move into town. Once retailers move in, they often stay.
Nader and Mireille Manesh opened their 3,000-square-foot boutique Avant Garde in 1987. It’s a few blocks from the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Brighton and close to the Neiman Marcus store.
“I’ve had the same clientele since we’ve opened,” Mireille said. Serving women 30 and up, recent top-selling brands have been sweaters by Italian brand Gividini, whose sheer silk sweater costs $1,095; French brand Mr. & Mrs. MacLeod, whose silk jacket costs $1,395; and Australian brand Trelise Cooper, whose balloon skirt costs $895.
Beverly Hills’ popularity has changed the neighborhood, according to Mireille. Well-known retail names wanted a piece of the town’s action and over the years gradually replaced independent mom-and-pop stores. “Beverly Hills looks more like a shopping mall,” she said, considering the national and international retailers lining the streets of her town. “I miss the old Beverly Hills.”
