Zara Goes to Hollywood. Will More Shoppers Follow?
Fast-fashion chains have helped change the face of retail for many U.S. companies. Now, fastfashion stalwarts Zara and H&M Hennes & Mauritz have set their sights on Hollywood.
CIM Group, owners of the Hollywood & Highland shopping center, announced on April 19 that Spanish-based Zara will open a two-story 17,000-square-foot store at 6904 Hollywood Blvd. Zara is scheduled to debut in the summer of 2008. It will be located across the street from the Hollywood & Highland shopping center, whose tenants include American Eagle, Louis Vuitton, BCBG Max Azria, Gap and Virgin Megastore.
The developer had announced last year that H&M would open a store adjacent to the space that will be filled by Zara. The 10,000-square-foot H&M is scheduled to open fall 2007.
The two high-profile fast-fashion retailers will move into a building that until late March was occupied by three T-shirt and gift shops, which catered to tourists, according to Jeff Kreshek, principal of the CIM Group. The new retailers should attract a different crowd to the Hollywood & Highland neighborhood. The two new stores will likely draw fashion and lifestyle consumers who live in the area rather than tourists.
The burgeoning population living in the Hollywood area, which includes many well-to-do young singles, has few shopping choices, according to Kreshek. “Their only fashion alternative is going to Glendale, Pasadena and The Grove. They are all tough drives from Hollywood,” he said.
The increasingly congested traffic of the metropolitan areas of Southern California has made a cross-town trip difficult. What was a 25-minute trip 10 years ago often takes 45 minutes to 90 minutes in the present day, many Los Angeles residents complain. So many shopping-center owners are developing a focus on attracting more local consumers.
The cultivation of a local consumer has been an ongoing issue since the CIM Group purchased Hollywood & Highland from Trizec Properties Inc. for $201 million in February 2004. The mall was built to service the more than 15 million tourists who visit the landmark Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which is a Hollywood & Highland tenant.
Yet tourism plummeted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. While tourism has bounced back in the past couple of years, CIM has increasingly sought out a local market for its tenants.
Kreshek said one goal for his company would be to make 80 percent of retail traffic at the Hollywood & Highland area local. The CIM principal said that it would be a hard goal to reach since the area is such a popular destination for visitors from around the world.
In other CIM news, Kreshek reported that the company’s Huntington Beach, Calif.–based hotel, office and retail complex, called The Strand, is scheduled to open in early 2008. The Strand will offer 110,000 square feet of retail and will include a Ruby’s Diner restaurant and a Forever 21 store. It is will be located across the street from the Pacific Ocean and a couple of blocks away from the city’s popular retail and tourist intersection—Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway.—A.A.
