California Apparel News

Many landlords might cheer if a Hennes & Mauritz H&M moved next door to their retail center. But not Francis S. Montgomery II, owner of Sunset Plaza in West Hollywood, Calif. “We wouldn’t bring an H&M here,” said the 74-year-old Montgomery. “It’s too cheap.”

While crowds of fashion-savvy teen-agers and young adults may crowd the H&M when it opens this fall in the Sunset Millennium retail area, Montgomery hopes to keep Sunset Plaza, which is adjacent to the Sunset Millennium, reserved as a playground for adults.

Sunset Plaza is located on some of West Hollywood’s most high-profile real estate: Sunset Boulevard between La Cienega and San Vicente boulevards. It’s a place where patricians Nancy Reagan and Betsy Bloomingdale get manicures at Jessica’s Nail Clinic. Indeed, the area’s target demographic is said to be as equally as well-to-do. She is a stylish woman who earns more than $125,000 annually, Montgomery said. Her crowd frequently takes lunch at the plaza’s sidewalk cafeacute;s, which bear a sophisticated joie de vivre reminiscent of the watering holes of elite getaway St. Tropez.

Yet there’s more than Sunset Plaza’s French Regency architecture and cafeacute; culture to differentiate it from other Los Angeles retail hot spots. No denim boutiques and no start-up businesses will be considered as prospective tenants at Sunset Plaza, Montgomery said. They’d just drive away the dollars of the Betsy Bloomingdale shoppers.

But there’s nothing hard-hearted about Sunset Plaza’s elitist stance. For its shoppers, it offers more than 650 free parking spaces, a rarity in traffic-choked Los Angeles. For boutique owners, Montgomery provides protection. He typically consults with tenants on new stores. If the prospective tenants peddle too many lines similar to what the Plaza’s stores already offer, the prospective tenant is barred from moving in. Montgomery’s leasing policies have offered some peace of mind to shop owners, said Shauna Stein, owner of Plaza boutique On Sunset. “He is from the old school, where people mean what they say,” she said.

Some of his laissez-faire policies also have made it a casual place to work. Unlike boutiques in many malls, tenants are not required to maintain specific business hours. But this place’s sense of casual may stop at fashion. The area’s multi-brand boutique owners want Californians to dress with more sophistication. “We almost have to educate people to dress a little better,” said Hadar Lorenzo, the owner of three Sunset Plaza boutiques: H. Lorenzo, H. Men and H. Shoes.

His neighbor, Scott Hill, president of men’s boutique Scott & Co., also hopes to spread the message of sartorial sophistication. “I have to be one of the first guys to say no more vintage, no more T-shirts with writing on them, no more beat-down leather jackets,” Hill said.

Hill said that he shrunk his store’s offerings of distressed fashions by 80 percent last spring. In its place, he is selling pants with a jeans silhouette, yet constructed out of other materials such as wool. One popular pant is a Western pant by Italian label Crucciani, which retails for $595.

The tailor-made suit is another forte of Scott & Co. One popular suit has been a three-piece style crafted by Naples, Italy–based label Gianluca Isaia. The singlebreasted suit with a peak lapel retails for $2,735.

Lorenzo’s H. Men boutique has been selling short, fitted men’s blazers by new Japanese labels Iliad and Kiminori Morishita. Retail price points range from $1,000 to $7,000. Jeans remain popular. But they are denim with a clean finish by labels such as Swedish brand Acne Jeans. Retail price points range from $200 to $300.

Sunset Plaza boutique Traffic has been championing new designers since it opened in 1988. Owner Michael Dovan said 30 percent of the store’s wares are devoted to men, and 70 percent are devoted to women. Men are buying blazers and shirts by English label PS Paul Smith. Retail price points for PS Paul Smith shirts range from $150 to $300.

Women have been buying a fitted gray knee-length coat by 3.1 by Phillip Lim. It retails for $695. They’ve also been buying a tunic by Los Angeles–based A Common Thread, a division of Rozae Nichols. The 1970s-inspired brown-and-beige top retails for $320.

Luxe and style have been guiding principles at one of Sunset Plaza’s newer boutiques, On Sunset. It opened its doors in 2004. Recent best-selling items have included black dresses by French label Maritheacute; + Francois Girbaud, which retail for $655 each. A short, fitted jacket by German label Rene Lazard has been popular. It retails for $795. A Cavalli gown with a lace front has also sold well. It retails for $1,395.

Montgomery said that Sunset Plaza’s stylish vision of retail will be expanding. The city of West Hollywood is mulling over his plans for a 17,000-square-foot building at 8600 Sunset Blvd., adjacent to the Ketchup restaurant. There is no debut scheduled, but the building would offer five units.