California Apparel News

An upscale Ralphs supermarket will debut on July 20 in downtown Los Angeles at 645 W. Ninth St., a place that until recently was practically a no man’s land for retailers. Popular organic coffeehouse Urth Caffeacute; will open a downtown location in August 2008.

Fashion boutique owner Sally Daliege hopes these two businesses will help make the area’s sometimes-desolate streets more inviting for fashion retailers.

During the last year, Daliege has been building a beach-head downtown for stylish apparel retail. On July 12, she celebrated the one-year anniversary of her store, Push Emporium, at 400 S. Main St., with a fashion show.

When she opened her 2,500-square-foot store, more than two other fashion boutiques also opened on her block, which is anchored by City Hall hangout Pete’s Cafeacute;. The designer atelier Stella Dottir and sneaker/streetwear shop Carves still do business in the area, but no other fashion boutiques have followed them. With a significant population of homeless living a couple blocks away, Daliege said it is understandable why retailers would be wary of opening a shop downtown.

“There’s the fear factor,” she said. “You’re taking a chance here. But if you’re a self-starter, you can succeed.”

There have been instances of high-profile retailers finding success downtown. For more than 35 years, Brooks Brothers has been selling suits to professionals downtown, most recently at the Metropolitan Life building at 604 Figueroa St.

The entry of the Ralphs supermarket might be a turning point for downtown retail, said Jack Kyser, the chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “It’s going to be important to the perceptions of downtown,” Kyser said. “It’s going to prove to retailers that there is a real market here.”

According to the 2006 “Downtown Business Improvement Demographic Survey,” the LAEDC found that the median income of downtown residents is $100,000, and the median income of people who work downtown is $62,000.

The Ralphs will serve a luxury consumer and offer basic services when the 55,000-square-foot supermarket opens near the corner of Flower and Figueroa streets. The upscale Ralphs will offer weekly wine tastings and dry-cleaning services as well as sushi prepared on site. It will serve well-to-do residents living in the $500,000 lofts adjacent to the Ralphs as well as office workers.

Supermarket spokesperson Terry O’Neil said his company was certain of success. It had opened a market in a similar demographic—the formerly blighted downtown San Diego, which has been transformed into an area of expensive lofts. The Ralphs store in downtown San Diego has been successful, according to O’Neil, who said he expects the downtown Los Angeles store to be profitable immediately and eventually be one of the chain’s top-volume stores.

The Urth Caffeacute; has built a fashionable clientele at its West Hollywood, Calif., location since 1989. The new location is at 451 Hewitt St., near the Little Tokyo neighborhood. Customers will dine in the facility, and they will also witness how Urth chefs cook and prepare the cafeacute;’s organic delicacies, according to Urth co-founder Shallom Berkman.

The upcoming debut of the popular Urth Caffeacute; was one reason why Kristin Knauff felt bullish about downtown. She moved her boutique, Apartment 3, from the popular La Brea Avenue shopping district to the Arts District neighborhood downtown.

Her new location, at 500 Molino St., debuted June 9. She moved downtown for the wider availability of loft space. Along with retailing, she devotes much of her business to producing look books and runway shows for fashion clients.

Apartment 3 is open to the public on weekends and by appointment. Price points for women’s fashions range from $50 to $500. Her clientele typically comes from downtown and nearby neighborhoods such as Echo Park, Silverlake and Los Feliz.

Push’s clientele is split evenly between City Hall workers and downtown residents, Daliege said. “They need basics to make life go around,” she said. “They aren’t coming in to buy a dress.”

But Warren Cooley of the Valley Economic Development Center believes that fashion boutiques will be the finishing touch in making downtown a much more livable place. For the past two years, his organization has contracted with Los Angeles’ municipal government to help attract more businesses to the downtown area.

When it started in September 2004, the VEDC lent its consulting muscle to bringing nightclubs and restaurants to the area. But in January 2007, it planned to devote more time to bringing fashion boutiques and other consumer businesses downtown. The Ralphs could attract more businesses to the area, he said. “It will give people a reason to stay downtown,” he said.