California Apparel News

In the past five years, more than 90 restaurants, bars, cafeacute;s and brew pubs have flooded into downtown Los Angeles, making the city center one of the hottest spots to go for a night out on the town.

Now the people who enticed such eateries as Bottega Louie, The Edison, Roy’s, The Daily Grill and Wokcano to the city core want to take that same magic formula and apply it to apparel and accessories stores.

But it can’t be any kind of store. No cookie-cutter national chains or run-of-the-mill retail concerns that dot the various neighborhoods of Los Angeles. “We know we have to do something different that nobody else has,” said Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of the Downtown Center Business Improvement District, which, for years, has spearheaded bringing more residential, retail and economic development to downtown Los Angeles.“Someone who lives on the west side will not drive all the way downtown to go to a Crate and Barrel.”

To find that destination boutique retailer, the business improvement district has two people every week scouring the area’s successful retail streets, trying to recruit boutique owners who might want to open a second outlet in the downtown area or move from their current location.

Hal Bastian, senior vice president and director of economic development for the business improvement district, and Justin Weiss, associate director of economic development for the group, have been concentrating on eclectic retailers located on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in the Los Angeles suburb of Venice; Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, Calif.; and Melrose Avenue and Third Street in Los Angeles, as well as retailers in Pasadena, Calif.

“We are doing the same thing we did with restaurants,” said Weiss, who has been with the business improvement district since 2006. “It was a tough sell then, but now everyone wants to open a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.”

Most of those restaurants have opened up on Seventh Street in the downtown core, a street becoming known as Restaurant Row. It seems that every day there is a new establishment opening its doors.

Seventh Street is also the thoroughfare where the business improvement district wants to see more boutiques establish a toehold. The first new boutique on Seventh Street will be Brigade L.A., which has renovated a space doors away from Bottega Louie. The women’s clothing store, which stocks contemporary labels, opens in a few days.

One retailer considering moving her store to downtown Los Angeles is Stacy Shakoor, who recently closed her high-end Sugar Lilie lingerie store on West Third Street. Shakoor found that even though she was located right next door to the popular AOC wine bar and restaurant, people were not stopping by her place because they couldn’t find parking.

“People would be driving in from the [San Fernando] Valley to shop and call from their car saying they couldn’t find parking and were leaving,” Shakoor said.

Shakoor is looking at retail spots on Seventh Street between Figueroa and Olive streets as possible locations, but she is still weighing the pros and the cons of becoming a retail pioneer. “Downtown is a different animal,” she noted. “On one hand, you have as much of a chance as anywhere else, but I haven’t really bought off on it yet.”

Selling points

Right now, people are not flocking to downtown Los Angeles for a shopping spree as they would at such destinations as The Grove, Santa Monica Place or the Westfield Century City shopping mall.

But the business improvement district people point out that the resident population in the downtown area has more than doubled in the last 12 years to 45,500. The median age for these urban pioneers is 33, and their median income is $86,300.

Seventh Street is considered downtown’s 50-yard line and ideal for restaurants and retail. It divides South Park around Staples Center from the Financial District near Bunker Hill. For pedestrian traffic, it is ideal because there are three exits where travelers spill out from the subway and the light-rail station.

Then there’s the arrival, at the end of 2012, of Target at the corner of Seventh and Figueroa streets. A $50 million renovation project is transforming the center to a new shopping mall that will have fast-fashion retailers.

Retail expert Derrick Moore of CB Richard Ellis notes that most retailers have a herd mentality and watch to see how successful an area becomes. Then they pounce. “Soft-good and fashion stores come later—after there is a pretty good mix of cool and hip restaurants,” he said. “But we need to have a pretty good mix of food and fashion.”

As part of that fashion mix, Schatz also envisions seeing some discount retailers setting up shop in the area, as well as designers from the Los Angeles Fashion District who would benefit from pop-up shops set up on the street.

Shopping on Sixth

While the downtown business improvement district is concentrating on developing retail on Seventh Street, other nearby locations are experiencing a retail renaissance. Little Tokyo is the most successful retail area in downtown Los Angeles. It has an American Apparel store, several high-end sneaker stores and other unique boutiques.

And in the Historic Core on Sixth Street near Main and Spring streets, several independently owned shops have sprung up, giving the area an eclectic feel with vintage shops, designer stores and collectible outlets.

After having an online store for two years, Brooke Price five months ago opened up Stanton James at Sixth and Spring streets. She stocks more than 100 designers in her 700-square-foot space. “The store has been doing great,” she said. Most of her customers live downtown and have a passion for the area, as does she. Business has been so good, she plans to expand her store.

Rocco Espinoza opened Round2 LA, a vintage shop on Sixth Street, just six months ago. This is his second stab at retail. Between 2004 and 2008, he used to have a high-end shop in downtown Los Angeles on West Fifth Street, but the recession put an end to that.

“It is the perfect time to open,” he said.He is concentrating on inexpensive vintage clothes that appeal to local residents.

“People downtown want to look different,” he said, rearranging apparel in his tiny store with a mannequin out front. “Someone can get a vintage dress here for $20.”

Takashi Masuda, who stocks a variety of clothes and collectibles at his Kapsoul store, gets a lot of business during the monthly downtown Los Angeles Art Walk.

Two years ago, Caryn Hofberg opened her collectible store, called Flea, on Sixth Street. The store—which stocks used furniture, clothing, jewelry, paintings and anything else that would fit into a flea market—has done well. But she would like to see more apparel stores in the area. “We want more fashion down here,” she said.