Local fashionistas can rest easy with recent announcements that the push by Wall Street and fashion darling H & M; into Southern California will include both ends of the San Fernando Valley. Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB, one of the pioneers of fast fashion, will open stores at Westfield’s newly renovated Topanga mall and at the upcoming Americana at Brand under development by Caruso Affiliated in Glendale. Opening dates have not yet been set. Westfield’s expanded Topanga mall will debut next month. The Americana at Brand is not scheduled to open until Spring, 2008. H & M;, with sales of nearly $8 billion, entered the U.S. market in 2000 and currently has 91 stores here, although none have located in Southern California until now. The move into the market will also include stores at Hollywood and Highland and Beverly Center, which is slated to debut the first Southern California H & M; store this fall. H & M;, along with rivals like Inditex’s Zara, have garnered the attention of investors and fashion pundits alike for a business model that has enabled these retailers to effectively ride the fickle waves of fashion, offering the latest styles at very affordable prices. The company boasts that it delivers new merchandise to its stores daily. H & M; employs its own designers, buyers and pattern makers and contracts manufacturing to hundreds of independents around the world. By eliminating many middlemen and buying in large volumes, the company is able to offer prices well below those of other fashion manufacturers and retailers. The company has been on a rapid growth track, increasing the number of retail stores it operates by 10 to 15 percent a year. Its U.S. stores so far have been concentrated on the East Coast and the Midwest. In 2005, H & M; opened 145 retail stores including two in San Francisco. Plans for 2006 include opening about 150 new stores. Trendy Glendale? Speaking of fashionistas, the rest of the lineup announced so far for Americana at Brand includes a decidedly upscale offering of retail shops, some landing in the Valley for the first time. In addition to H & M;, the mixed use, open air center will also include Lacoste, Juicy Couture, Martin + Osa, A/X Armani Exchange, Marciano, Puma and Sigrid Olsen. The center, part of a $320 million project bounded by Brand Boulevard, Central Avenue and Colorado Street, will also carry some of the nationally known names that have already set down roots elsewhere in the Valley, including Chico’s, Planet Funk, Play and Urban Outfitters. H & M; will open a two-level flagship store at the location. Plans for Americana at Brand, which will have 475,000 square feet of retail space, also include an 18-theater Pacific Theatres complex. Tower Falling As Tower Records heads back to bankruptcy court, it raises the question of how the company’s four Valley locations will fare if the stores are liquidated. Tower has a flagship location at the Sherman Oaks Galleria as well as units in Northridge, Glendale and Woodland Hills, although none so large and prominent as the Galleria store. The two-story location was built as the cornerstone of the center when the Galleria was renovated and greets visitors as they enter the complex from the intersection of Sepulveda and Ventura boulevards. Although the Galleria has not had an easy time of leasing its retail space, at least some retail brokers don’t see any major problems for the mall’s owner, Douglas Emmett, if Tower folds. It’s true that the retail business is likely to slow up if, as expected, consumers rein in the buying spree of the past few years, but many other companies are likely to be attracted to the shopping center, brokers said. “You do have population 24/7,” said Bert Abel, executive vice president for NAI Capital LA North, who is also a Sherman Oaks resident and a confessed frequent visitor to the Galleria. “There’s definitely traffic through the center and there are some negatives, but you have all the elements.” Douglas Emmett has had some bad luck with restaurant choices, but now seems to have a strong lineup that includes The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Romano’s Macaroni Grill and El Torito Grill, all drawing crowds. The 24-Hour Fitness location has been wildly successful too, expanding from its original location onto a second floor. What some say the center has yet to achieve though is a strong retail lineup. Tower, although it was initially intended to be the centerpiece for the retail lineup, never drew strong traffic. And with the exception of footwear retailer DSW, the center has not attracted nationally known retail brands. The problem, some say, may be that the center has not had the kind of space needed for some of the most successful retail formats, in part because that space has been occupied by Tower. That problem may be solved if the music retailer, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month for the second time in three years, liquidates its assets as expected. As Abel said, “get yourself four or five national retail tenants and you’ve got a killer center.” Staff Reporter Shelly Garcia can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or at [email protected]
