“You take care of you curves while we take care of your Benz.”
That’s one of Caliber Motors Inc.’s marketing plays for next year, said Tom Cregg, general sales manager of the Anaheim Hills Mercedes-Benz dealer, who came up with the idea.
Cregg said he’s talking with a nearby gym, where customers could go to workout while their car is being serviced.
The dealership also plans to send customers to the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point for a free weekend for test driving a Mercedes-Benz, Cregg said.
“Our first aim is to delight our customers, to give them a few random acts of kindness,” he said.
The other aim: get first-time Mercedes-Benz buyers in the door.
“There are so many people who don’t think they can buy a Mercedes-Benz,” he said. “There also are many young people in OC whose parents are looking after them.”
Caliber, which ranks seventh highest in Mercedes sales nationwide, has to have a different marketing tack to compete with the glitz and glam of Fletcher Jones Motorcars in Newport Beach, the nation’s largest Mercedes dealer.
Fletcher Jones is on the way to work or home for many people, Cregg said. Caliber, on the other hand, is off the Riverside (91) Freeway on La Palma and is more of a destination, he said.
Caliber plans to expand its dealership next year, according to Cregg.
“Caliber wants to be the dealership to be talked about next year,” he said.
Slippery Seal
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Wet Seal at Fashion Island: among chain’s valuable leasesy |
Wet Seal Inc.’s stores are spotted with red 50% off sale signs these days.
The Foothill Ranch-based retailer last week shook up its management and struck a $40 million convertible debt deal with investor S.A.C. Capital Management, which already owns 4.5% of Wet Seal.
Store closings still are likely for teen clothing chain. Wet Seal is known for stores in prime malls across the county. Among its most lucrative leases: South Coast Plaza, Fashion Island, Paramus Park Mall in Paramus, N.J., and Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va.
The chain likely will know what stores are being sold and to whom in coming months, according to Marc Winthrop, founder of Winthrop Couchot Professional Corp. in Newport Beach. Wet Seal could wait until after the holiday shopping season to decide on selling off stores.
Clothestime Inc., the retailer that used to be based in Anaheim and now’s part of New York apparel maker JW Associates, could buy some of the stores, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Clothestime, which filed for bankruptcy in 2003, apparently is ready to make another go of it.
Wet Seal’s former chief executive Kathy Bronstein tried to buy Wet Seal but may not have been able to offer a high enough price, Winthrop said. If Wet Seal gets offers that aren’t enough to pay the debt, then it’s probably not worth selling, he said.
Wet Seal’s Arden B stores are doing well and may be sold separately.
New York Via Vegas
Meital Grantz, the New York fashionista turned Las Vegas transplant, plans to open a Talulah G Boutique at Fashion Island this month.
Grantz’s Las Vegas stores seek to bring a bit of downtown Manhattan chic to Sin City.
They feature large mirrors, deep sofas and ottomans and carry designers such as Chloe, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Luella and Rebecca Taylor.
Yoga Stretch
Canadian yoga-wear retailer Lululemon Athletica plans to open its second and third U.S. stores this month at Fashion Island and in San Francisco.
Lululemon, based in Kitsilano across the bay from Vancouver, British Columbia, has seven stores in Canada. Its flagship U.S. store is in Santa Monica.
The company said it plans to expand through franchising, which it will begin pursuing in the U.S. this month.
Albertson’s Reorg
Albertson’s Inc. is putting its new California Food Division in Fullerton.
Pete Van Helden was named chief executive of the new division and will be based in Fullerton. He’s moving out from Chicago. No other workers are moving as part of the reorganization, which combines the Northern and Southern California food divisions into a single unit.
The arm of Boise, Idaho-based Albertson’s has 500 stores and 41,000 workers.
Boats and Bass
Anglers Marine, a boat and bass fishing store, has expanded in Anaheim.
The store acquired a 13,500-square-foot facility and now has 15,000 square feet of space on East La Palma Boulevard.
