It’s that time of year, when special someones across Orange County will awake Christmas morning with a sparkly new,and pricey,car in the driveway.
In some cases, it may not be a surprise.
Herbie Weston, a sales manager at Crevier BMW in Santa Ana, said he’s heard the refrain time and again this holiday season: “I’m going to buy myself a Christmas present.”
This time of year, people get into a spending craze, according to Weston. Crevier has sold about 50 BMWs to people buying them as gifts for themselves or others, he said.
Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel has sold about 100 Mercedes to gift givers or people buying for themselves this holiday season, spokeswoman Lisa McKee said.
“Our advertising is hitting really hard on very reasonable lease prices,” she said.
The C230 Sports Sedan,bigger wheels, sporty, very yuppy,has been popular with a $329 a month lease, McKee said.
Buying could pick up this week and next, she said: “The last week of the month is always hectic.”
Santa could be busy if giant red bow sales are any indication.
Lynda King, cofounder of Newport Beach-based King Size Bows, said she’s been getting 60 phone calls a week from panicked people in search of giant bows to top cars and other big gifts.
Teen Pulse
Teen shoppers are a coveted but fickle bunch.
Fashion industry publication Women’s Wear Daily recently talked with teens around the country to find out where they are shopping.
At Lenox Square in Atlanta, teens said they loved to shop at Ego, Abercrombie & Fitch and Mitzi & Romano. They said they were “so over” Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal and Charlotte Russe.
Teens in Manhattan Mall New York shopped at Forever 21, Wet Seal, Hollister, Express and Strawberry. They say they are over Old Navy.
At Beverly Center in Los Angeles, Diesel, Urban Outfitters, Kitson, Lisa Kline, Dari, Trio and Abercrombie are in. Teens there said Wet Seal, Forever 21, Express, Hollister, Bebe and Anchor Blue are out.
King of Teens: PacSun
Here’s more of what teens like from “The Call of the Mall,” a book by Paco Underhill, who studies why people shop.
A scene in the book describes how a group of teenage girls living in New Jersey flock to stores of Anaheim’s Pacific Sunwear California Inc., known simply as PacSun.
As they amble through the mall on their way to PacSun, they don’t even glance at Old Navy because the clothes look too old. They pass by American Eagle because they say they are done with the preppy look.
They also pass by the music store saying they’d prefer to buy jeans than a new CD.
Alas, they arrive at PacSun, where they say they go four to eight times a month. They say they come to look at the clothes and what others are wearing.
What do they like about PacSun?
Each time they go in, the displays have changed. They also like it for its image as a surfer and skater store.
Here is an excerpt:
Underhill: “Now correct me if I’m wrong but this is what you’d call a surfer store?”
” Yeah, like California skateboarding ”
Underhill: “And what does that mean to you?”
“Well it’s the kind of music we like.”
Underhill is thinking Beach Boys. But for the teens, surfer music is punk and rock,Blink 182, Linkin Park and Jimmy Eat World.
Buena Park Downtown Update
Los Angeles-based The Festival Cos. is out at Buena Park Downtown with the sale of the mall to Ohio’s Developers Diversified Realty and Coventry Real Estate Advisors.
Developers Diversified owns and manages its properties and didn’t have a need for Festival. The company and Coventry bought the 1.1 million-square-foot mall, which recently was remodeled, for $90 million in November from the Chicago’s Pritzker family.
Developers Diversified expects to name a new general manager in January, said John Kokinchak, vice president of property management.
Michael Horn is the new director of operations for Buena Park Downtown. Horn previously worked at the Block of Orange. Mark Hays will head leasing for Buena Park Downtown. He is based at the company’s headquarters in Ohio, where it handles leasing for all of its properties. Developers Diversified is conducting a search for a new director of marketing for Buena Park.
