When news came that Sweden’s H & M; Hennes & Mauritz AB was coming to Southern California, fashionistas and the media went gaga.
H & M; makes fashion affordable, selling its own H & M; line of trendy clothes at low prices.
I must admit, I’d never heard of the chain. H & M; just opened a store in Pasadena and will open another at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles next month. By the end of the year it will have eight stores in California.
H & M; also is opening at South Coast Plaza.
Huh? South Coast Plaza, where affordable fashion is an oxymoron?
The Market Place in Tustin and Irvine seems a better fit. (H & M; does plan an Irvine Spectrum Center store in 2007.)
South Coast Plaza is, after all, home to a plethora of super luxury stores such as Gucci, Coach, Escada, Giorgio Armani, Hermes, Jimmy Choo and Sax Fifth Avenue. The center has built its reputation on being affordable to few.
But cheap chic is hot now. Bringing in H & M; is a move by the shopping center to stay trendy.
“South Coast Plaza is a front-runner in bringing retailers to the center that are hip, new, exclusive and on the shoppers’ radar screens,” said Beverly Morgan, a South Coast Plaza spokeswoman.
H & M; is opening two stores on the same day next spring at South Coast Plaza, one at each end of the mall, according to Michael Oliverio, H & M; director of real estate for the U.S.
One store will be about 20,000 square feet, the typical H & M; store size. Another will be 8,000 square feet.
H & M; is known for bringing in new clothes quickly. The stores sell clothes and accessories for women, men, teens and kids.
“If you combine the garments from both stores, we will offer South Coast Plaza customers H & M;’s full fashion line,” Oliverio said.
The company has more than 100 designers and buys in large quantities, said Lisa Sandberg, spokeswoman for H & M.; Sometimes, H & M; works with outside designers, she said.
H & M; chose South Coast Plaza because it has one of the highest sales volumes in the U.S. and it attracts fashion-conscious customers. H & M; customers like to mix and match, so they might buy pants at H & M;, and then buy a pricier top elsewhere, Sandberg said.
Most of H & M;’s business is in Europe. The U.S. is about 6% of sales. The company has 109 stores nationwide.
That Time Already?
The Irvine Company has started its holiday gift card program, before Halloween yet.
The card is available at guest services and can be used at the Irvine Co.’s three malls, Fashion Island, The Market Place and Irvine Spectrum Center. In other Fashion Island news, Juicy Couture recently opened at the Newport Beach mall.
It’s Official
Triangle Square in Costa Mesa, alas, has new owners: Greenlaw Partners LLC of Newport Beach and Connecticut’s Commonfund Realty Inc. Greenlaw could seek to add condominiums to the troubled mall on Newport Boulevard.
Santa Ana-based RiverRock Real Estate’s retail group is set to manage Triangle Square. Halloween Express is back again this year for the season.
Beach Cakes
What does Newport Beach taste like? Wonderland Bakery at The Bluffs in Newport Beach has come up with a flavor that will be offered as a cupcake, cake and cookie. For that, Mayor Don Webb last week named the bakery the city’s “Sweet Ambassadors of Newport Beach.”
Auto Show Time
The Orange County Auto Show starts Wednesday and runs through Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The show aims to have something for everyone,concept cars, “green” cars and dubbed-out rides. Attendees can take test drives at the Hyundai Ride & Drive. What else? IPod experts will host seminars demonstrating iPod hookups for vehicles.
The Costa Mesa-based Orange County Automobile Dealers Association and the Southland Motor Car Dealers Association in Long Beach put on the show.
Different Caliber
Caliber Motors now is Mercedes-Benz of Anaheim. The Anaheim Hills dealership is in the midst of an expansion on 6 acres near the Riverside (91) Freeway. The new showroom is expected to open
in November. Mercedes-Benz of Anaheim recently hosted motorcycles as one of the stops for Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s annual poker fun.
Crevier Donation
Crevier BMW in Santa Ana gave $6,000 to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation at its 10th Annual Drive For A Cure. Throughout the rest of the year, Crevier plans to donate $1 per mile of each test drive to the local OC Susan G. Komen affiliate.
Auto Sales
August was bad for OC auto dealers.
New auto registrations,an indication of sales,were off 7.6%, to 17,713 autos, compared to a year earlier. The decrease was due to slumping truck sales, down 19.4%. Cars were up 5.8%.
Big decliners: Jeep, down 28%; Nissan, down 23.5%; GMC, 40%; Ford, 48%; and, after a streak, Hummer, down 14.7%.
Nearly every brand was down. The few that were up: Toyota/Scion, up 19%; Volkswagen, up 25%; Subaru, up 47%; Honda, 23%.
On the luxury front: BMW was off 21% with 672 autos; Mercedes-Benz, up 19% with 906 autos; Lexus surpassed Mercedes for the month,perhaps the Newport Lexus effect,up 20% with 984 registrations.
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