Imported luxury goods are getting more expensive.
As the value of the dollar drops against other currencies, retailers that sell a lot of imported items, such as jewelers, are passing on the costs to shoppers.
But that’s not likely to affect business at South Coast Plaza, even with its loads of luxury stores.
Werner Escher, executive director of tourism marketing for South Coast Plaza, said even if local customers slow down their buying of luxury goods, overseas visitors shopping at the center will make up for it.
South Coast Plaza has been drawing international tourists for years. The number of Japanese tour groups is on the rise, as well as tourists from China and Britain.
In the early years, South Coast Plaza executives learned that tourism was a good way to spur visitors and sales. Owner C.J. Segerstrom & Sons LLC has added hotels and office space and supported development of the performing arts center to make the area more attractive.
In October, South Coast Plaza held a monthlong Italy promotion that included fashion shows, art displays and other events highlighting its 30 or so stores and restaurants that sell Italian goods and food.
“It couldn’t have worked any better,” Escher said.
The promotion, done with the Italian Trade Commission, took more than two years to develop, he said.
South Coast Plaza is a pioneer, said Robert Cohen, executive vice president of New York-based Robert K. Futterman & Associates and head of its Los Angeles office, even though it’s an enclosed mall, which isn’t considered the new frontier in retail.
The advantage that South Coast Plaza has is its exclusivity deals with many stores that aren’t allowed to open anywhere else in Orange County and in some cases elsewhere on the West Coast, Cohen said.
“It’s a very dangerous thing for retailers to sign up for,” he said.
But it’s worked well for South Coast Plaza.
“It helps us keep our cachet,” Escher said.
Connecting Shoppers, Dealers
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South Coast Plaza: sellers of imported goods rely on international shoppers |
Irvine-based Autobytel Inc. recently launched MyRide.com, a consumer auto research site that sends shoppers to local dealers. Dealers pay a fee to Autobytel for referring customers.
MyRide.com, a companion to Autobytel.com, is aimed at wooing a younger customer. It has a community section where auto enthusiasts can blog or post their own car photos.
The site also is intended to boost Autobytel’s advertising prices and finders’ fees from dealers.
The bulk of Autobytel’s revenue comes from dealer leads, which rose 7% from a year earlier to $17.6 million in the third quarter. Advertiser fees were up slightly to $4.3 million. Total sales were $24.8 million, up 4.6%.
Autobytel still was operating at a loss of $6.9 million in the third quarter. But the company narrowed that from an $8.3 million loss a year earlier. Autobytel attributes some of its third-quarter loss to the start of MyRide.com.
Run For Your Money
The second annual Chapman University/ Toyota of Orange 5K held in October raised more than $250,000 for Orangewood Children’s Foundation.
Chapman President Jim Doti is an avid runner. So is Toyota of Orange owner David Wilson.
Helping Out
Local Ford dealerships are working with Ford Motor Credit Co. to offer payment discounts to customers affected by the wildfires as well as to firefighters. Ford is offering them its “A-Plan” employee discount.
Now Open
South Coast Home Furnishings Centre has been open for a while in Costa Mesa but recently held its grand opening.
The 300,000-square-foot center has 30 home furniture and design stores and showrooms. Among the stores: Wickes Furniture, NW Rugs, Easy Life Furniture, C.S. Wo & Sons, White Orchid Living and Linder’s Furniture.
The center is nearly full.
Irvine-based Birtcher Development & Investments and Buchanan Street Partners developed the center, which now is owned by South Coast Home Furnishings Center LLC. Birtcher bought the 20.5-acre site in 2005 and brought on Buchanan.
In August, Birtcher sold the center for more than $100 million to South Coast Home Furnishings Center LLC.
Other openings: Sprouts Farmers Market opened a 25,000-square-foot organic grocer at Westpark Plaza in Irvine.
Vilebrequin, which sells colorful men’s and boy’s swim trunks, recently opened at Fashion Island.
Hickory Farms opened a holiday store at the Tustin side of The Market Place.
Another just for the holiday store,Sheep Dogs, a seller of Ugg shoes, which opened inside the Atrium at Fashion Island.
Sanctuary Salon & Spa opened its high-end salon in San Clemente.
Black Friday
Nationally, retailers made up for discounts and other shopping lures with more visitors.
Black Friday drew 147 million shoppers to the malls, up 4.8% from a year earlier, according to the National Retail Federation’s survey. Shoppers spent an average of $347.44, down 3.5% from 2006.
The National Retail Federation is holding fast to its forecast of 4% increase in sales for November and December.
The International Council of Shopping Centers is forecasting $20 billion to $30 billion in gift card sales. Most of OC’s malls offer gift cards. South Coast Plaza switched from gift certificates to gift cards last year.
