Juicy Couture is set to open a boutique at Fashion Island.
New York-based owner Liz Claiborne Inc., which bought Juicy in 2003 for $40 million or so, has a few stores,one in Las Vegas, Dallas and Atlanta. It’s opening one in Tokyo.
Juicy is known for its upscale casual clothes, such as its terrycloth and velour tracksuits with the “Juicy” butt logo. The clothes are sold at Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and other stores. Liz Claiborne considers Juicy one of its “high-potential” growth brands.
PacSun Laces Up
Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. has opened its first One Thousand Steps stores, as part of its bid to create a third chain.
The retailer bypassed Orange County in the first go round. The first One Thousand Steps are in the Galleria at Tyler in Riverside, Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos and the Mall of America in Minneapolis.
The chain targets the 18- to 24-year-old crowd with stylish shoes. Some of the brands include Tsubo, Diesel, Steve Madden and Kenneth Cole Reaction.
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Santa Margarita Ford: tightened media policy |
Sk8ter Store
Ontario’s Active Wallace Group Inc. is opening an Active Ride store at The Market Place in Tustin and Irvine. The store, which sells skateboards, clothes and shoes, is set to be Active’s sixth OC store. Others are in Orange, Costa Mesa, Brea, Mission Viejo and Irvine.
Also coming to the Market Place: Garden Patch Farmers Market, which is supposed to be similar to a Trader Joe’s.
Coming to the Irvine Spectrum Center: New York & Company and the Levi’s Store.
Diamond Boutique
Tustin-based Goldenwest Diamond Corp. has opened a boutique within its Redwood City Jewelry Exchange store. The boutique, called “The Kiosk,” shows off the jeweler’s one-of-a-kind pieces, pricey jewels typically found on Rodeo Drive. The company imports and makes most of its own jewelry. Jewelry Exchange has a store and its main factory in Tustin. It has about 15 stores, including in Chicago, Boston and Denver.
Ooh La La
London-based Vidal Sassoon reopened its relocated and remodeled salon at South Coast Plaza. A grand opening is set for May 4. Vidal Sassoon moved into the former Louis Vuitton space, which is 3,500 square feet. The store has plasma TVs in the 720-square-foot reception area, where customers can watch the stylists do their thing. The store has 27 stations. Brigitte Love is the store manager.
Real Auto Dealer of OC
Jim Graham, owner of Santa Margarita Ford, was taken aback when his dealership was slimed during an episode of the new,and might I add, dreadful, yet entertaining,”Real Housewives of Orange County” on Bravo.
“We’re very unhappy with the results,” Graham said. “It hurt our feelings. Has it affected our sales? No.”
Here’s what happened: While browsing the dealership, one of the housewives, Kimberly Bryant, told the cameras that the dealership was “slimy.”
The show portrays a sliver of life at Coto de Caza, where plenty of OC’s movers and shakers live. Graham lives there, too. But he said what’s portrayed on the show,superficiality, entitlement and plenty of plastic surgery,isn’t the life he knows.
“We’re a little embarrassed we didn’t do our homework,” he said.
The producers contacted the sales manager last summer, saying they wanted to film an episode there.
“We thought: Gosh how bad can that be?” Graham said.
Graham has a warning for businesses when Hollywood comes knocking with the enticement of publicity: “Don’t get star struck.”
From now on, all press interviews, serious and frivolous, go through him, he said.
Garth Blumenthal, general manager of Fletcher Jones Motorcars, had a similar experience with a Los Angeles Times story, dubbed “affluenza.”
Blumenthal adopted a policy similar to Graham’s.
