Pop ups, first-to-market concepts, beauty and food have helped fuel growth for Orange County’s largest shopping centers, setting the group up nicely as they enter the key holiday selling season.
OC’s 30 largest centers—a combination of indoor malls, lifestyle centers and power centers—combined to notch a 4.5% gain in taxable sales for the 12 months ended June 30 to $8.8 billion. This continues the growth trend that began with last year’s 3.4% growth in sales, after 2017’s flat line in sales.
Sixteen centers saw gains, 10 reported declines, and four reflect a Business Journal estimate.
The centers operate in a broader industry landscape that’s seen its share of continued challenges with the widely publicized bankruptcies of retailers such as Charlotte Russe, Gymboree Group Inc. and more recently Forever 21 Inc. and Barneys New York Inc.
Still, mall owners continue to adjust their plans accordingly.
Merlone Geier Partners, which bought the Laguna Hills Mall in 2013 and renamed it Five Lagunas, said last week it was switching up the name again, now to Village at Laguna Hills (see story, page 6).
The new vision incorporates additional uses, such as office, apartments and a hotel, all prompted by what Merlone Geier Vice President of Development Stephen Logan said in a statement was a “desire to create a true mixed-use project driven by the rapidly changing retail landscape.”
No word on the incoming retail tenants to fill the Village at Laguna Hills’ up to 250,000 square feet of retail, with the entitlement process just beginning and an opening date yet to be announced.
No Stopping SCP
South Coast Plaza remains unseated in its No. 1 spot on the list with taxable sales for the June period up 3.1% to $1.8 billion.
The center has taken a number of tactics to keep the momentum going via new store openings, the addition of restaurants such as French eatery Knife Pleat and Marugame Udon and a pop-up program that’s brought big names such as Kim Kardashian West’s KKW Beauty last December and most recently Maison Margiela Fragrances. There’s also been a focus on international and domestic visitors and efforts on the digital front, such as online guide to boutiques at the center offering personalization services, according to South Coast Executive Director of Marketing Debra Gunn Downing.
All of that, in addition to Top Chef’s Amar Santana and restaurateur Ahmed Labbate’s The Hall Global Eatery Gunn Downing called a “dining bazaar” scheduled to open in December, has set South Coast up nicely for the holidays.
“Sales have been steadily increasing this year and we expect that growth to continue into the holiday shopping season,” Gunn Downing said. “Ahead of the busiest shopping period, we launched By Design, a digital guide to customization, personalization and bespoke services and product at our boutiques for those customers who want to make their holiday gifts truly one of a kind and highly personalized.”
A second food-focused area is in the early stages of construction at South Coast’s Bloomingdale’s; early news reports suggest a dumpling competitor to the mall’s busiest restaurant, Din Tai Fung, is part of the mix.
Brea Reinvention
Simon Property Group Inc.’s Brea Mall at No. 3 moved up one spot on this year’s list and saw one of the largest sales tax gains within the list’s top five with $698.8 million in taxable sales, up 37.3% from a year earlier.
The mall, through a spokesperson, attributed the uptick to several openings, including Santouka Ramen, Honey Birdette, Hope & Henry and Charlotte Russe, the latter of which shuttered its Brea location following its bankruptcy before later returning to the center.
The spokesperson added mall executives “look forward to a busy holiday season at Brea Mall.”
