Pre-Holiday Promotions Paying Off

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Deborah Belgum

There’s been a two-month delay in the opening of The Palm steakhouse near Staples Center, although executives for the Washington, D.C.-based chain insist that it has more to do with red tape than concerns over the economy.

Anschutz Entertainment Group held a press conference last July to announce the January 2002 arrival of the high-end steakhouse that has an eatery in West Hollywood popular with Hollywood glitterati and other expense account types.

But construction has only recently begun on the 400-seat steakhouse that will be located a few blocks away from the arena, home of the Lakers, the Clippers and the Kings. It isn’t scheduled to open until sometime in March.

“I think there were some idealistic ideas about when we could get construction underway,” said Fred Thimm, president and chief operating officer of Palm Management.

The Palm’s developers have had to wend their way through the usual bureaucratic hassles to get building permits and stamps of approval from the city fire department and building inspectors.

This is one of the biggest restaurants the privately held chain has ever developed. At 13,000 square feet, The Palm near Staples Center is going to be twice the size of The Palm in West Hollywood. “Instead of 9-foot ceilings we have 40-foot ceilings,” Thimm said. The designers are trying to resolve any acoustical problems that might occur inside the boxy 82-year-old building located at 11th and Flower streets.

“We don’t pay rent until we are open for business,” Thimm said. “So what’s a few months when you have a 25-year lease?”

Toy Story

When The Right Start in Calabasas announced plans to acquire most of the FAO Schwartz toy store chain, it indicated that several of the venerated toy store chain’s outlets would be shuttered, including one in the Glendale Galleria.

But the sale doesn’t affect plans for an FAO Schwartz store at The Grove at Farmers Market, which opens March 15. In fact, the location is still slated to be one of the chain’s flagships.

“We expect that to be a terrific store,” Right Start Chief Executive Jerry Welch said of the 25,000-square-foot space that will anchor part of the mall being developed by Caruso Affiliated Holdings.

FAO Schwartz is not The Right Start’s only recent purchase. Earlier this year, the company acquired 180 Zany Brainy stores after that company slipped into bankruptcy.

So does Welch have any holiday purchasing plans in the offing? “No, my staff has made me promise I won’t answer the phone for six months,” he said.

Grooving Grove

While toys may be one ingredient in The Grove’s retail recipe, lingerie is another.

Victoria’s Secret will be opening a store. But a store unlike any other, its officials vow. The Ohio-based company plans to open one of its new concept stores at The Grove.

That means it will be selling all those items found in its racy catalogue, but sometimes not sold at its stores. Models not included.

Social Climbing

The North Face, the company that sells gear that will survive in subzero weather, opens its first store in the Los Angeles area. It just signed a lease to occupy a 7,500-square-foot store at 421 N. Beverly Blvd. in Beverly Hills. It should open sometime early next year.

Staff reporter Deborah Belgum can be reached at 323-549-5225 ext. 228 or at

[email protected]

Pre-Holiday Promotions Paying Off

This holiday season is turning out to be a battle between Scrooge and Daddy Warbucks.

The day after Thanksgiving, local retail analysts fanned out to major malls in the area, from South Coast Plaza to Ontario Mills to the Glendale Galleria, to observe consumers shopping habits. And they spotted a few trends.

“We have seen that those retailers who are promotional are drawing crowds and those who are not are not drawing crowds,” observed Richard Giss, a retail analyst with Deloitte & Touche, who spent the day after Thanksgiving at the new Paseo Colorado shopping mall in Pasadena. His colleague, Jaquelin Fernandez, spent the day at the Glendale Galleria.

Her observations: There were just as many shoppers as in previous years, but a few more shopping bags were being toted around.

Stores that have fared well so far are the big discounters such as Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target. Businesses suffering the most right now in L.A. are jewelry outlets, upscale specialty retailers and department stores.

Analysts still expect holiday sales to be flat or down as much as 1.5 percent over last year.

Deborah Belgum

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