Shoparatti – no, it’s not a new word to describe conspicuous consumers. It’s a new online site that displays its picks of the best daily deals offered by discount sites.
The site, launched last week, is the brainchild of L.A. entrepreneurs and business partners Gregg Alexander and Reed Van Rozeboom. It features deals on clothes and accessories, which are selected by the site’s editor in chief, TV personality Melissa Rivers – Alexander’s tennis buddy.
The idea for Shoparatti.com came when Alexander’s wife complained about the many daily deal e-mails clogging her BlackBerry.
It’s not an unusual complaint: Several sites already create feeds of daily deal e-mails, but Alexander said Shoparatti is taking more of a best-of approach than an agglomeration or aggregation.
“The big idea here is that these are editorial picks and we are picking from the top deal sites,” Alexander said.
Alexander, Van Rozeboom and Rivers invested their own money to launch the site, which features deals such as discounts on services including massages or yoga classes specific to major U.S. cities.
But will Rivers’ mother, irreverent jokester Joan Rivers, be providing her two cents?
“As much as we need to pull in the Joan favors, we can,” Alexander said.
Clothing Career
Nasarudin “Nasa” Nasimuddin is the 27-year-old chairman of Malaysian auto and real estate conglomerate Naza Group of Cos.
But Nasimuddin, a USC grad who splits his time between Malaysia and Rancho Palos Verdes, is also a budding apparel entrepreneur.
He launched L.A.-based women’s and men’s clothing brand In Add Minus in November with the opening of a store in the Westfield Century City Shopping Mall. A second shop is set to open later this month at Sherman Oaks’ Westfield Fashion Square.
Nasimuddin said in an e-mail that he started In Add Minus, which employs 25, because he wanted to create affordable designer clothes.
“In Add Minus grew out of my desire to meet in the middle somewhere and create beautifully made clothes for fashion-minded people like me,” he said.
Nasimuddin is looking to get In Add Minus clothes on shelves of boutiques and department stores in major U.S. cities.
Dining Dollars
Angelenos are eating out again – especially when there’s a deal to be had.
LA Inc. announced last month that the dineLA Restaurant Week staged in January and February gave a boost of about $6.2 million to the local economy, compared with the $4.9 million for the previous year’s event. This year’s two-week promotion drew 193,000 diners to 295 restaurants.
Mark Liberman, president and chief executive at LA Inc., the city’s convention and visitors bureau, said dineLA’s rising numbers are another sign that the local economy is improving.
“This is just another barometer that things are getting better,” Liberman said.
DineLA is a marketing initiative between LA Inc. and American Express. Restaurants that offer cut-price three-course meals for lunch or dinner are placed on a list and promoted.
Staff reporter Alexa Hyland can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 235.
