Boutique’s Retreat Evidence of Pain In Specialty Sector

Retail

by Deborah Belgum

Specialty boutiques have had a particularly hard time coping with the lackluster economy. One of the hardest hit has been Sara Boutiques, an L.A.-based chain that in recent months has been reduced from six to two stores to alleviate a cash flow problem.

“Boutique business is very soft,” said Robert Wachs, president of Sara Nicole LLC, the store’s parent company.

In February, Wachs sold the lease and inventory to his Sara Boutique at the Malibu Country Mart. Wachs also closed three discount boutiques called Sara’s Back Room in Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica. The most recent Sara’s discount closure occurred last month on tony Montana Avenue, an area that used to be one of the city’s most popular shopping haunts.

“Montana Avenue’s walking traffic is down considerably,” said Wachs. The only two Sara’s Boutiques left are at Newport Beach’s Fashion Island and on 14th St. near Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.

Retail success these days is often a matter of finding the right merchandise. “Some specialty stores are seeing comparative store sales are up double digit and others are down in the 20 percent range,” said Ernst & Young retail analyst Aubie Goldenberg.

Citadel Changes

Take a good look at the palm trees in front of the Citadel Outlets shopping center along the Santa Ana (5) Freeway in Commerce.

Plans are in the works to uproot the trees and disperse them throughout the shopping center to make the imposing Assyrian-style building look more like a retail outlet instead of a resort, said Tom Bachman, Commerce’s finance director. The city owns the mall that was once a Samson Tire & Rubber Co. plant.

Craig Realty Group in Newport Beach has been negotiating with Commerce to purchase the 147,000-square-foot outlet and 260,000 square feet of adjacent office buildings for $50 million. The deal should be wrapped up by the end of the summer, Bachman said.

Also, the city is negotiating to purchase enough nearby land to add another 257,000 feet to the shopping center that Craig Realty now manages. The city would then sell the land to Craig sometime in the future.

Craig Realty officials could not be reached.

Hotel Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills has not had a new hotel constructed in town since the five-star Peninsula Hotel opened in 1992. But plans are afoot to build a 133-room luxury boutique hotel at Wilshire Boulevard and Maple Avenue.

The City Council in December gave final approval to a project put forth by developer Steven Crowe of the Hotel Development Group in Santa Monica. Crowe bought the 40,000 square foot Wilshire site that once was home to Hillcrest Motors.

Ground won’t be broken for at least another year as Crowe finishes negotiating terms with a hotel operator and secures financing for the $43-million project.

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

[email protected].