San Francisco's Retail Scene [Archive]

FourOneFive

12-12-2005, 07:20 AM

With all the retail activity around Union Square and the impending opening of the Westfield San Francisco Center next year, I figured it deserved its own thread.

Juicy picks S.F. for 1st flagship
Sarah Duxbury

San Francisco is ripe for Juicy.

Come spring 2006, the city will be home to Juicy Couture's first flagship store. San Francisco will be the company's fourth and largest location as it expands and repositions itself as a luxury lifestyle brand.

Juicy signed a 10-year master lease on the corner of Grant Avenue and Geary Street, and will feature its products in more than 5,000 square feet on four selling floors. The company was looking for a site for about six months.

"We knew we wanted to open a flagship in San Francisco," said Susan Kellogg, group president at Liz Claiborne Inc., Juicy's parent company. "We wanted to make sure we were in a prime location, next to luxury retailers and off the Square."

Juicy's new neighbors include Hermès, Bottega Veneta and Prada.

Architecturally significant flagship stores are increasingly important for companies looking to define and showcase their brands. Inside, the retailers create their ideal shopping environment.

Juicy founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor will have ultimate say over the look and layout of the San Francisco store.

"When you have your own store, you are able to maximize the high end of the business and create a separate ambiance for luxury pieces," Kennedy said. "It's very difficult to do that in a department store."

In retail, size does matter.

"This location lets people see the breadth of their line," said Kazuko Morgan, who brokered the deal.

Only three other standalone Juicy stores are open -- in Las Vegas, Atlanta and Dallas. All are smaller than the San Francisco flagship. A lease has been signed for a site on Boston's Newberry Street, and a flagship store is scheduled to open in Tokyo in early 2006.

The flurry of real estate activity signals how eager Juicy is to expand. The company plans to open 10 to 15 stores worldwide in 2006, depending on its luck finding real estate.

Liz Claiborne bought Juicy in 2003 with designs to grow the popular brand beyond its casual T-shirt and tracksuit roots. Juicy now has complete men's and children's lines, as well as jewelry and handbags that sell for $1,500. Next spring, Juicy will introduce a highly anticipated evening collection called Couture Couture, as well as new accessory categories. A fresh deal with Movado will have Juicy hocking watches by the end of 2006.

Soon, those T-shirts and tracksuits will account for less than 50 percent of Juicy revenue. Standalone stores are central to that shift.

San Francisco, with its taste for fashion on both the casual and luxury ends of the spectrum, is clearly a high priority. In addition to the flagship, Juicy could open a second standalone store in Westfield San Francisco Centre when that project opens next fall.

Kennedy allowed that the Westfield project was "a possibility," but would neither confirm nor deny that Juicy is interested in a second store there.

Sarah Duxbury covers retail for the San Francisco Business Times.
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FourOneFive

12-12-2005, 07:26 AM

Fashion tip: Barneys bound for Union Square
Sarah Duxbury

Barneys New York is getting ready to try on San Francisco.

Zeroing in on almost 60,000 square feet of retail space on Stockton Street, the upscale New York City fashion institution is primed to join the increasingly competitive fray of Union Square. Combined with next year's opening of Bloomingdale's, Barneys would bring the number of department stores within a five-block radius to six.

Barneys, purchased by Jones Apparel Group for $400 million last December, has ample cash to expand and has been looking for a spot for its first San Francisco store for more than a year. The Westfield San Francisco Centre was eager to win them as an accompaniment to the impending Bloomingdale's, but Barneys looks most likely to settle in the former home of FAO Schwarz at 47 Stockton St. That building, across the street from Macy's and Crate & Barrel and one block south of Neiman Marcus, has remained about three-quarters vacant since FAO Schwarz closed three years ago.

Expectations are that Barneys will sign a lease within several weeks. The company said it would not comment before a lease is signed, and a broker for the landlord said a deal is not yet in place.

"(Barneys is) certainly a tenant we continue to talk to, but nothing has been done," said Vikki Johnson of broker Johnson Hoke.

Other retail brokers believe a deal is imminent.

"They are way down the road on this site," said Julie Taylor, a broker with GVA Whitney Cressman. "It is all but confirmed."

Size-wise, 47 Stockton fits with Barney's criteria for a flagship store, which are all bigger than 40,000 square feet. Rent on the building is likely to range between $1.6 million and $2 million a year, according to sources familiar with the area.

Existing tenants Birkenstock and Ghirardelli, which have active leases in the building, would have to relocate to make way for Barneys. Only 30,000 square feet of the five-story building is currently vacant, with just 5,000 of them on the ground floor. Birkenstock has 17,900 square feet on the ground and basement floors, and Ghirardelli has about 1,200 square-feet at street level.

Fabrizio Parini, CEO of Ghirardelli, said that he has been told by the building's broker that a master tenant is eager to take over the entire building, including Ghirardelli's retail space. Parini said he has over four years remaining on his lease and will not finalize any agreement before Christmas. Birkenstock did not return a call seeking comment.

Barneys is eager to expand and has enjoyed same-store sales growth in excess of 15 percent for the past two years, as the luxury retail market boomed.

Howard Socol, president and CEO of Barneys, said in February 2003 that the company would open two new Barneys department stores by 2007.

In April, 2005, Barneys signed a 46,000-square-foot lease at Copley Place in Boston to open its first new flagship store in more than 11 years. It will open in the spring of 2006.

The company has flagship stores in New York, Chicago and Beverly Hills, with additional full-service stores in Seattle, Manhasset, N.Y. and Chestnut Hill, Mass. It also has seven, smaller and trendier Co-op locations, which it began expanding outside of New York City in 2003, and 11 outlet stores around the country.

Following this month's opening of European fashion retailer H&M, Barneys will be "a tremendous catalyst for Stockton Street," Taylor said. "Both Stockton and Powell have, within a year's time, brought in two tremendously powerful retail anchors, strengthening those north-south corridors."

That strengthening reflects the general firming up of the Union Square area, where vacancies are falling and rents have again begun to rise.
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EastBayHardCore

12-12-2005, 07:28 AM

Cool, 3 flagships in the past year or so. The new retailers seem to be reluctant to move west of Powell though.

FourOneFive

12-12-2005, 07:42 AM

west of powell is more of the City's theater district though. i wouldn't want too many retailers pushing into that district. and, there are plenty of spots east of powell that still need to be filled too.

EastBayHardCore

12-12-2005, 08:03 AM

You're right, I can think of a handful of large retail spaces east of Stockton that still need tenants.

sf_eddo

12-12-2005, 08:43 AM

How are 'flagship' versions of a retailer different from a normal version? Are they just bigger ones?

And is there a list of flagship retailers currently in San Francisco? I have a feeling pretty much every store around Union Square is perhaps a 'flagship' store.

EastBayHardCore

12-12-2005, 09:08 AM

Interesting definition of flagship, it all makes sense now :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagship

J Church

12-12-2005, 05:41 PM

in san francisco, a 'flagship' store is any union square retailer that's new to town, best as i can tell.

sf_eddo

12-12-2005, 06:39 PM

From the Wikipedia definition, flagship means
"the most important or leading member of a group. It has also come to be an adjective, as in the "flagship product" of a manufacturing company or "flagship store" of a retail chain."

As far as I can tell, probably every store that has a location in Union Square would be a flagship store, if only for its prime retail location.

J Church, I've heard 'flagship' described for old (Macy's West, Neiman Marcus, Wilkes Bashford, Nordstrom's, etc.) as well as new stores (Old Navy, Apple, H&M, Virgin, Nike, Williams-Sonoma, etc.) in Union Square, though I suppose there had to be some point and time when every store was new to Union Square.

J Church

12-12-2005, 06:46 PM

i'm being tongue-in-cheek. the term gets thrown around a lot, when more often than not, yeah, that's all it seems to mean--the store is at union square. is it noticeably larger than other stores? more of a showplace? hard to tell sometimes.

craeg

12-12-2005, 09:07 PM

we need a barneys co-op and a H&M mens.

J Church

12-12-2005, 09:09 PM

has anyone been down to H&M yet?

craeg

12-12-2005, 09:11 PM

I went like two weeks ago. They have some neat and CHEAP stuff. I got some merino wool sweaters for 34 bucks a piece.
I had to wait in line to get in.

EastBayHardCore

12-12-2005, 09:13 PM

I've been down there, but the two times I went there was a line to get into the 150 Powell store. I went in 150 Post for about 5 seconds with the gf and couldn't take the high pitched squeals of all the women in there so I left.

LAMetroGuy

12-12-2005, 09:15 PM

I know that Barneys has three flagship stores... Madison Avenue in New York City, Los Angeles/Beverly Hills and Chicago. So this will be its 4th flagship store? Very cool! Two flagship Barneys on the west coast!

New York Barneys:

http://www.aacrealty.com/images/barneys_newyork.jpg

Beverly Hills Barneys:
http://www.aacrealty.com/images/barneys_california.jpg

Chicago Barneys:

http://www.aacrealty.com/images/barneys_chicago.jpg

San Francisco Barneys:

?????

J Church

12-12-2005, 09:20 PM

high pitched squeals of all the women

what, like stell-uhhh!?

FourOneFive

12-12-2005, 09:28 PM

The future Barney's San Francisco (the former FAO):

http://www.igougo.com/photos/journal_photos/fao.JPG

EastBayHardCore

12-12-2005, 09:29 PM

More like this Steve.

Overweight 20-something girl #1: OMG OMG OMG That top is SOOO CUTE!

Overweight 20-something girl #2: I KNOOOOWWW! ITS HOT HUH? (Spins around)

ME: (notices rolls covered with ANGRY red stretchmarks creeping out all sides...promptly leaves store to vomit in the alley)

LAMetroGuy

12-12-2005, 09:32 PM

Thanks FourOneFive, I think that spot is perfect for Barneys! I would like to make a trip just to visit the new stores!

J_Taylor

12-12-2005, 09:33 PM

I have been to H&M in Sf, same with my wife.
We both shoped at the chain when we lived in Germany.
I do like the cloths..
but yes Teknoturd...that scean repeats its self over and over here in the states. Sad to say.

sf_eddo

12-12-2005, 09:49 PM

I've been to the H&M a couple times. I went one time on a Tuesday during my lunch hour and it was packed inside but there was no line. I also went on a Thursday night to buy some Xmas presents for the fam and it was a pleasant experience. There was a line to get in this Saturday when I walked past it and I stayed on the other side of the street.

Regardless, it's going to be a VERY H&M Christmas for the family.

Fashionable, cheap, and they can't get it in SoCal!

And my goodness, the Union Square area is INSANELY packed this time of year! It's almost scary!

fflint

12-12-2005, 10:08 PM

SF's central shopping district is really booming (and expanding outward). This is a major change from ten years ago, when the area seemed to be listing toward irrelevance.

dimondpark

12-17-2005, 07:05 PM

I can't wait for Barney's. Also Bloomie's(gonna be the west coast flagship)

Wilkes Bashford on Sutter will always be my favorite store in The City though..great place to run into the Bay Area's elite...LOL
http://www.unionsquareshop.com/images/stores/wilkesBashford/wilkesBashford-04.jpg

http://www.unionsquareshop.com/images/stores/wilkesBashford/wilkesBashford-01.jpg

http://www.mistersf.com/images/wilkestore02.jpg

fflint

12-18-2005, 02:05 AM

Honestly, I can't afford to shop at Wilkes-Bashford.

sflacali

12-18-2005, 04:14 AM

why in san fancisco and not los angeles? they started at LA

The Agonist

12-18-2005, 04:14 PM

The company might be based in LA, but according to the article their only stores thus far are Dallas, Vegas and Atlanta. LA doesn't even have a store. And that Juicy stuff is huge here.

Companies have varying strategies for how they roll out stores. Maybe they have such good representation in the department stores and boutiques of LA that they aren't looking for a stand alone store yet.

Frankly, I hate the word "JUICY" as a brand especially when it is platered across someone's butt in big bold letters.

MrMetropolitan

12-18-2005, 11:13 PM

I would like to see this district move into the Mid Market area a little. I think that is one area that needs Gentrification, no matter what many of the people say (whine) otherwise.

My wife and I went to H&M a few times. We both liked it quite a bit. We don't buy a lot of expensive clothing, but what we saw was good looking styles at good prices. Yes, there was a lot of squealing...

FourOneFive

12-19-2005, 03:51 AM

why in san fancisco and not los angeles? they started at LA

i don't know if this answer is good enough, but here's an article from the san francisco business times from july:

Retail scene picking up N.Y. accent
Sarah Duxbury

The Yankees are coming.

East Coast retailers keen to test Pacific Coast shopping waters are choosing San Francisco as their beachhead. By Labor Day, a flood of stores familiar to Manhattan shoppers will open here. For most, it is their first time west of the Rockies.

Blame Bay Area cosmopolitanism and the area's relative density for retailers' decision to skirt L.A. Smart money says a more compelling reason for this retail invasion is that San Franciscans shop.

"In the retail industry, it's thought that San Francisco is second in importance as a location to New York. They do the volume (here), and it's so self-contained," said Vikki Johnson of Johnson Hoke, a San Francisco retail leasing firm.

The Japanese cosmetics company Shu Uemura opened its second U.S. store on Fillmore Street in May, but business, not culture, drew the company here 10 years after opening its flagship in Manhattan's SoHo district.

Thirty percent of Shu's Internet sales ship to California, and 18 percent of the company's total Internet sales are to Northern California residents. It follows that the company would follow its strongest customers for the first stop on a planned national rollout.

Bliss, the 9-year-old New York spa and product line purchased by Starwood Hotels 18 months ago, will open its first spa outside New York and London in San Francisco's W Hotel on July 11. Fifteen percent of Bliss catalog sales come from California, and a "huge percentage" of those are in the Bay Area, said Tyler Morse, president of Bliss.

For Simon Pearce, a Vermont handblown glass and pottery company, just 6 percent of catalog and Internet orders come from California, but the preponderance of those are Bay Area sales. That motivated the 30-year-old company to open its 12th store on Fillmore Street later this summer -- its first beyond the eastern seaboard.

And when it opens later this month, Jonathan Adler's San Francisco boutique will be his first to feature a new furniture line as well as the pottery that stocks the shelves of five other Jonathan Adler stores.

For many of the newest retailers, San Francisco is merely an early stop on a national roll-out. This phenomenon has visited San Francisco before. Kiehl's, a New York-based beauty products company and designer Marc Jacobs both started their West Coast expansions in San Francisco. Kiehl's now has western stores from Santa Monica to Seattle, and Marc Jacobs has eight nationwide, including two in L.A.

Compact zone

Retailers who choose San Francisco to launch their westward push cite the city's sensibility and diversity, its culture of early adopters, for their decision.

"I think San Francisco is a really strong market for a lot of these creative merchants," Pamela Mendelsohn of Johnson Hoke said. "And Union Square is too expensive," she added, explaining why stores like Shu Uemura and Jonathan Adler would choose a neighborhood street of boutiques rather than something more prime.

Three of these four East Coast transplants will open on Fillmore Street, which has competitive advantages. Even during the downturn, volume remained strong at Fillmore's shops, Mendelsohn said.

Another reason that stand-alone stores choose a less-obvious location than the blocks around the city's shopping heart is to avoid cannibalizing sales from other retailers that carry their brand.

Gump's has carried Simon Pearce glassware and pottery for years and it could hurt sales and the relationship to open a competing store nearby. Shu Uemura similarly has plans to open a boutique within Neiman Marcus once the Union Square department store's makeover is complete in 2006.

But not all of the freshmen fear competing with their existing local retail base. The Bliss spa in the W has a retail area, even though Neiman's, Saks and Sephora -- all clustered just blocks away -- carry Bliss products. Similarly, Jonathan Adler's pottery is sold at another boutique on Fillmore, mere blocks from the coming store.

Regardless of how they choose real estate, new retailers are emphatic in the attraction of San Francisco's shores.

"L.A. is so big and spread out, it's hard to figure out where (a merchant) fits into the picture," Mendelsohn said. San Francisco, by contrast, is an appealing place to dip a toe in West Coast retail.
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dimondpark

12-25-2005, 03:11 PM

Honestly, I can't afford to shop at Wilkes-Bashford.
A person could shop at Ross and still look like a million bucks. on the other hand, a person could have a million bucks and look like crap(Paris Hilton). Its not where you shop, but how. :cool:

ocman

12-25-2005, 11:17 PM

why in san fancisco and not los angeles? they started at LA

They won't open one in LA for a long time. One of the designers said that if they were to ever open a boutique, that it would be elsewhere because they didn't want to compete against some of LA's independent stores that carried their brand from the very beginning and basically launched the brand's success.

FourOneFive

12-27-2005, 06:43 PM

from today's san francisco chronicle:

Retail flourishing again in bustling Union Square
Fresh labels in place in newly energized S.F. shopping mecca
- Pia Sarkar, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 27, 2005

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/12/27/bu_union0081afl.jpg

It took four years for Union Square to bounce back.

But today, San Francisco's famous shopping district looks as if it had never had a bad day. With new stores springing up and vacancy rates returning to normal levels, the streets are once again teeming with shoppers ready to throw down some cash.

"Union Square looks fantastic," said Helen Bulwik, a retail consultant in Oakland. "It is one of the top retail areas in the world."

Among the new stores that have opened this year are Zara, Borrelli, Stuart Weitzman Shoes, Lucky Brand Jeans and Cody's Books. But the biggest arrival has been H&M, which opened a store on Powell Street and another on Post Street in November to much fanfare.

"We expected there to be a huge response to the opening, but it was even bigger than we anticipated," H&M spokeswoman Lisa Sandberg said.

Four years ago, shoppers shied away from Union Square as the economy took a nosedive. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks left people feeling cautious about travel, stripping Union Square of its high-spending tourists. Some retailers were forced to shutter for good. In 2003, FAO Schwarz closed its doors after more than 30 years of business in the area. Eddie Bauer also packed up and left Union Square.

"It's rare to see that much space at one time," said Kazuko Morgan of Cushman & Wakefield.

Morgan noted that a lot of businesses went bankrupt after the terrorist attacks and the dot-com bust, resulting in their disappearance from Union Square. Vacancy rates climbed to as high as 20 percent in 2002, according to Rhonda Diaz, vice president of Terranomics, a retail brokerage in San Francisco.

Today, vacancy rates have dropped to about 5 percent, still a bit higher than the historical average of 2 to 4 percent, Morgan said. Rents have maintained their usual rate of about $250 per square foot, with more than enough retailers willing to pay the price to be in Union Square these days.

With travel picking up again and the economy improving, Union Square is now responding to a lot of pent-up demand. "Retailers started to get serious about doing sales and opening stores," Diaz said.

New leases and store openings accounted for 125,000 square feet of Union Square retail space this year, Diaz said.

In February, Agent Provocateur plans to open a lingerie store on Geary Street, and Juicy Couture will unveil its women's apparel store in the spring. American Apparel has also signed a lease on Grant Avenue.

The most notable change to Union Square has been the parade of new stores that sell fast fashion at an affordable price, as opposed to the luxury stores that have long dominated the shopping district.

Forever 21 started the trend last year, with the opening of its 27,500-square foot store at Powell and Market streets. Zara opened its three-level store on Post Street in September. But H&M topped them all with its two new stores within blocks of each other, a 35,000-square-foot one on Powell Street and a 10,000-square-foot one on Post Street.

Seth Nodelman of Cushman Wakefield said the new stores have not replaced upscale shoppers with bargain hunters but have generated more traffic in Union Square overall.

Customers are drawn to the tight fashion cycles that Zara, Forever 21 and H&M have built their success on, Nodelman said. "It's definitely a new business model," he said. "It gives shoppers another reason to visit because (the clothing) changes so quickly."

As for the small businesses that once graced Union Square, Nodelman said that most have faded from the scene because of the high rents that only the big stores can afford to pay.

"That's been happening for 25 years," he said. "That's sad to see because it gives Union Square local flavor, but they've been priced out of the market. It's very hard for a local merchant to compete in that environment."

Among the exceptions is the independent bookseller from Berkeley, Cody's Books, which opened its two-level store on Stockton Street at the end of September. Business so far has been going well, said store manager Patrick Marks, although Cody's is still tweaking its fixtures and signage.

"It's wonderful," Marks said. "It's also a lot of work."
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LongBeachUrbanist

12-27-2005, 10:17 PM

I had a great time shopping in Union Square this Christmas. Well, except for being harassed by Scientologists in front of Macys. Isn't loitering illegal? All I know is, if a panhandler offered me a stress test, he'd be carted off to jail!!!

Awesome that Cody's Books has opened that store on Stockton. Now Stacey's is going to face some stiff local competition.

EastBayHardCore

12-27-2005, 11:35 PM

^ Did they ask you why you weren't smiling too? The retards who ask me that make me wanna punch them in the face.

sflacali

12-28-2005, 01:03 AM

A person could shop at Ross and still look like a million bucks. on the other hand, a person could have a million bucks and look like crap(Paris Hilton). Its not where you shop, but how. :cool:

I agree. like you said it doesn't matter if its from Ross, mossimo from Target or J Lo...who matters is the person who wears it. If the person can pull off apparels from kmart and wal mart then that person got the "it" but if you are Paris Hilton who makes Dior or Gucci look something a blind sunday school teacher sewn then you are "trashy" no matter what.

sflacali

12-28-2005, 01:04 AM

LosAngelesBeauty

12-28-2005, 07:02 AM

SSLL

12-28-2005, 06:06 PM

Great series of articles on SF retail. I like shopping in SF (and Chicago) more because it's more compact, and less crowded than NY.

SSLL

01-02-2006, 01:29 PM

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/retailing_restaurants/retailing/2006/01/02/sanfrancisco_newscolumn9.html

San Francisco Business Times

From the January 2, 2006 print edition
Preview: Retail
S.F.'s new shopping bag: Westfield, Bloomies

Sarah Duxbury
The Bay Area retail scene will be dominated by two names in 2006: Westfield and Bloomingdale's.

Come Fall, over 700,000 square feet of new retail space will be available in the heart of downtown on a historic site, ending years of speculation and waiting.

Foremost will be the new Bloomingdale's -- the chain's West Coast flagship and the fifth department store to grace the Union Square area.

Then there will be all the new stores and a nine-screen Century Theatres inside an expanded Westfield San Francisco Centre. Look for many new-to-market tenants, drawn by the prestige of the project and Westfield's clout in the retail world.

Among the big names who have yet to dip a toe in San Francisco's retail waters, but whom one would expect to see in the country's second-strongest retail market, are new concepts spun off by larger brands: Hollister and Ruehl, both owned by Abercrombie & Fitch; American Eagle's Martin + Osa, which will debut next fall; and Gap Inc.'s Forth & Towne. Numerous other stores in the new mall will be duplicates of stores already found in San Francisco.

Such a shopping hub will have a salutary effect on the entire area, and perhaps already has.

In 2005, Union Square came back. Rents are up, and so is occupancy. Even stretches that have never been particularly trendy, like Geary Street east of Grant Avenue, have a host of new boutiques luring Union Square shoppers south and east.

Just consider all the new-to-market tenants in 2005: H&M, Zara, Forever 21 and Stuart Weitzman, to name a few. That will continue in 2006, and not just in the new Westfield San Francisco Shopping Centre. After all, there's something special about a street presence, as the Juicy people made clear when they chose a building at Geary and Grant streets for their first flagship store, which will open in the spring.

Sarah Duxbury covers retail for the San Francisco Business Times.

fflint

01-03-2006, 10:43 AM

I had a chance to peruse the stacks at the new Cody's on Stockton--what an amazing bookstore. The space itself is fantastic--they literally carved out a big space for themselves downtown--and the selection is incredible. This is a major addition to the city's main shopping district.

FourOneFive

01-03-2006, 02:01 PM

EastBayHardCore

01-03-2006, 04:30 PM

SF really need an Express for men. I wouldn't be disappointed to see one move into the mall. I guess what I'm worried about is the new SF Center turning into a mall like "The Forum Shops" at Caesars in Vegas, though I don't think its going to happen because as the article stated, many retailers prefer the street locations over mall stores.

ronson

01-03-2006, 08:06 PM

They won't open one in LA for a long time. One of the designers said that if they were to ever open a boutique, that it would be elsewhere because they didn't want to compete against some of LA's independent stores that carried their brand from the very beginning and basically launched the brand's success.

This is true. There are so many independent stores/distributors in the LA area that many designers are already so well represented that they don't need to open their own individual store.

sf_eddo

01-10-2006, 03:06 AM

Now only if Boston Properties could do something with the dismal state of the retail scene in the Embarcadero Centers.

Oh my goodness, my work is 4 blocks from the Embarcadero Center, and we eat lunch there quite frequently and I knew there was the Landmark Theatres, and the chain restaurants, but I just recently figured out that it was a mall! I know I'm kind of oblivious, but it's just always seemed so empty that I figured the ground floor was just office space or something.

Jeez, that's horrible - the stores there have GOT to be losing tons of money.

FourOneFive

01-10-2006, 03:44 AM

^ apparently the stores on the ground floor do quite well (i.e. Gap), but most of those stores barely make a profit probably. from an urban design perspective, the Embarcadero Centers are a maze of concrete and pedestrian walkways. it's simply confusing to find your way from the ground level to the upper shopping levels.

with the exception of local office workers, there's simply nothing that draws casual shoppers to the center. the theaters were a positive step in the right direction, but more could certainly be done. Justin Herman Plaza should be redone, and something should be done with the shadow covered park on the opposite side of the Embarcadero Centers. a museum was proposed there years ago, but it failed. an outdoor ampitheater would be nice.

EastBayHardCore

01-10-2006, 03:50 AM

You're right about that park, its an absolute dark wasteland and unfortunately the apartment buildings just north of it don't seem to contribute much to its use. It shoudl probably just be redeveloped and turned into something useful and profitable. I mean it's waterfront property for Christs sake it's gotta be worth something.

fflint

01-10-2006, 06:41 AM

Agreed, that entire park should be developed--when I worked at Embarcadero Four, I used the park exactly twice in like three years. And I was right there, most of the day every day.

SSLL

01-10-2006, 10:49 PM

Maybe they could reconfigure Embarcadero Centers so it's more like those lifestyle centers/main streets?

EastBayHardCore

01-10-2006, 11:04 PM

Ehhh, I don't think that's really possible because these stores are spread throughout 4 buildings and two stories, so 8 levels. The park on the North side could definitely be redeveloped into some housing to, in theory, support the retail. Though most serious shoppers will probably just head over to Union Square anyway. It's the whole atmosphere of the place that brings it down, not just the lack of people in the buildings outside of normal business hours.

fflint

01-10-2006, 11:38 PM

There are actually three public levels at Embarcadero Center, although I think the top level is mostly restaurants and such. And they should absolutely be torn down and replaced with some sort of open air "paseo."

sf_eddo

01-10-2006, 11:39 PM

Justin Herman Plaza should be redone
What's wrong with Justin Herman plaza? It seems quite nice, very utilised, and a strong outdoors gathering space for people along the waterfront, especially on sunny days during lunch hour in the Financial District.

Plus, I really like the fountain =)

As for Embarcadero, yeah, that space is uber-depressing. I was thinking that it would be nice for a gym or maybe a public swmming pool or tennis courts or something... retail just doesn't look to be doing too well there, and weekends must be empty.

EastBayHardCore

01-11-2006, 12:52 AM

Justin Herman Plaza was at it's peak in the Mid-90's. It was a world renoun destination for skateboarders. As soon as they trashed the pyramid blocks the property managers ripped them out, put up all sorts of anti-skating bars and crap and then the Plaza became just a boring brick wasteland, oh and a bath too. Watch out for floating bum shit and hypodermic needles kiddos!

tech12

01-11-2006, 01:18 AM

Yeah it sucks how they blocked the ledges up. Same with the Pier 7 and the Embarcadero, which were big destinations for skating. By doing that they cut SF's known skate spots in half. Instead of having lots of people around, and minimal if any "damage" to ledges, its empty and deserted (except for the bums of course), with no use at all.

EastBayHardCore

01-11-2006, 02:09 AM

Well in fairness to the city the skaters damaged a lot of property, plus who the hell wants to sit down on a waxy ledge only to get your pants stained? Not only that but they were grinding anything and everything in sight, so large chunks of concrete and stone were missing from ledges. Not only that but there was a very fierce "Locals Only" sentiment which cause a lot of fights in these areas.

tech12

01-11-2006, 02:37 AM

fair enough...It's just too bad it's not nearly as lively as it was--even if it was mostly skaters. :shrug:
But then again, i'm biased, because i used to skateboard myself.

FourOneFive

02-22-2006, 03:29 AM

From this week's San Francisco Business Times:

Mall vs. street corner? It's all about prestige
Sarah Duxbury

They say the three rules of retail are location, location, location.

In the past year, dozens of new-to-market retailers have toured San Francisco's real estate. The power of the retail market here is clear; the best location is not.

Union Square has all the prestige a brand could want, and high rents to match. But come fall, 328,000 square feet of brand new retail space, anchored by a 357,000-square-foot Bloomingdale's flagship, will open a few blocks from the square at Westfield San Francisco Centre. The expanded shopping center will feature nearly 1.5 million square feet of retail space, including Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and a nine-screen Century Theatres.

That will force new or relocating retailers to choose between a new mall spot and a traditional street location. It's a calculation that's never been so complicated, and there's no consistency among retailers as they spread across the country.

Juicy Couture recently opened boutiques in malls in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Dallas. But it signed a lease for a streetfront flagship in San Francisco. Similarly, Barneys New York is about to open a two-floor, 45,000-square-foot store in Boston's Copley Place -- a mall. Yet the retailer is reportedly close to signing a lease on the former FAO Schwarz building just off San Francisco's Union Square.

Other tenants are opting for Westfield over Union Square, though Westfield will not name names.

Cases can be made for each. Malls done right --those with strong anchor tenants, like Nordstrom or Bloomingdale's, as well as entertainment options like cinemas and restaurants -- provide a draw beyond shopping.

"That anchoring establishes a very strong destination for other retailers interested in participating," said Steve Eimer, vice president, development at Westfield Corp. Westfield expects 25 million visitors a year.

Westfield has other lures in addition to the quality of its entertainment and tenant mix. The strongest one is financing.

Like other mall operators, Westfield Centre helps pay for tenants' store build-outs.

"It is part of our program and varies between deals quite a bit," Eimer said. "In some instances, we provide what we call 'tenant allowance' -- an amount of monies -- to help merchants build out their space. In other instances it's a very small amount."

Very few Union Square landlords offer tenants a dime to develop their stores.

Westfield's size also means that it can offer rents below Union Square rates, plus a tenant improvement allowance. The company won't disclose what it charges per square foot, but Eimer acknowledged that rents for high-end stores fall in the realm of $150 to $200 per square foot.

According to Julie Taylor of GVA Whitney Cressman, rents on a prime block of Post Street these days run from $200 to $250 per square foot, with all tenant improvements falling to the retailer.

Malls are destination sites with a critical mass of stores -- but so is Union Square. And the prestige of a traditional shopping district is hard for retailers to resist.

"A mall is almost always a fallback choice," Taylor said. Retailers who go into malls do so to attain perfect market coverage or because street locations are too expensive.

In San Francisco, they tend to be young and emerging brands who don't have the resources to commit to Union Square, Taylor said. After all, most Union Square locations just break even, yet retailers choose to be there for the cachet and exposure that come with one of the nation's hottest shopping areas.

That's why retailers from Lucky Jeans to Bebe to Victoria's Secret already have stores in both Union Square and the existing Westfield San Francisco Centre.

"Westfield can afford to make any deal they want," Taylor said. But while they are formidable competition to Union Square landlords, their presence has proven positive to all.

For the past few years, Taylor said she gave tours of possible locations to one or two potential tenants a month. In the past year, since Westfield has turned up the heat on its "leasing machine," Taylor said she tours at least that many prospective tenants every week.

The openings of Zara and H&M have also contributed to a surge of interest in San Francisco retail.

"A lot of retailers are coming in (to the San Francisco market) with a bigger splash than anticipated," Taylor said. That means taking a streetfront location as well as space in the mall, as Juicy Couture is expected to do.

Finally, there's service. That, in retail, is nearly as important as location.

"One of the big distinctions we will have that many merchants find distinctive and attractive for them is the level of service and consistency and quality of environment that our project will have," Eimer said. The center's extensive concierge service "is provided by Westfield, along with security and our very extensive marketing."

But even Westfield is hedging its bets. The new center will have streetfront stores that open directly onto Market Street, and the upper, interior floors are also designed to have an urban, street-front feel.

Sarah Duxbury covers retail for the San Francisco Business Times.

FourOneFive

02-22-2006, 03:34 AM

One more article from the San Francisco Business Times:

Homes are in and retail seems sure to follow
Lizette Wilson

Mission Bay's condo craze is sparking a retail renaissance.

With more than 1,000 residential units completed and 6,000 more slated for completion within the next 36 months, plans are progressing to pack shops and restaurants into the area.

Along with some 170,000 square feet of ground-floor retail planned within the Mission Bay development, a further 100,000 square feet or so could be developed at existing sites throughout the nascent neighborhood.

"I know of four to six other sites that are actively being explored for additional retail. These are existing buildings that would be reconfigured." said Sheldon Pont, a retail and shopping center consultant with GVA Whitney Cressman. Pont noted one such site was 444 De Haro St. -- an office building across the street from the new Whole Foods Market at 450 Rhode Island St. slated to open April 2007.

Pont said he's had informal conversations on behalf of building owners Gregg Flynn and Divco West with retailers like Anthropologie, the Gap, Barnes & Noble, Crate & Barrel Outlet Center and Restoration Hardware. Such retailers have opened stores near Whole Foods markets in Chicago, Long Island and "at least three dozen locations analogous to Potrero Hill." Most have been very successful, said Pont.

The Mission Bay/Potrero Hill area "is a market that's underserved now. They have their tongues hanging out," said Pont. "They see the benefit from the traffic that goes to Whole Foods."

Flynn said plans to convert the bottom floor into 55,000 square feet of retail space are still early and will be largely dependent on the tenant who ultimately signs.

While Flynn and other area landowners consider conversion plans, retail designs are taking shape within the Mission Bay development.

Housing developers Bosa Development, Opus West Corp., Urban Housing Group and the San Francisco Affordable Housing Agency are planning to build 74,000 square feet to 87,000 square feet of combined ground-floor retail below their residential units lining both sides of Fourth Street.

Ground breaking could be a year to 15 months from now and will vary by owner, according to Amy Neches, a senior planner with the city's Redevelopment Agency who is overseeing the process.

Neches said she envisions small-scale residential-serving retail along the block and is working with the developers to create an atmosphere where such retailers would want to locate.

Only building entries and retail storefronts will be permitted on the block. No garages or other non-pedestrian-friendly uses will be permitted.

Benches, well-spaced trees and a five-foot setback, which would enable the ground floor retail to stand out from the higher residential towers, will also help make it an attractive destination, Neches said.

"Retail is really the heart of the neighborhood. That's what people identify as being their neighborhood," said Neches. "We don't pick the tenants -- the owners of the properties get to do that -- but we're working hard to create an area with character."

Other retail planned in the Mission Bay area includes:

* 50,000 square feet at a yet-to-be developed hotel.
* 20,000 square feet along Third Street.
* 15,000 square feet at a parcel Shorenstein Co. acquired last year for an office project.
* 5,000 square feet at 1700 Owens St., a life science building now under construction by Mission Bay's largest developer, Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

Meanwhile, Mission Bay's existing retailers at the Beacon -- a roster that includes Safeway, Borders, Amici's, Quizno's and Washington Mutual -- are doing brisk business.

Beacon landlord Centurion Real Estate Partners reports retailers have enjoyed "double-digit growth" during the past 12 months, although a firm principal declined to detail revenue increases at specific stores.

Centurion's John Tashjian credits most of that growth to the increasing residential population at the Beacon. Since units went on sale March 11, 2005, 495 of the Beacon's 595 condos have been sold or have been committed to be sold. Buyers have snapped up 40 units since Jan. 1.

Although a slew of restaurants within a few blocks of the Beacon, including Coco500, Jack Falstaff and Tres Agaves have all opened during the past year, the two restaurant sites at the entrance to the upscale condo development remain empty as they have since the building was completed three years ago.

Cushman & Wakefield leasing agent Kazuko Morgan, who says 17,753 square feet of the 80,000 square feet of retail space at the Beacon is now vacant, said the market is competitive.

Although McDonald's and other fast-food restaurants have shown interest in the site, the owners are more interested in finding an upscale, non-chain type restaurant that would optimize the outside patio seating and bring verve to the development.

"We're trying to find exactly the right fit," said Tashjian. "Our preference is for a group that can energize the corners (of the property) with inside and outside seating. Restaurant deals can be tricky. You have to strike a balance between what you want as a developer, which is a credit tenant, and what you want for the community, which is something more unique."

"That space is extremely valuable. We have the luxury of being patient and waiting for someone who recognizes the value."

Lizette Wilson covers real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

i had no idea whole foods was coming to mission bay! how exciting! :D

sf_eddo

02-22-2006, 05:46 PM

Pont noted one such site was 444 De Haro St. -- an office building across the street from the new Whole Foods Market at 450 Rhode Island St. slated to open April 2007.

Pont said he's had informal conversations on behalf of building owners Gregg Flynn and Divco West with retailers like Anthropologie, the Gap, Barnes & Noble, Crate & Barrel Outlet Center and Restoration Hardware. Such retailers have opened stores near Whole Foods markets in Chicago, Long Island and "at least three dozen locations analogous to Potrero Hill." Most have been very successful, said Pont.

The Mission Bay/Potrero Hill area "is a market that's underserved now. They have their tongues hanging out," said Pont. "They see the benefit from the traffic that goes to Whole Foods."

Didn't Gap totally fail at the Potrero Center location? And yes, the Whole Foods has been in the planning for a while - I heard about it when I moved to P-Hill in May 2004. I wonder how the neighborhood retailers will feel about the evil "chains" encroaching on their 'hood. For retail, I feel they will be alright, but if anyone tries to move in with a chain restaurant, I feel they will scream holy hell.

Really hope this won't turn into a Potrero Center suburban-type scenario. Potrero is generally more car-friendly than the rest of the city, (because of all the commuters to the South Bayand little thru traffic) and the 444 De Haro lot is huge, IIRC, and right next to the Anchor Steam brewery.

here's a local live shot: http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&ss=444%20de%20haro%20st%2c%20san%20francisco%2c%20ca&cp=37.764142~-122.401606&style=o&lvl=1&scene=1213741&sp=adr.444%20De%20Haro%20St%2c%20San%20Francisco%2c%20CA%2094107

Of course, P-Hill is home to the SFBG - and they'll probably run a scathing article on how Whole Foods and chain retail brings in republicans or evil craigslist or something about New Times Media. And the Potrero Hill neighborhood association is pretty influential in the neighborhood, from what I understand.

dimondpark

02-23-2006, 02:15 AM

In San Francisco, they tend to be young and emerging brands who don't have the resources to commit to Union Square, Taylor said. After all, most Union Square locations just break even, yet retailers choose to be there for the cachet and exposure that come with one of the nation's hottest shopping areas.

That's why retailers from Lucky Jeans to Bebe to Victoria's Secret already have stores in both Union Square and the existing Westfield San Francisco Centre.
Its a powerful statement to the strength of any retail area for a brand to have more then one store in a single location.

FourOneFive

02-23-2006, 03:30 AM

Its a powerful statement to the strength of any retail area for a brand to have more then one store in a single location.

exactly. i hear some retailers may double dip after the westfield san francisco centre opens. banana republic is mentioned most often.

one thing that is really missing from the retail district are banks. bank of america has a large branch at one powell, and wells fargo has a branch on grant, but there's a real lack of financial institutions. citibank, us bank, washington mutual, and even wells should have large signature retail branches.

sf_eddo

02-23-2006, 08:38 PM

Metreon gets new lease on life
Purchase by Westfield and Forest City adds failing center to growing S.F. retail empire

- Pia Sarkar, Ilana DeBare, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, February 23, 2006

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/02/23/bu_metreon23_066ls.jpg

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/02/23/bu_metreonmap.jpg
The owners of Westfield San Francisco Centre will take over the flailing Sony Metreon on Fourth Street, swallowing a major corridor in the South of Market district and adding to their rapidly growing retail empire.

Shopping mall developer the Westfield Group and real estate company Forest City Enterprises, which are in the midst of expanding the Westfield San Francisco Centre with a new Bloomingdale's as well as a nine-screen movie theater and other retail stores, said Wednesday that they will acquire the 300,000-square-foot Metreon for an undisclosed sum.

The 15-screen AMC Loews Theatres, the Metreon's only real success story, will stay put while portions of the complex will be repositioned. Neither Westfield nor Forest City would reveal which other existing tenants it will keep and which new ones it will try to attract.

Kazuko Morgan of commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield said the Metreon will ultimately benefit from the acquisition. "I think you've got a sophisticated team of people owning this project, which is a good thing," Morgan said of Westfield and Forest City. "They definitely have the expertise and the reach. They know the area very well -- they know the city very well. To me, it seems like a natural that they bought it."

Matt Kircher, managing partner with Terranomics, a retail brokerage in Burlingame, valued the deal at $70 million. "It's a great retail site," he said. "It's really in great position to be repositioned." Sony spent $85 million to build the Metreon, which opened in 1999.

The Metreon's new owners are coming onto the scene with an entirely different background than Sony. Westfield has investment interests in 128 shopping centers in four countries, with a total value of more than $38.5 billion. It operates six shopping centers in the Bay Area and 26 in California.

Forest City, a $7.8 billion publicly traded real estate company, also has a strong presence in the Bay Area. In San Francisco, it built the 800-unit Bayside Village residential complex in the South of Market district. It is working on the restoration of the Public Health Services Hospital building in the Presidio. Nationwide, its projects include the 4,000-acre Stapleton community in Denver and University Park at MIT in Cambridge, Mass.

For the Westfield San Francisco Centre expansion project, expected to be completed in autumn, Westfield and Forest City are adding 1 million square feet to the existing 500,000 square feet of retail space. The privately funded project will cost $440 million and is expected to generate $600 million in annual retail sales and attract an estimated 25 million shoppers annually.

Julie Taylor, a retail real estate consultant with GVA Whitney Cressman, said she does not expect Westfield and Forest City to duplicate stores in the Metreon.

"They're going to be drastically different," Taylor said. "The tenants that want to benefit from Bloomingdale's traffic are very different than the tenants who seek to be in a restaurant theater environment."

Westfield and Forest City will purchase the Metreon from Yerba Buena Entertainment Center, a venture owned by Millennium Partners and Sony Corp. of America. The transfer, subject to approval by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, is expected to be completed by early April.

Lisa Carparelli, a spokeswoman for Sony, said the company pulled out as Metreon's original owner upon reviewing its corporate strategy and deciding to focus it on electronics, entertainment and games.

"We had success in Metreon," Carparelli said. "We attracted an average of 6 million people a year, but the decision is based on corporate resources."

Sony will continue to operate the Sony Style Store and the PlayStation store inside the Metreon. "We'll be in essence a tenant," Carparelli said.

Visitors panned an exhibit based on the book "The Way Things Work" as boring, and it closed in summer 2001. An anchor Microsoft store closed later that year. An exhibit based on Maurice Sendak's book "Where the Wild Things Are" was scaled back to four days a week and later closed. The Discovery Channel store closed in 2003.

The movie theaters flourished. But Sony didn't receive any revenue from the theaters and in 2002 rebuffed a quiet proposal by the theaters to expand into the by-then-vacant fourth floor.

One industry observer said the complex ended up with a mostly teenage clientele that alienated the upscale families whom Sony had intended to attract.

"Sony envisioned a much higher-end customer than ultimately wanted to be there," Taylor said.

"The tenants they put in originally were very unique and esoteric. The Discovery Channel had unique things, but they were for affluent people with lots of disposable income for cute knick-knacks. The most successful tenants were ones who catered to the teenage moviegoing crowd, like the pinball arcades. They intimidated the more affluent crowds looking for a more museumlike experience."

E-mail the writers at psarkar@sfchronicle.com and idebare@sfchronicle.com.

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J Church

02-24-2006, 05:16 PM

I'll be happy if they'll just reopen the deck ...

Metreon's shattered dreams
David Lazarus
Friday, February 24, 2006

Trevor Bryant knew for years that this day would come.

The former Sony senior vice president served as creative director for Metreon in downtown San Francisco. He basically oversaw the $85 million project from start to finish.

So when word got out this week that Metreon was being purchased by the Westfield Group, a leading mall developer, and Forest City Enterprises, a real estate company, Bryant could only shake his head at the inevitability of the deal.

"Our original vision was to create a space that was really innovative in terms of being a technology showplace and an educational experience," he told me Thursday, a day after Metreon's sale was announced.

"It was supposed to be a place where you couldn't tell where the entertainment ended and the retail began," Bryant said. "I truly believed in it 100 percent."

That is, until Metreon opened for business.

"What got created," Bryant said with undisguised bitterness, "was a shopping mall with gated attractions that you had to pay to get into. It wasn't very fun, and the public reacted to that."

On one level, the story of Metreon's rise and fall is the story of what happens when visionary ideas collide with the realities of the business world.

On a more basic level, it's the story of what happens when corporate powers-that-be decide, as they so often do, to place short-term gain ahead of long-term investments.

"Sony started cutting our budget almost as soon as we opened," Bryant said. "They decided within six months of opening that they didn't want to be in the land development business after all."

Never lost faith

Lisa Carparelli, a Sony spokeswoman, responded by e-mail that the company never lost faith in Metreon.

"For the last 6 1/2 years, we have been committed to the successful operation of Metreon," she said, adding that Sony has decided to refocus on "our core businesses of electronics, entertainment and games."

Bryant, 54, said he left Sony about a year after Metreon opened its doors in 1999. He now works as a design consultant in Los Angeles.

"It crushed me," Bryant said. "I was hired by Sony to create a new vision for urban entertainment. Nothing I designed is still standing."

It's a fairly safe bet that it won't be replaced by the new owners either.

Westfield said it will oversee Metreon when the acquisition is completed in coming weeks, just as the company is managing (and expanding) the much larger Westfield San Francisco Centre mall down the street.

Westfield hasn't revealed its plans for Metreon, saying only that portions of the building "will be repositioned and re-tenanted." A spokeswoman for the company declined to be more specific.

The 15-screen Loews Theatres -- by far Metreon's most successful feature -- will remain unchanged, Westfield said.

From the beginning, the people behind Metreon had a fierce, pass-the-Kool-Aid belief that they were on the cutting edge of a retailing revolution.

I saw this for myself when Time Inc. hired me prior to Metreon's opening to write an article about the facility for a Sony in-house publication. (This was before I became a proud member of Team Chronicle.)

Reinventing retailing

I was shown around the building by a Metreon staffer as workers scurried to finish the project in time. Everyone I'd spoken with had gushed about how Metreon was going to reinvent retailing and serve as a model for similar ventures worldwide.

I said to my guide: "So the mall ... "

"It's not a mall," she interrupted. "It's an urban entertainment destination."

"Sorry?"

"It's an urban entertainment destination."

I dutifully described the place as such in the article I'd been hired to write. But I had no clue what Sony meant. Metreon was a mix of stores, eating places and a movie theater.

It was a mall.

Sony never understood this. Nor did it grasp Bryant's notion of a seamless entertainment-retail experience. Instead, it attempted to package Metreon as a mini-Disneyland, with a handful of attractions and a bunch of ways to spend money.

Gee-whiz mix wanted

Maybe the attractions would have worked better as originally devised. Bryant said they were intended to be a gee-whiz mix of a theme park and the Exploratorium.

As things you had to pay extra for, though, the attractions never quite became crowd pleasers.

One of the exhibits, "The Way Things Work," closed in 2001. Another, based on Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are," was open only a few days a week by 2003 and was gone for good as of last year.

Metreon's retail stars, meanwhile, quickly found that the one-of-a-kind venue they'd been promised was shaping up into little more than an unusually designed shopping center.

The Microsoft store -- the only such outlet anywhere in the world -- closed in 2001. (This was an especially unfortunate outcome for Bryant; he's the one who first pitched Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on the concept.)

The first-floor Discovery Channel Store moved out in 2003, leaving the prime space largely vacant to this day.

On the second floor, Metreon's first high-end restaurant, Montage, closed in 2001. It was eventually replaced by LJ's Martini Bar & Grill, which told Sony it intended to close its doors on Monday but was asked by the company to stick around (with reduced rent) for another few months.

Steve Dooner, LJ's owner, said he has a meeting scheduled with Westfield today to see if his new landlord has a better deal to offer.

"More than likely, we'll be relocating elsewhere pretty soon," he said, adding that business in Metreon has been slower than he'd expected.

One of the biggest missed opportunities for Metreon is the third-floor movie theater. A Loews insider said the theater chain approached Sony in 2002 about expanding to the fourth floor, replacing the increasingly unpopular Wild Things with another nine movie screens.

Loews Metreon is already one of the most profitable theaters in the country. Sony, however, gets none of the box-office take.

"They said no to our offer," the Loews insider said. "They said they didn't want Metreon to be seen as just a big movie theater."

As it stands, that's about all the place is. Kids still turn up at the first-floor Sony PlayStation store and the gloomy second-floor video arcade.

But the main attraction is, and always has been, the theater. Sony never appreciated that. It remains to be seen what Westfield will do.

At this point, the only Metreon tenant that's declared an intention to stay is Sony, which says its PlayStation and Sony Style stores won't go anywhere.

"We look forward to remaining a tenant at Metreon, and to Westfield and Forest City continuing the successful operation and evolution of this facility to the benefit of the downtown area and the entire San Francisco community," Sony's Carparelli said.

As for Bryant, he said it's been a while since he's visited Metreon. He hasn't had the heart.

"I couldn't be more disappointed," Bryant said. "But I've moved on with my life. I've never looked back."

LongBeachUrbanist

02-24-2006, 06:05 PM

^ That's really too bad. I had high hopes for Metreon too, when it first opened. But ultimately, the visitors need something interesting to see, and the retailers need to be able to sell product. It's a difficult balance.

From a design standpoint, I have often felt a strange mixture of claustrophobia and disorientation in Metreon. Often times I found myself looking out the big glass windows and wishing I were instead outside in the adjacent park. The food court felt like it was in the bowels of the building, and as for the stores and attractions, it seems I could never quite remember which combination of paths to take to get to them. And the doo-hickeys available at the various specialty stores (like the Discovery store) were interesting to look at but not interesting enough to spend money on.

sf_eddo

02-24-2006, 06:24 PM

I hate the Metreon and never know where anything is. I still don't know how to get to the movie theatre (which is ok for me since rarely like any of the movies playing there) or where exactly i go to buy tickets. it looks nice, but is dreadfully user-unfriendly. and the doors leading from the metreon to yerba buena gardens are always locked at night - eesh! we have to walk around to enter on the 4th street side.

i've gone to jillian's for happy hour and pool, and that's pretty much it. One mall is the area is enough (nordstroms/bloomingdales), in my opinion, with the amazing diversity of street retail nearby.

What a horrid waste of space.

J Church

02-24-2006, 06:33 PM

Dude, movie tickets are by the main entrance!

I always liked Metreon if for no other reason than the Japanese dancing games. They better keep those. Oh, and the virtual bowling. I seriously hope they'll carry over the arcade.

sf_eddo

02-24-2006, 06:35 PM

^ yellow fever. :D

J Church

02-24-2006, 06:37 PM

Paris Hilton.

EastBayHardCore

02-24-2006, 08:36 PM

one thing that is really missing from the retail district are banks. bank of america has a large branch at one powell, and wells fargo has a branch on grant, but there's a real lack of financial institutions. citibank, us bank, washington mutual, and even wells should have large signature retail branches.

Isn't that a forever 21 now?

sf_eddo

02-24-2006, 09:04 PM

^ the bank of america location is now underground at one powell.

fflint

02-25-2006, 01:10 AM

TrippLA

02-25-2006, 01:13 AM

I don't hate the Metreon, but I do treat it as nothing more than a movie theater with good views from the lobby. The bottom floor is indeed claustrophobic and also unpleasantly dark.

My hope: Westfield will "reposition" its new tenants toward the street, with the intent to liven up Mission and 4th Streets. It is quite surprising just how *wrong* they got it with Metreon--it is quite unfriendly to the street, right in the heart of our shopping and entertainment district.

I know about this store that where shopping all Sony stuff and PS2 store... It's seems completely worthless to me because I'm biggest X-Box fans. I need X-Box store so badly. I only dream about Billabong will opening new store in SF.

fflint

02-26-2006, 12:48 AM

Circling the square
The zone of chic

J.K. Dineen
The San Francisco Business Times
2/13/06 Print Edition

Union Square's famed shopping district is expanding -- and becoming a bit less square in the process.

During the past six months, a spate of edgy young fashion brands have opened stores or signed leases on the eastern-most block of Geary Street, long a struggling stretch that has been mostly immune to Union Square's well-heeled bustle.

The result is a cluster of like-minded fashionista outlets that are very much part of Union Square, but are also creating a distinct, cutting-edge retail enclave, according to store owners and Union Square retail agents.

Thus far, the new businesses on the block include the risqué lingerie store Agent Provocateur, which opened last week at 54 Geary St.; the hot denim purveyor G-Star at 76 Geary St., which opened in October; and Luigio Borello, an Italian shirtmaker, at 80 Geary St. Soon to join the group is Chrome Heart, a jewelry designer popular with rockers and movie stars at 66 Geary St.; and the super-trendy Juicy Couture, which as a well-known brand will anchor the corner of Grant and Geary streets with a 9,800-square-foot, five-level boutique.

Broker Vikki Johnson, a Johnson and Hoke agent who represented the landlord on nearly all the deals, described the collection of new businesses as the "luxe of the edgy." While some international fashion houses like Gucci regard a Union Square presence as a mandatory part of branding and advertising, that is not the case for the smaller stores taking up residence on the first block of Geary.

"The block is about fashion, not branding," said Johnson.

In the past year, rents on the block have jumped more than 40 percent, from about $60 a square foot to between $100 and $110. Despite the hikes, the rents are still less than half what retailers would be paying closer to Union Square's heart.

Jason Farrell, an owner of G-Star, said he looked long and hard for the perfect location before settling on 76 Geary, which most recently was home to a Hector Russell Scottish Imports, which specialized in scotch whiskey and kilts, among other things.

"I wanted to be a block off, I didn't want to be in the center," said Farrell. "I thought there was a lot of potential for the street -- if somebody started, other people would come."

Farrell, who pays just over $100 a square foot, said he was delighted Chrome Heart, Juicy Couture and Agent Provocateur were joining G-Star. He said the group of stores as "adventurous brands that will feed off of each other."

Johnson and Hoke agent Pamela Mendelsohn, who represented the tenants on most of the Geary Street deals, said the block had benefited from "reasonable rents and good timing."

"It's hard to get a whole bunch of space at the same time, but in this case it was important because it really allowed us to build a neighborhood," said Mendelsohn.

Linda Mjellem, president of the Union Square Association, called the new prosperity on the first block of Geary a "lovely creep," saying it demonstrates "renewed confidence in the area."

"For 10 years, it has been the hinterlands," she said. "It's really exciting to see that it's coming alive."

Agent Provocateur consultant Simon Dallimore said the criteria for space was simple.

"You can afford to be destination-oriented, you don't have to go prime prime," he said. "You don't want to be next to the luxury and you don't want to be next to mainstream. You want to be slightly off pitch."

ronson

02-27-2006, 05:41 AM

wow that's two for th westfiel

FourOneFive

03-06-2006, 05:50 AM

More news on the new Westfield San Francisco Centre from the San Francisco Business Times!

What's in store for Westfield center
New S.F. shopping center bags big-name retailers, restaurants
San Francisco Business Times - March 3, 2006
by Sarah Duxbury

New restaurants from big-name chefs, new concepts from major store chains, and new outlets for growing retailers are all finding a home at the new Westfield San Francisco Centre.

With its grand opening just six months away, Westfield San Francisco Centre is close to finalizing lease agreements with more than 100 tenants. A Westfield merchandising blueprint obtained by the San Francisco Business Times lists a name for virtually every major retail space at the new center, suggesting that Westfield and partner Forest City will have almost 100 percent of stores ready to welcome customers on opening day.

Retailers Abercrombie & Fitch, Eddie Bauer, Bebe and American Eagle all confirmed they are in advanced negotiation to open one or more stores at the center, as did San Francisco restaurateurs Charles Phan of Slanted Door and the Lark Creek Restaurant Group.

"We think this project is a tremendous attraction and we want to be part of it," said Michael Dellar, a co-founder and co-owner of Lark Creek Restaurant Group, which according to the merchandising plan is looking at a 5,000-square-foot restaurant space on the fourth floor, as well as a 500-square-foot space in the lower level food emporium. "We're very committed to the rightness of the project."

Westfield officials refused to be interviewed about the merchandising plan, and a representative declined comment on it, calling the preliminary retail line-up proprietary information that shouldn't have been given to the newspaper. She said Westfield would announce new retailers once leases were signed and refused to say if anything had changed since October, when the merchandising plan was put together.

Lifestyle brands, mall regulars

Anchored by a 357,000-square-foot Bloomingdale's, Westfield's renovation of the historic Emporium on Market Street is scheduled to be completed in September. It will be combined with the adjacent San Francisco Centre anchored by Nordstrom to create a 1.5-million-square-foot shopping behemoth.

Based on the merchandising plan, lifestyle brands and national mall regulars like Abercrombie & Fitch and Bebe will predominate in the combined center, where they will have multiple locations. That will allow them to roll out new retail concepts.

Abercrombie & Fitch, which according to the plan will be the center's single-largest tenant after Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom, is in final lease negotiations to open a 10,000-square-foot Hollister, which sells beach-inspired clothing aimed at teenagers. The plan also indicates it will open a 10,000-square-foot Ruehl, which targets a slightly older, professional demographic.

Martin + Osa, American Eagle's new brand targeting 25-to-40-year-old men and women that launches this fall, will open one of its first stores at Westfield San Francisco Centre. It plans to open five stores in 2006 and between 10 and 15 stores in 2007.

Bebe plans to open three stores in the Westfield Centre, including one brand-new retail concept. (See related story, this page.)

For other retailers, the new mall provides an opportunity to return to or expand in the San Francisco market.

Eddie Bauer closed its 27,000-square-foot Post Street store in 2003 when its then-parent, Spiegel, filed for Chapter 11. Now that the company is stable, it wants to return to San Francisco, which it considers a key market, a company spokeswoman said. Westfield provided the right-size location -- 4,200 square feet of selling space -- which fits with Eddie Bauer's new model of smaller stores.

Borders confirmed it is in discussions with Westfield, but would not release details.

More recent San Francisco arrivals like H&M, Zara and Juicy are also listed on the merchandising plan for new outlets. Juicy and H&M have indicated in the past that they are interested in new San Francisco locations but declined to confirm whether they are going into the Westfield Center. Zara did not return calls and emails seeking comment.

Bon appetit

Food is as important as fashion at the new mall, and two major San Francisco restaurateurs are close to signing leases to open restaurants at the center.

Dellar of Lark Creek said he expects a deal to be signed with Westfield in the next few weeks and that his company is working on designs for the site.

Charles Phan hopes to open a 5,500-square-foot restaurant on the food emporium level and said the deal could also be signed in the next few weeks.

"We're talking to them," Phan said, "but I won't say I'm going in until I have something signed."

In addition to a 30,000-square-foot grocery store, the lower-level food emporium will feature a restaurant, more than a dozen smaller food kiosks ranging from roughly 400 to 1,000 square feet, with total seating for over 800 people. Westfield has targeted local companies to sell at the food emporium. The center will have larger restaurants and a bar on its fourth floor.

The shopping, food and entertainment options are expected to bring 25 million visitors into the center annually, and Westfield expects them to spend $600 million.

Sarah Duxbury covers retail for the San Francisco Business Times.
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i can hardly contain how excited i am about the new Westfield San Francisco Centre. It's nice to see Abercrombie, American Eagle, and Bebe expanding in the new center. Zara would be a great addition as well. I don't see how/why H&M would take space in the new center. They have 2 locations in downtown SF already.

If any retailer needs to be in downtown San Francisco, it's Pottery Barn. Can anyone explain to me why they don't have a location in Union Square?

EastBayHardCore

03-06-2006, 05:58 AM

If any retailer needs to be in downtown San Francisco, it's Pottery Barn. Can anyone explain to me why they don't have a location in Union Square?

^ Their store in Upper Market is HUGE. I don't know anything about retail, but I dunno if they could support another huge store less than 2 miles away.

I'm pretty intrigued by this food emporium and grocery store that they're planning.

FourOneFive

03-06-2006, 06:17 AM

^ Their store in Upper Market is HUGE. I don't know anything about retail, but I dunno if they could support another huge store less than 2 miles away.

I'm pretty intrigued by this food emporium and grocery store that they're planning.

true. in addition to upper market/ castro, pottery barn does have locations on chestnut street and in stonestown. i'm still holding out hope that they'll eventually take casual corner's current location at the corner of powell and geary in union square and refurbish the entire building. that location is too prominent for a sub-par retailer like casual corner. and i'm sure the union square market could easily sustain a pottery barn. a large flagship there would serve the more regional/ tourist population as opposed to the locations in upper market and the marina, which serve local residents.

the food emporium and grocery store is an exciting aspect of the project too. i'm sure whole foods or trader joe's will end up occupying the grocery space. imagine walking into a large food emporium from powell station...

sf_eddo

03-06-2006, 06:23 AM

I heard Draeger's (fancy food store, www.draegers.com), most locations on the peninsula, was going to be in the new Bloomingdale's mall. Is this true?

EastBayHardCore

03-06-2006, 06:41 AM

I think it's going to be quite interesting to see who exactly shops at this grocery store. I guess I could see the hotel crowd heading down there, but what residents will shop there? There aren't *that* many condos and apartments in the immediate area. Maybe they expect people from the neighborhoods surrounding Market, all the way down to Castro to hope on the train instead of going to Safeway.

sf_eddo

03-06-2006, 07:52 AM

^ if it were a trader joe's, i'd hop on a train to go there instead of the south of market location.... if it were a whole paycheck or draegers... meh. maybe a long lunch or something from the financial district...

fflint

03-06-2006, 10:33 AM

It's hard to say who the target market is for the grocery store, but I'll bet it will be profitable.

dimondpark

03-06-2006, 01:20 PM

Draeger's is more upscale then Trader Joe's-I think it'll do fine considering the demographics of the surrounding area.

fflint

03-16-2006, 11:49 AM

I posted this in a thread about Pershing and Union Squares, but wanted to make sure and include it in this thread as well:

More tourists coming to San Francisco to shop
Stores near Union Square are city's No. 2 attraction

Sarah Duxbury
San Francisco Business Times
March 10, 2006

Union Square is doing its bit to give more people more reasons to shop in San Francisco.

In the past year, a host of new retailers has opened on or around Union Square, expanding the area's retail offerings to appeal to all age groups and budgets.

In September, over 700,000 square feet of new retail and entertainment space will come on line when the expanded Westfield San Francisco Centre opens its doors, amplifying the area's siren song.

At the same time, tourism levels are ticking steadily upward, which sounds a lot like money to Union Square retailers.

"We depend on tourism," said Linda Mjellem, president of the Union Square Association. "The better job the Convention and Visitors Bureau does, the more we benefit."

Union Square is San Francisco's No. 2 attraction after Fisherman's Wharf. According to a 2004 survey of San Francisco hotel guests conducted by the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, almost 74 percent of hotel guests visit the city's shopping heart.

Its stature among visitors was not always so high. In 1999, the last time data was collected, just 47 percent of hotel guests reported shopping at Union Square, according to Dan Goldes of the SFCVB.

That means more visitors are shopping there now than were five years ago, a fact not lost on Union Square retailers.

Robert Mettler, CEO of Macy's West, has said that more than 10 percent of customers in his Union Square flagship are tourists.

According to a 2005 survey by Westfield San Francisco Centre, just 38 percent of the mall's shoppers live in San Francisco and 33 percent of them come from outside the Bay Area. Furthermore, 16 percent of Westfield's out-of-towners came to San Francisco just to shop.

Erik Nordstrom, executive vice president of full-line stores at Seattle-based Nordstrom, confirmed the prominence of tourist shoppers at his company's flagship in Westfield San Francisco Centre. He said that the firm invests in the store itself as a way to woo and win them.

"A flagship is more than size. It's a high visibility store that defines what a brand is about," Nordstrom said in an October 2005 interview with the Business Times. "We get so many visitors from around the world (in San Francisco); it's a lot of people's introduction to our company, so we have very high standards for it."

The number of tourist shoppers in San Francisco has attracted retailers eager to open flagships. Bloomingdale's will open a 357,000-square-foot flagship at Westfield San Francisco Centre, and Barneys New York is reportedly close to signing a lease to open a flagship store in the old FAO Schwarz building at 48 Stockton St. H&M had its most successful opening day ever in November with its 45,000-square-foot West Coast flagship at 150 Powell St., and Juicy Couture has signed a lease to open a flagship on the corner of Grant and Geary streets.

"What is so unique in San Francisco, compared with a majority of high profile cities, is that you have your local and your tourist and your business and your regional visitor all in one area," said Vikki Johnson of Johnson Hoke, which specializes in retail real estate.

Such a density of offerings is part of San Francisco's famed charm.

New Union Square retailers, and the promise of more to come, have made San Francisco sexier to visitors, to retailers and to locals. Between Westfield and Union Square, more than a dozen new-to-market tenants opened in San Francisco in 2005 or will open in 2006.

Union Square ground floor retail vacancy dropped to 8.6 percent at the end of 2005 from 10.4 percent a year earlier, according to GVA Whitney Cressman.

"Union Square has always been a destination for travelers and shoppers," said Mjellem of the Union Square Association. "With exciting new projects going in -- there's H&M, Zara, Agent Provacateur, which just opened, and Westfield coming online later this year and whatever they're going to do with the Metreon -- there's a really rich mix of stores and places of entertainment to draw people in. This is an exciting, promising time."

Johnson agreed, noting that the Union Square sub-lease market is nearly finished after the lean years following Sept. 11.

"Look at hotel vacancy -- people can't get a hotel room," Johnson said. "New retail that has come into the market has been so successful as far as their reported sales that it bolsters the confidence levels of anyone looking at San Francisco. It says: 'We're back, and we're back in a big way.'"

dimondpark

03-16-2006, 03:54 PM

Union Square,
You had me at Giogio Armani.:D

sf_eddo

03-16-2006, 05:32 PM

According to a 2005 survey by Westfield San Francisco Centre, just 38 percent of the mall's shoppers live in San Francisco and 33 percent of them come from outside the Bay Area. Furthermore, 16 percent of Westfield's out-of-towners came to San Francisco just to shop.

I think that's the first time I've ever seen a stat on the demographics of where people are from (at San Francisco Centre) and hence in Union Square.

I bet the SF-local percentage is lower on the weekends (and the Bay Area overall crowd is higher). Most city-dwellers I know avoid the area at all costs due to large and uncomfortable crowds on the weekends.

FourOneFive

03-23-2006, 08:58 PM

I don't know how excited you all will be to hear news about a store geared toward 30+ year old women, but Gap's Forth and Towne is coming to San Francisco. (hey at least, the store will eat up some valuable retail real estate!)

Gap's Forth & Towne stores to open in Bay Area
San Francisco Business Times - 11:36 AM PST Wednesday
by Sarah Duxbury

Gap Inc. has decided to bring its latest offspring home.

Forth & Towne, Gap's newest concept which targets women over 35, will enter the San Francisco Bay Area market in the fall with stores in San Francisco and San Jose.

The San Francisco-based company will also introduce Forth & Towne in four other markets: Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle.

The expansion speaks to the brand's early success. Forth & Towne opened its first five stores last August, four in the Chicago area and one in West Nyack, N.Y., outside New York City.

These proposed openings are ahead of Gap's early forecasts. Last August the company expected to open five new Forth & Towne stores in 2006 and 20 in 2007. The actual number of new stores in 2006 could be double that, according to Robin Carr, a Gap spokeswoman.

"We're pretty pleased with the response to our store experience and clothing and felt it was time to ramp it up a little bit more," Carr said of the accelerated roll out.

Gap has not said how many new Forth & Towne stores it will open, or where they'll be.

An October 2005 leasing plan for the new Westfield San Francisco Centre shows an 8,900 square foot Forth & Towne on the mall's third floor. That size is in keeping with other Forth & Towne locations already open.

Women over 35 are the fastest growing demographic in retail, according to Adrienne Tennant, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. Despite their purchasing power, they are also underserved.

Forth & Towne stores will compete with standbys like Chico's, Talbot's, Ann Taylor and J. Jill, and also with new entrants to the over-35 market such as Gymboree's Janeville.

Unlike Gap's other concepts, Forth & Towne stores feature four distinct brands under a single roof to suit and fit a variety of tastes and occasions. Sizes range from 2-20.

It is a major hope for growth at a time when its existing brands, Gap, Banana Republic and Old navy, have been struggling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

i was hoping that Gap would open a Forth and Towne along Union Square, but i'm happy they'll be taking up some space in the new Westfield Centre. I bet we'll be seeing a Forth and Towne at Stonestown and along Chestnut Street soon.

btw has anyone else seen the Westfield Centre recently? i walked by it last week and they've removed the wrap around the building. it looks gorgeous!

sf_eddo

03-23-2006, 09:14 PM

i was there the other day meeting up with some friends/visitors - it looks like an italian palazzo.

the back is in my opinion by far more spectacular in my minimalist eyes - tinted glasss sheathing along the entire southern facade... yum.

dimondpark

03-30-2006, 06:33 AM

HANNspree Flagship Store In San Francisco Wins Prestigious Retail Design Award
Posted by Rajiv Fernando on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 10:13 am:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Company’s Newest Boutique Provides Unique Showcase for HANNspree Design-Driven CE Products --

FREMONT, CA - March 27, 2006 - HANNspree California, Inc., creator of a brand new category of design-driven, lifestyle-inspired home entertainment products, today announced that its San Francisco flagship store has won a prestigious Retail Store Design Award from the National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers (NASFM). The NASFM award, in the Hard Line Specialty Store Category, was presented to HANNspree by NASFM in Orlando on March 26th.

HANNSpree’s 9,500 square-foot San Francisco retail boutique, which opened last October at 400 Sutter Street, is the company’s flagship store in the United States. The first store opened in the summer of 2005 in Beverly Hills. The elegantly designed San Francisco outlet provides Bay Area residents with a fun and inspiring way to experience HANNspree’s revolutionary array of design-driven, lifestyle-inspired television sets. To celebrate the store’s grand opening, National Basketball Association stars Derek Fisher and Jason Richardson and San Francisco Giant pitcher Jason Schmidt signed free autographs for Bay Area residents and tourists.

The San Francisco flagship store provides a showcase for HANNspree’s range of more than 100 models featuring breathtaking concepts, unique shapes and high-quality materials, from wood veneer to cuddly fur, HANNspree draws upon contemporary interior design trends and individual passions to create televisions that uniquely accent any room and give expression to any taste or lifestyle.

About HANNspree
HANNspree was founded in 2002 to shake-up the consumer electronics industry with a bold new approach to television design and manufacturing. Applying state-of-the-art engineering techniques to visionary design concepts, HANNspree is responsible for creating an entirely new category of design-driven, lifestyle-inspired televisions. The company is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan and maintains a U.S. sales and marketing office in San Francisco.

HANNspree on the ‘Net: http://www.hannspree-usa.com

dimondpark

03-30-2006, 06:49 AM

Shreve & Co. celebrates milestone in San Francisco

JCK-Jewelers Circular Keystone -- 3/22/2006 9:45:00 AM

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has honored one of the oldest retail firms in the Bay Area by proclaiming March 19 as Shreve & Co. Day. The company will celebrate the Centennial with a series of special events and sponsorships throughout 2006.

The venerable jeweler moved to its current location on Post Street and Grant Avenue on March 19, 1906—a month before the great earthquake that rocked the city and the fire that followed. The Shreve Building was among the few that were left standing after the disaster.
Today, a visit to the Shreve building provides a rare glimpse of San Francisco before the great cataclysm. The exterior of the store remains unchanged. Inside, marble columns which survived the fire still grace the interior along with Mahogany cases, dating from the reconstruction. The original vaults also survived the great quake and fire (with the jewels of that time intact) are still in use today.

The venerable jeweler was established in 1852 just four years after the discovery of gold in the California hills. The first store, at the corner of Montgomery and Clay Streets showcased fancy European Goods, California-made jewelry, and silver, designed and manufactured in Shreve's own factory. In 1894, the company incorporated as Shreve & Company and moved to a location on Market Street, across from the Grand Palace Hotel, moving from there to the Shreve Building in 1906.

http://www.jckgroup.com/article/CA6317927.html?section=Retail+Roundup

FourOneFive

03-31-2006, 02:07 AM

From today's San Francisco Examiner:

Timbuk2 opens first retail store

Natali T. Del Conte, The Examiner
Mar 30, 2006 6:00 AM

SAN FRANCISCO - Timbuk2, the San Francisco messenger-bag maker, has decided to test the waters in direct retailing by opening its first store in Hayes Valley.

“I wouldn’t so much say it’s a prototype in that we haven’t necessarily designed the store to be rolled out in cookie-cutter style,” says Mark Dwight, CEO of Timbuk2. “It will provide some indication to us on whether this is a viable concept. The whole lifestyle retail concept is very interesting. We’re just having fun with one little store right now.”

Timbuk2 leased the 800-square-foot property at 506 Hayes St. and did minimal renovations on the space. Dwight says he did not want to invest too many resources into the project until he knew how consumers would react.

A flagship store for Timbuk2 had been in the works for approximately nine months. Dwight says that Hayes Street is the perfect location for the company to reach its target demographic — young, hip urbanites on the move.

“We really felt that Hayes was a perfect mixture for our urban demographic,” he said. “The store is a pet project on my part to celebrate our presence here in San Francisco.”

Timbuk2 has headquarters and manufacturing plants in San Francisco. Dwight says it would be “easy to outsource” manufacturing but he is committed to keeping the company rooted in the city of its birth.

A San Francisco bicycle messenger named Rob Honeycutt founded Timbuk2 in 1989. The company was purchased in 2002 by a group of investors. Most recently, they have branched out into other types of stylish bags including backpacks and a computer tote called Marina Bag. Dwight says the store will be used as a test site for newer products before they go out to their retailers.

“The company that I looked to as tremendously successful was the Coach brand,” he said. “They have long had their own stores but they sell to retailers as well. I think the focus on their branded stores has really contributed to establishing the Coach brand as the billion-dollar brand it is today.”

Dwight is careful to point out that he has no intention of building stores that will compete with his retailers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMO every san franciscan should own a timbuk2 bag. you'd be surprised how many californians here in new york sport the bags. :D

sf_eddo

03-31-2006, 03:52 AM

^^ looked into the store yesterday thru a crack in one of the plastic tarps. looks *very* hip, urban, backpack/messenger bags displayed as works of art type, rather than shoving merchandise down ur throat, which is probably the image the company is going for.

very "hayes valley" - should work well here.

i didn't know it was their first store.

i also don't own a timbuk2 -- hmmmmm......

J Church

03-31-2006, 06:03 AM

I've had the same T2 bag for seven or eight years. Solid.

sf_eddo

04-04-2006, 06:16 PM

New tenants for downtown shopping center
Westfield mall will get an upscale supermarket, more restaurants
- Pia Sarkar, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 4, 2006

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/04/04/bu_bloomies067mjm.jpg

The Westfield San Francisco Centre offered a glimpse at some of the new tenants expected to arrive in autumn, including an upscale gourmet market and several retailers that will open their doors in San Francisco for the first time.

Bristol Farms, a Southern California grocery chain, plans to introduce a 30,000-square- foot store on the lower level of the shopping center, which is undergoing a $440 million renovation by the Westfield Group in partnership with Forest City Enterprises. Bristol Farms will carry a wine selection, fresh seafood and produce, as well as gourmet coffee and teas.

The shopping center, located at Fifth and Market streets, will also bring Hollister to San Francisco, an apparel division of Abercrombie & Fitch that is popular among teenagers. Hollister has only one other store in the Bay Area, at the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton.

Other tenants will include a 20,000-square-foot Borders Books Music & Cafe along with several new sit-down restaurants. Charles Phan, owner of the Slanted Door, is negotiating a lease to open an offspring of his famous restaurant in the Ferry Building that will feature casual dining. And Bay Area chef Bradley Ogden, owner of the Lark Creek Restaurant Group, will introduce Lark Creek Kitchen as part of the shopping center's food emporium on the lower level.

"We are extremely pleased that less than six months from the grand opening, we are close to 95 percent leased," said Najila Tabbah, director of development and marketing for the Westfield Group.

Westfield would not reveal its entire list of tenants scheduled to appear in the shopping center in September, but said that 47 percent of them are new to San Francisco while 22 percent are local businesses. About 11 percent are retailers trying out new concepts while 7 percent represent flagship locations.

Of the 389,000 square feet of gross leaseable space available inside the shopping center for small shops, about 366,000 square feet are committed to tenants. An additional 357,000 square feet will be devoted to the new Bloomingdale's department store, which faces Mission Street.

Kazuko Morgan of Cushman & Wakefield said that many of the tenants scheduled to open inside the Westfield San Francisco Centre so far include retailers that are expanding or opening new locations, which demonstrates confidence that the center will draw large crowds. For instance, Borders, BCBG Max Azria and Banana Republic are all opening stores inside the center, even though they each own stores only a few blocks away in the Union Square area.

With the introduction of Bristol Farms, Morgan said that Westfield is relying on the success of shopping centers in Europe and Australia, in which supermarkets are commonplace. "It works in other cities around the world," she said.

Bristol Farms opened its first store in 1982 in Rolling Hills in Southern California. It has since grown into a chain of 11 stores, employing about 1,250 people.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The new Westfield
Some of the new tenants in the Westfield San Francisco Centre:

Apparel

Abercrombie Kids, Banana Republic, Blu by Antik Denim, Hollister, J. Crew, Jacadi, Next Authentic, Martin + Osa, Anne Klein N.Y., BCBG Max Azria, Bebe, Bebe Sport, Metro Park, Reiss USA Unlimited

Food

Bristol Farms, Zazil, Straits, Lark Creek Kitchen, Cocola Bakery, Dome Bar, Wichcraft, restaurant by Charles Phan, Asqew Grill, Beard Papa's Sweets Cafe, Coriander Thai Kitchen, Buckhorn Grill, Pasta Moto, Andale Mexican Restaurant, Hana Grill, Teaz Me Fusion Cafe, Melt Gelato & Crepe Cafe, San Francisco Soup Co.

Shoes and accessories

Furla, Sunshade Optique, Solstice, Tourneau, Aldo, Aldo Accessories, Bandolino, Clarks, Geox, Neda by Bebe, Derco Jewelers, John Atencio, Landau, Michael Negrin, Sterling Works

Others

Borders Books Music & Cafe, Borders Express, Bath and Body Works, Hand & Mind, Kozo Arts, Fraganza, Mai Do, Palm

Source: Westfield

E-mail Pia Sarkar at psarkar@sfchronicle.com.

Page C - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/04/BUGQRI2OAO1.DTL

FourOneFive

04-04-2006, 07:27 PM

Ghostly restoration of 1908 building would be the newest thing in town
- John King
Tuesday, April 4, 2006

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/04/04/dd_place04030pc.jpg
http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/04/04/dd_place_sidebyside.jpg

When I finally stage my museum exhibition on Unbuilt San Francisco -- and what an odd mix of relief and regret that would conjure up -- the cheese grater will hold a place of honor.

I'm referring to the Prada store approved in 2001 at Post Street and Grant Avenue near Union Square: an otherworldly steel box 10 stories high, riddled with 8,000 portholes of varying size. Self-styled provocateur Rem Koolhaas conceived it; the Dutch architect loved the project so much he carted a full-size sample of the outer wall around town on a flatbed truck.

Alas, economics sent Prada to the dustbin of history. But that's not the end of the story.

In place of the cheese grater, meet the ghost, an ethereal apparition that in subtle ways is as audacious as Koolhaas' steel dream. And it is by local architects -- a reminder that globe-trotting celebrities aren't the only source of fresh contemporary thought.

Another difference? This one won't exist just on paper. By December the apparition will be on view for all to see, for better or worse. I'm betting on the former.

The design by the San Francisco office of Brand + Allen Architects preserves the site's existing structure, a six-story building from 1908. Construction workers now are stripping off the outer skin -- a tartan-like grid of black and red added in 1949 that couldn't have looked good even then -- to reveal the original facade of creamy brick, which they'll restore the best they can.

Then things get interesting.

The structure was nondescript to begin with, and any architectural flourishes disappeared long ago. So rather than pretend to turn back the clock, Brand + Allen will draw a veil across the past -- placing a new skin of sleek glass 9 inches in front of the 1908 brickwork.

Only the glass in front of the windows will be clear; the glass screening the brick will be translucent. When you look at the building straight on, the original structure will be vivid, but from the side the glass will be almost opaque. And the relationship between the two surfaces will be in constant transition, no two angles quite the same.

If everything snaps into place just so, the result will seem like an optical illusion.

This part of the city offers a stately procession of stone-clad structures from the early 20th century, with classical details and old-world pomp. And then there will be 185 Post -- a glass box around a sturdy mass. Layers upon layers. The murky past and the precise Now.

"We felt we could get more aesthetic mileage by working with the existing skin than building something new," says Brand + Allen's Chris Harrelson. "We're treating the original facade as a historic artifact, revealing what's been covered for decades."

Brand + Allen were the local firm working with Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture back in 2001. They understand that the Union Square location (a historic conservation district, no less) is a big reason that some people attacked the cheese grater as a jarring outrage. Personally, I'm sorry Prada never followed through on its grand Koolhaas plans. I'd have loved to see the cheese grater in real life to determine if it was exhilarating or offensive. Or both.

But the new approach is exciting. It understands the things San Francisco holds dear, such as preservation and neighborliness, and casts them in a whole new light. Another exciting thing: the ghost floated through San Francisco's planning process without causing a shriek. It's a distinctively modern move for the historic district, but it brings a sense of depth that provides an odd complement to the established order.

"We are looking for sophisticated, sensible innovation," says Dean Macris, the city's planning director, explaining the quick green light. "We're encouraging it, in fact."

Like all risky architecture, the success of 185 Post will depend on the details. Especially so here, because Brand + Allen is relying on something you can't spell out in blueprints: the intangible. The building will come alive to the extent it can't be pinned down.

The outer wall is critical, for instance. The translucent effect will be created by silk-screening a pattern of solid dots and doughnut-like circles onto clear glass. Too thick and it will seem like fog; too light and the outer wall could look absurd -- Saran Wrap pulled tight through the air.

At the same time, if the supporting structure beneath is too heavy, the sense of a shimmering mirage will be lost. It will seem as if scaffolding got trapped inside.

But I'm glad that architects, planners and owner Grosvenor (the London-based developer that purchased 185 Post from Prada) are willing to push for something memorable.

The project adds to the evidence that the Bay Area architectural scene is regaining its sense of adventure. A handful of talented architects are striking a deft balance between old and new, rather than simply replicating the past or breaking the mold. And planners are open to new directions, realizing the result can be future landmarks on the built terrain.

It's great to be jolted by the likes of celebrity architects such as Koolhaas, or the Swiss team of Herzog and de Meuron at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park. But when local minds are allowed to apply the same creativity to the job, the result can be more intuitively right -- even if it doesn't attract wide attention.

At 185 Post, the Tartan skin is coming off, while seismic bracing goes in behind the scenes. By fall the glass veil will appear; by December, Grosvenor hopes to have a large retail tenant open for business. Then we'll see if the experiment worked.

fflint

04-04-2006, 10:16 PM

^That sounds lovely. Modern but not preciously so.

sf_eddo

04-05-2006, 10:54 AM

just checked it out tonight - those REALLY HOT (i.e. i want them so badly) timbuk2 bags are over 100 bucks each.

there's one design with a bunch of vespa scooters on them.
sigh.... i hate hayes valley.

sf_eddo

04-10-2006, 10:00 AM

Here's the official website for the new Westfield San Francisco Centre:

http://westfield.com/sfc

It even has an architectural emporium fly-through on video...

sf_eddo

05-10-2006, 08:48 AM

A couple articles:

TimBuk2 Store in Hayes Valley:
CUSTOM CANVAS
It's all in the bag for Timbuk2
- Heather Maddan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 7, 2006

Timbuk2's heavy-duty canvas bags were designed to be utilitarian necessities for San Francisco's bike messengers, but over the years they've gained a wider following from fans who appreciate the bag's form as much as its functionality.

Last month, the company opened a store on Hayes Street, where for $100 to $250, patrons can customize a shoulder bag with anything from old jeans to printed fabrics designed by local artist Thorina Rose. Creative, urban types can design one-of-a-kind messenger-style or laptop bags using a collection of Davina Melange wools and other durable upholstery fabrics from the Manhattan company Maharam, known for its elaborate textiles. The store offers funky color and pattern combinations not available on the company's Web site or at the sporting retailers that carry Timbuk2's regular product line, which sells for $50-$100.

"Ten years ago it (the company) was the fabric of the messenger community," said Peter Funk, owner of JetSet Couriers, a South of Market messenger service. "They held alley cat competitions, Fourth of July parties and donated their bags as prizes for messenger competitions, but those days are long over."

No longer a small, exclusive, underground company, Timbuk2 bags are sold in more than 2,000 stores worldwide and can be spotted on almost any downtown city block, bus or Muni train, toted by business executives, busboys and mothers.

It all began in 1989 when Rob Honeycutt, then a bike messenger, decided to stitch his own bag because he couldn't find one with a design he liked. He made some for friends, then friends of friends, and called his emerging business Scumbags -- but as their popularity grew, he changed the company's name to Timbuk2 in homage to a favorite band called Timbuk3.

In 2002, he sold the company to Mark Dwight, a Silicon Valley transplant and cycling enthusiast who became president and chief executive, and a team of investors who believed the bags could be even more popular if the line was expanded. Designers created more styles, including women's and computer bags, and in 2005 the company earned more than $15 million.

Standing in the Hayes Street store, with its white walls lined with colorful variations of the basic bag, Dwight said he himself owns 50 Timbuk2 bags, including one made from an old pair of his jeans. For customers like Regan Martin, a 28-year-old San Francisco designer, one bag is enough. "I built my bag online five years ago so I could customize everything," Martin said of his yellow messenger bag. "They are a total fashion item, but the quality is there to back up the hype."

Mounted glass boxes showcase canvas bags hand-painted by local artists that will be auctioned off for charity with proceeds benefiting At the Crossroads, a street youth support organization.

"This store is genuinely San Francisco -- San Francisco artist, San Francisco designers, San Francisco manufacturing, San Francisco charity, and Timbuk2 is a San Francisco icon," Dwight said.

The company also contracts with production factories in Vietnam and China, but all the bags sold in San Francisco are made at the Timbuk2 headquarters and factory at 16th and Alabama. There workers cut and prepare the fabric swatches, which are then run through industrial sewing machines that churn out a bag every 12 to 16 minutes.

Because the company's offices are also housed there, urban works of art and product prototypes hang from the walls, alongside a gumball machine.

Custom and corporate bags are strewn about, including one designed in collaboration with the San Francisco Giants and AT&T Park to announce the ballpark's name change and advertise the 2006 season.

"A lot of folks at the Giants had personally used Timbuk2 bags," said Giants spokeswoman Staci Slaughter of the decision to commission 10,000 of the special bags for team employees, season ticket holders and sponsors. "It's a great product and has become one of the signature bags around San Francisco."

E-mail Heather Maddan at hmaddan@sfchronicle.com.

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A Clean Well Light Place for Books is for sale! :(

SAN FRANCISCO
Well-Lighted dims
With declining business, haven for book lovers goes up for sale
- Heidi Benson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, May 5, 2006

One of the most popular independent bookstores in San Francisco is up for sale.

A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, in Opera Plaza, has served as a cultural hub and a haven for book lovers for a generation.

Now, after years of declining sales, owner Neal Sofman hopes to pass the baton.

"My long-term partners want out, and I don't have the capital to buy them out," Sofman said Thursday.

"I'm talking to a couple of different interested parties."

Sofman founded the store in 1975 in Cupertino, opening a second store in Larkspur (now closed) in 1978.

The Opera Plaza location, which opened in 1982, has been called a blessing and a curse.

At 601 Van Ness, the store is near City Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, the War Memorial Opera House and Hayes Valley restaurants.

But foot traffic is sparse.

"Business has not been as robust as it once was," said Sofman. He cites exorbitant meters on Van Ness (6 minutes for a quarter) as one customer deterrent.

"It has been a special place for all of us," said Sydney Goldstein, founder and director of City Arts & Lectures, which has relied on A Clean Well-Lighted Place to sell books at Arts & Lectures events.

"They have been the book vendor for us -- from Stephen Colbert to John Updike to Joan Didion -- going back more than 20 years," said Goldstein.

Goldstein added that "Neal has people who have worked for him for 10, 17 and 22 years -- loyal people dedicated to books and to the kind of customers who care about books."

Last month, Sofman sold the store's domain name -- www.bookstore.com -- for an undisclosed sum. How the proceeds will be used remains to be seen.

A representative of the landlord had no official comment about the hoped-for sale.

"This has happened very quickly," said Kereen Stoll of Urban Pacific Properties, which manages the property for Opera Plaza Limited Partnership.

"My relationship with the landlord is good," Sofman said, "but it's time for me to move on."

Sofman is in the process of developing a new, smaller store -- called Bookstore West Portal (at 80 West Portal) -- which will open sometime this month.

"It's a small neighborhood store, totally different from A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books," Sofman said Thursday.

"I raised the money with other investors as a separate proposition," he explained. "They are different companies. I'm the only common denominator."

Meanwhile, as Sofman seeks a buyer for A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, the lineup for author readings remains impressive.

"This is our busy season -- we have six writers a week," said events coordinator Wendy Sheanin.

"There are four local writers giving readings -- plus people like Gay Talese and Edmund White -- this week alone."

E-mail Heidi Benson at hbenson@sfchronicle.com.

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Cody's Flagship on Telegraph is Closing! :(
Now I'm *really* glad they have a location in Union Square. I can't imagine Telegraph Avenue without Cody's there.

Cody's Books on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley to close its doors
- Steve Rubenstein and Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Cody's Books, the venerable independent bookstore that has served generations of UC Berkeley students, has announced that it will close its flagship store on the south side of campus because of declining sales and competition from chain stores and the Internet.

The store, on Telegraph Avenue, will close its doors on July 10 after 43 years.

"We have lost over $1 million attempting to keep the store open,'' said owner Andy Ross. "As a family business, we cannot continue to afford these ruinous losses.''

Ross said the store had been losing money for 15 years and that pressure from chain stores and the Internet had contributed to an "economic concentration in bookselling'' that was forcing out independent stores like Cody's.

"We leave Telegraph with great sadness but with a sense of honor that we have served our customers and community with distinction,'' Ross said.

Cody's two other, smaller stores -- on Fourth Street in Berkeley and on Stockton Street in San Francisco -- will remain open.

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said he was "saddened but not surprised'' by the closure.

"It's a terrible blow for us,'' Bates said. "Cody's is an institution. But they've been struggling for years. It's just part of the changing times we live in. With the Internet and all the other innovations, these (stores) have all taken a hit.''

Bates said he suspected that older book buyers felt more at ease shopping at Cody's store on trendy Fourth Street.

"It's more upscale and more comfortable,'' Bates said. "Telegraph Avenue is a great place, but some people don't want to go there.''

For decades, the store was a friendly retreat on tumultuous Telegraph Avenue, where extended browsing was encouraged and authors frequently dropped by to discuss and sign their latest works.

It was 50 years ago when Pat and Fred Cody opened a small bookstore on the north side of campus. In 1967, the store moved to its much larger, current location at Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street. The next year, it served as a first-aid station when anti-war protesters were teargassed and clubbed just outside its doors. In 1989, after a minor firebombing, the store announced that it would continue to sell Salman Rushdie's controversial "Satanic Verses'' -- a decision that Ross called "our finest hour.''

"Rushdie came to the store once, a surprise visit when he was still in hiding,'' Ross said. The author gave the bookstore 5-minutes notice to announce that he was in the store and would sign books. "There's a hole above the information desk from the bombing. Someone scribbled 'Salman Rushdie memorial hole.' When Rushdie was here, he looked up and said, 'Some people get statues, others get holes.' "

Over the years, Cody's hosted appearances by Allen Ginsberg, Anais Nin and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It also built a comprehensive section of computer and math books and a wide variety of new fiction, gay titles and academic critical studies.

Fred Cody died in 1983. Andy Ross bought the store from the Codys six years earlier.

"People in Berkeley are very conservative about some things," Ross said. "When I took over, they said, 'We don't want you to change a thing.' Of course, I have."

Ten years ago, when the store was honored with Cody's Day by the city of Berkeley for 40 years of service, Ross expressed fears about being squeezed by large chain stores.

"Many of our customers found other sources for their books -- particularly the scholarly and academic titles that have always been our specialty," Ross said.

At Cody's on Tuesday evening, the store appeared to be sparsely populated, and customers said they were saddened by the news.

Isaac Israel, who was sitting on a bench perusing physics books, said he was "very unhappy." Israel received his doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1994 and said he had bought about a quarter of his 2,500 books from the store. He said he stops by the store five times a week to browse. Down the block at equally venerated Moe's Books, bookseller Dave Yetter said sales have been down throughout the area. He blamed Berkeley city officials for neglecting Telegraph and instead focusing their efforts on other shopping corridors such as Shattuck Avenue in the downtown area.

"The Berkeley City Council left Telegraph to go to seed with a lack of upkeep and lack of interest," Yetter said.

Yetter said he feels for Ross.

"I understand, sort of, his dilemma," Yetter said. "After dark, nobody's here, nowhere."

Shawn Misaghi, who has operated a flower stand outside Cody's for 18 years, said the area can be unsafe and hard to find parking.

The Cody's announcement came a week after another large independent bookstore -- A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco -- went up for sale.

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fflint

05-10-2006, 10:25 AM

Ronin

05-10-2006, 11:52 AM

New tenants for downtown shopping center
Westfield mall will get an upscale supermarket, more restaurants
- Pia Sarkar, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 4, 2006

The shopping center, located at Fifth and Market streets, will also bring Hollister to San Francisco, an apparel division of Abercrombie & Fitch that is popular among teenagers. Hollister has only one other store in the Bay Area, at the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton.

Wow, this is some of the worst reporting I have ever seen. Apparently, San Jose, Santa Clara, Concord, Newark, Santa Clara, Daly City, Fairfield, and Milpitas are not part of the Bay Area, since all of them do indeed have Hollister stores.

FourOneFive

05-10-2006, 02:30 PM

^Telegraph Avenue is indeed an unpleasant place for potential customers of high-end books--in fact, I dare say Telegraph has slumped lower and lower every year and no longer offers anything compelling enough to counteract what has become basically a gauntlet of raging psychopaths and petty criminals.

you're totally right. berkeley has allowed telegraph to slip farther and farther each year, and it is now (or should i say moreso) a haven for drug addicts, the homeless, and a bunch of kids unwilling to find jobs. i've had visions of using a high powered hose to clean telegraph avenue especially on those kids.

dimondpark

05-10-2006, 05:00 PM

Not retail, but I guess its somewhat related...

San Francisco Selected for Starwood's First New Le Meridien Hotel in North America since Acquiring the Brand
Conversion a Key Move in Starwood's Aggressive Expansion of Le Meridien Properties in the U.S. and Worldwide

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. | Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:HOT) and HEI Hospitality announced today that the Park Hyatt Hotel at 333 Battery Street in San Francisco has become a Le Meridien Hotel. According to the terms of the franchise agreement, the hotel will be managed by Merritt Hospitality, a division of hotel owner HEI Hospitality. Starwood acquired Le Meridien in November of 2005 and has announced plans for the aggressive expansion of the brand.

Synonymous worldwide with style, originality, and a passion for art, architecture, food, fashion and music and film, Le Meridien is viewed as an ideal match for San Francisco and its wealth of attractions, from world-class restaurants and museums, art galleries, music and film festivals, designer boutiques and neighborhood adventures to the coastal redwoods and Napa and Sonoma wine country.

"We are very pleased to announce San Francisco as the home of the first new Le Meridien since Starwood acquired the brand," said Eva Ziegler, senior vice president, Le Meridien Brand. "There is no more culturally rich, sophisticated or welcoming city in the U.S. than San Francisco, and the sister-city relationship between San Francisco and Paris only emphasizes the aptness of bringing this high-end European brand to one of the most European of American cities."

With 360 deluxe rooms and an ideal location at the crossroads of San Francisco's business, culture and shopping districts, the 24-story Le Meridien will add a high European service standard and a unique ambience to the city's rapidly rebounding hotel landscape. Adjacent to the Federal Reserve Building and minutes away from popular destinations such as Union Square, the Embarcadero, Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf, the hotel boasts more than 13,000 square feet of meeting space, 10 meeting rooms, and four boardrooms. It is also the home to the fine-dining Park Grill Restaurant and outdoor terrace, one of the city's renowned power breakfast and lunch destinations, as well as the elegantly appointed Bar 333.

"This is an exceptionally beautiful and well-designed property," said General Manager Sileshi Mengiste. "The first changes that patrons will notice will be a subtle shift in service, attitude and amenities that will reflect a more gracious, European approach to creating the guest experience. In time we will make subtle changes in decor, primarily in the bar and lounge areas, the restaurant, and eventually in the guest rooms." An approximately $10 million renovation of the property is expected to begin in late 2007.

The hotel also serves as a U.S. flagship for Starwood's commitment to Le Meridien brand and its distinctive heritage. Dating to its founding in Paris in 1972, Le Meridien has come to represent the "art" of hospitality throughout the world, known as much for its elegance, finesse and panache as for its superbly trained staff and commitment to providing guests with an "authentic" experience by genuinely reflecting the individuality of each of its locales.

Le Meridien has already been fully integrated into Starwood Hotels & Resorts' powerful reservations, loyalty, distribution and sales infrastructure, including the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program, which, with the addition of Le Meridien, allows members to earn and redeem points at more than 825 hotels in 95 countries, including new destinations such as Barcelona, Budapest, Seychelles, Mauritius, Stuttgart and Monte Carlo, as well as new choices in existing destinations such as Paris, Dubai, Nice, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Cancun and Vienna.

Plans call for aggressive expansion of Le Meridien-branded hotels within the next five years, concentrating in the U.S., Latin America, and Asia-Pacific, including destinations such as India, Thailand and China. Le Meridien is currently represented by over 120 properties in 52 countries. Almost 70 percent of the properties are in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, providing a strong international complement to Starwood's primarily North American holdings.

"Le Meridien is a perfect complement to the Starwood portfolio, with its international footprint and unique European guest culture," said Javier Benito, Starwood executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "Le Meridien represents a great growth opportunity alongside Starwood's W and Westin brands, extends the number of destination choices of travel to Starwood loyalists across the world, and further secures Starwood's position as one of the leading international consumer lifestyle hotel and leisure companies."

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4027403.search?query=san+francisco