A Mixed Bag for Retailers

By Ed Moosbrugger
Business Writer

Sept. 5 -- Downtown retailers are reporting a decidedly mixed sales picture for this year as businesses move through the summer, with some stores reporting a recent pickup in sales while others are saying they have been disappointed with results.

On the happy side is This Little Piggy Wears Cotton, a children’s apparel store on Wilshire Boulevard, where sales are up about 10 percent this year.

“We are doing very, very well” in Santa Monica, said Nicole Niednagel, marketing manager for the small chain of stores that is based in Carpinteria.

The local store has done much better since relocating from the Beverly Center almost four years ago, Niednagel said. The move allowed the store to better tap the prosperous Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica markets, as well as the year-round tourist base in Santa Monica, she said, adding that business is particularly strong in the infant and baby clothing category.

At Shiva Imports on the Promenade, owner Naren Patel said that while the number of overseas tourists is down, he is seeing more Americans from outside California.

Mark Hennessey, owner of the popular Hennessey & Ingalls art and architecture bookstore, said he was encouraged by business in the early months of 2003, but that business turned flat in the two months before he moved his store off the Promenade in early August.

“We just don’t see the tourists coming back,” said Hennessey, who said he remains optimistic after moving around the corner to 214 Wilshire Boulevard.

“It’s going to be a really nice store,” said Hennessey, who has a 15-year lease on the new location. He would have preferred to stay on the Promenade, but had to move because of higher rent.

Reflecting the mixed picture Downtown, Sameer Jooma, owner of the Giorgio Vasari men’s clothing store on the Promenade, said as summer got in full swing “we’ve seen a recent pickup.”

“We see a lot of tourists from the United Kingdom,” and the store also is getting more local tourists as well as repeat customers, Jooma said. He would, however, like to see more restaurants on the Promenade, saying they bring people who often shop locally after enjoying their meals.

Business improved in late spring and early summer at the Carlson’s appliance store on Fifth Street after a slow start this year, said General Manager Mike Nichols. Business early this year was hurt by the stock market and uncertainty over Iraq, he said.

“A lot of it is confidence,” Nichols said.

At Dellarobbia Florist on Fourth Street, retail business from walk-in customers is up, but corporate business, such as from events at local hotels, is down, said owner Jolene Reynolds.

“We are growing, but not as much as hoped,” said Reynolds, whose business is about two years old.

Sadly, business was bad at M&R Co., which is closing its doors on Santa Monica Boulevard after 26 years in business Downtown.

Owner Morris Rizkalla, whose store was located on the Promenade for many years before relocating, said the recent opening of the Levi’s store on the Promenade made a bad situation worse for M&R, a long-time seller of Levi’s.

First-quarter taxable sales figures reflect the mixed picture. Sales were flat on the Promenade, and up in the remainder of the Bayside District around the Promenade.

Sales in the Bayside District rose 3.1 percent in the first quarter compared with a 3 percent gain citywide, said Steve Stark, Santa Monica’s new finance director. These results reflect various adjustments to raw data to give a truer picture of actual activity, Stark said.

“We’ve been trying to revitalize that area for a long time,” said Kathleen Rawson, executive director of the Bayside District Corp. so the increased sales in the area around the Promenade is encouraging.

SANTA MONICA HOTELS continue to show mixed results, with a slight drop in occupancy rates and a small increase in average room rates this year.

In June, the occupancy rate dipped 0.2 percent to 78.15 percent, while the average room rate increased 1 percent to $189.40, according to a report by PKF Consulting.

For the first six months of 2003, Santa Monica’s hotel occupancy rate fell 2.3 percent to 74.34 percent, but despite the drop it was the highest occupancy rate in Los Angeles County among markets tracked by PKF. The average room rate rose 2.5 percent to $197.29.