Kohl's arrives in Marin

It's not every week we see a new department store in Marin, so the arrival of Kohl's at Northgate has to count as a major retail event. The owners of Northgate had some good fortune when Mervyns went into bankruptcy last year and closed all their stores. What could have been a problem turned out to be a bonus when Kohl's snapped up the Northgate anchor store, along with many others across California. And the timing was perfect, with Northgate embarking on a major renovation that is heading for completion at the end of this year.

Externally, the main change, aside from the new name and a lick of paint, is that the Kohl's box is now separated from the rest of the center. The internal mall that used to connect to the old Mervyn's has gone, replaced by what will eventually be an outdoor "Oak Plaza", with roadside restaurants and stores. You can see the tree in the photos below, plus the new units attached to Kohl's, which will include Panera Bread and Roadside BBQ.

Inside, the transformation is more dramatic. There are no structural changes to the Mervyn's box, and the floor plan is a simple racetrack layout, with a pair of escalators in the center to move between the two levels. But the internal furnishings and displays are all new and the presentation of the merchandise is very well done. It looks, feels and smells like a new store.

The store is not very large, so apparel takes up the majority of the space. The lower level is mostly clothing, with a jewelry/accessory section. A lot of the upper level is taken by kids clothing, together with shoes and a home/bath section.

Most department stores place checkouts throughout the store, but here the checkouts are all located together close to the main entrance, which is more like a Target or other discount store.

The customer service desk is on the upper level (pictured below).

Kohl's branding strategy includes the usual mix of own-brands, industry favorites and exclusive designers. A lot of the merchandise carries one of Kohl's own store brands; I saw names like Sonoma Life and Croft & Barrow. Nike, Fila, Levis and Lee jeans are heavily promoted. The exclusive brands include Dana Buchman and Simply Vera Wang. I also noted Tony Hawk skatewear, Elle clothing, Chaps and Lauren Conrad.

Overall, first impressions of Kohl's were very positive. The staff are clearly motivated, and there are plenty of them. The merchandise looks good and the prices look competitive. The whole experience is completely different to the sad state that Mervyn's had reached towards the end. It is also clearly superior to the Sears and Macy's stores at Northgate, and hopefully it will spur those stores, particularly Sears, to make improvements.

The Mall at Northgate

It's the biggest mall in Marin and the only enclosed shopping center in the county. Located in Terra Linda, just three miles north of San Rafael, it's got three department stores and around 100 specialty shops. It's forty years old and ugly as hell. Yes, it's the Mall at Northgate. Very brief history: started out as Emporium department store (now Macy's) and an outdoor mall. People tell me this was a nice place to shop in the 1970s, but I guess it was also the only place to shop back then. Major renovation in the late 1980s resulted in the present format. A glass roof was added to enclose the mall, requiring a multitude of columns to support it, which you see everywhere.
After several years of speculation, Macerich finally revealed plans at the end of last year for a full renovation, to begin sometime in 2008. Going against the current fashion for de-malling, they've decided to keep the roof on, but make significant changes to bring the center up to date, including new high-level windows along the malls and the creation of outdoor plaza areas. More details here.
The layout is a T-shape, with a department store anchoring the end of each mall. There's level parking on each side, with several points of entry to the mall in addition to direct entry to the department stores. There's also a double-deck parking garage in the south-west corner.

I took my camera along on my visit this weekend to record the "before" version. On the outside, Northgate looks like many a regional mall from this era, surrounded by a sea of car parking with a lot of not very attractive walls. There are several areas with external-facing stores, but as usual, these are low-traffic locations and attract low-rent tenants.

Inside the center the natural light is quite good but the malls are rather wide and have been filled with an abundance of kiosks, carts, vending machines, palm trees, plantings and other clutter. Part of the renovation plan is to bring forward the store fronts to narrow the malls, providing a more intimate retail environment without the need for messy mall furniture. The renovation also needs to do something about the poorly-designed side malls and long bare walls that exist at the moment. The lack of activity in these areas brings down the vibe of the whole center.

The three department stores cover the low to middle market segments, with Mervyn's anchoring the discount end, closely followed by Sears, with Macy's having slightly higher price points. The Macy's store is possibly in the worst condition, with worn carpeting and beaten-up fixtures. Mervyn's tile and carpet flooring is also clearly ancient, and Sears is not much better. Let's hope a good overhaul of these stores is part of the renovation package. The specialty shop roster is a long way from what you would expect from a major mall in Marin. Admittedly, the center management isn't actively trying to lease the units ahead of the renovation, so there is no point being too harsh on the current composition. But after the reno is complete the roster should be a who's-who of mid-market fashion chain stores. Here's your demographic:

The most popular part of the center on my visit was the food court, which was doing a great business with fans of the fast-food.