Nordstrom and Splendid preparing new space at The Village Corte Madera

While I was checking out the upcoming Microsoft store at The Village yesterday I took a look at the remodeling of Nordstrom, which appears to be quite a significant piece of work.

As you can see from the photo, two sides of the building have been torn off. Amazingly, the store remains open, with approximately 75% of the internal area open and trading. As approved, the remodeled store will be slightly larger than the previous version, with two levels of approx. 64,000 sq.ft. each.

Another new store being fitted out is Splendid, a J Crew-ish style apparel retailer with a small chain of outlets - this will be its first Northern California location. Splendid will fit in with the Michael Stars / Madewell / Tommy Bahama vibe at this end of the mall, and is taking the space previously home to Lacoste. The Puma / Lacoste experiment with sports apparel never really worked at this mall, so no surprise to see the managers revert to more conservative upper-mid market brands.

Will the Microsoft Store be a hit at The Village

Microsoft is pulling out all the stops to make a big impression with its new store at The Village Corte Madera.

Currently under construction and surrounded by an enormous billboard, the store will occupy the space formerly leased to Pottery Barn Kids, and will be almost twice as large as the center's Apple store, comparisons to which we can expect to see in abundance.

Electronics retailing is facing huge changes these days. At one end we have the unparalleled success of the Apple Store, while at the other, the once unbeatable Best Buy is struggling in the face of competition from online retailing. Microsoft is of course aiming to position itself alongside Apple, and is making every effort to mimic the Apple store in terms of appearance, location and store layout. The one area Microsoft can't mimic Apple is merchandising, and many observers believe this may be its downfall.The Apple Store's success is tied to its brand, and the popularity of the Apple brand has allowed the Apple store network to grow with massive profitability, much in the same way other retail brands, such as GAP and Starbucks have done. 

We go to the Apple store because the iMac, the iPhone and the iPad are hugely popular and desirable items. What equivalent products does Microsoft have to offer? I had to go on their website to find out. The key products appear to be a Windows Phone, the Xbox game console, and a collection of laptops from various manufactures featuring Windows software. There's also a tablet called Microsoft Surface that's due to be released next month. Will die-hard Microsoft junkies be lining up at the store at midnight the day before it's release? I somehow doubt it. But I'll be curious to see how well the store does.

Nordstrom approved for 17,000 sf expansion

The Town of Corte Madera has approved Nordstrom's plans for a 17,000 square foot expansion of it's store at The Village Corte Madera. The expansion will occur largely within the footprint of the existing store, which will be reconfigured to provide approximately 64,000 sf over 2 levels. The store currently has 70,000 sf on the first level and 40,000 sf on the upper level.

At the other end of The Village, Macys is working on plans to expand by approximately 20,000 square feet.

Cool new retailers entering Marin in 2011

There have been quite a few new store openings (including some very cool regional retailers), and some closings over the last couple of months. Here's a partial list of what's new and what's on the way:

• First, at Marin Country Mart, James Perse and Poppy Store are now open, but Tam Cellars is closing. San Francisco retailer Unionmade  ($225 vintage Levis) has also signed up for a store
• At Strawberry Village there is a new chocolate store, Chocolatier Blue. Also at Strawberry, the ex-Smith and Hawken store has been leased to Bliss Home Design ("sophisticated, dramatic settings for the bedroom")
• Up at Vintage Oaks, DSW Shoe Warehouse has taken over the space previously occupied by Benjamin Franklin Crafts. Other new stores at Vintage Oaks include Subway, Justice and Southern Pacific Smokehouse.
• In Corte Madera, new stores at The Village include Free People, Ann Taylor Loft (relocating from the Town Center) and Restoration Hardware Baby & Child. Coming soon to the Village are Tommy Bahama, J-Crew's Madewell and North Face.
• Lastly, and possibly a victim of the gourmet fro-yo craze, Baskin Robins in downtown Larkspur has closed.

Summer 2010 update

After a long summer of non-blogging, here's a quick back-to-school update of what's been making headlines in the Marin retail world.

Starting today with a little news story in the Marin IJ about the City of Corte Madera's commercial real estate investment portfolio. Yes, that's right, this small city of approx 9,000 people decided it was a good idea to become a landlord, paying $10m for the Park Madera shopping center at the peak of the market in 2006. Come 2010 and the rent doesn't over the debt service on the city's bond. The city originally purchased the center as a possible site for a new recreation center, however, the recent construction of a new Bank of Marin branch suggests it will remain as a retail center for the foreseeable future.

In Tiburon, the owner of Woodlands Market announced his intention to have the new store in Tiburon open by March 2011. The store will be 12,000 sq.ft, which is larger than the existing Boardwalk Market, which will close before construction starts later this year. The redevelopment will also include the addition of a pharmacy, the first one in Tiburon for several years.

A few photos snapped from around the county:

First, I liked Mi Pueblo, the Hispanic market in San Rafael's Canal neighborhood. Offers a different selection from my usual grocery stores.

Also visited the new Whole Foods at the Alto Center in Mill Valley. Yes, it's expensive, but I do like shopping there: great food and a fun shopping experience.

Over at the Village at Corte Madera there are new Teavana and Brookstone stores, while Martin & Osa and Elegant Living Furniture closed their doors for the last time.

And what are they thinking at Restoration Hardware? The latest refurbishment of their store is in the style of a 13th century European castle, complete with stockade and banqueting hall.

Urban Outfitters heading to Corte Madera

Huge fashion news this week with details released about the proposed new Urban Outfitters store at the Town Center Corte Madera.

Outline plans for the store were discussed at the recent Corte Madera Planning Commission meeting. The Urban Outfitters store will take the 9,154 square foot space currently occupied by Pier One, a retailer which has been in financial distress over the last year. The plans include the enclosure of the covered breezeway on the mall side, which will give the store extra space. As seen on the sketches, the design stands out from the existing Tuscan theme in quite the same way that the new Crate and Barrel store did. I wasn’t a fan of the C&B design, particularly the way in which it thrust its big white façade into the mall, but I quite like the finished product and appreciate the impact that it had on keeping the mall up to date.

This is a big move for the Town Center, which has until now steered away from competing directly with the fashion-led Village at Corte Madera. Urban Outfitters is one of my favorite stores and well overdue a representation here. The company also owns Anthropologie, which is one of the best stores at The Village, with very good merchandise and a wicked sense of humor and creativity in its display.

It will be interesting to see whether the arrival of Urban Outfitters marks a shift in the leasing strategy at the center and is followed by the opening of more apparel retailers there.

Friday news update

Some of the Marin retail news buzzing around this week. Bonus points to anyone who can match the correct story to this picture.

As reported in the Marin IJ, CVS won approval to take over the former Elephant Pharmacy store at 909 Grand Avenue in San Rafael.

The Square in Novato is caught up in a downward spiral, with more retailers planning to vacate the center following the closure of DeLano's market last year. The loss of customer traffic and the presence of an undesirable element hanging out in the car park were cited as key reasons.

Eddie's Ross Grocery store has been bought by the owner of Kentfield's Woodlands Market.

In Corte Madera, Napa Style has closed its store at the Town Center. Over the highway at The Village, Brookstone has closed, but Elegant Living Furniture is soon to open.

The Twin Cities Times chronicles the latest plans for transforming Larkspur Landing Shopping Center into Marin Country Mart. Details are pretty light, save an intention to hold farmers' markets, flower shows and pony rides. Also interesting to note some of the owner's proposals that were denied by the Larkspur Planning Commission, including the construction of a 40 ft water tower and an entrance gate to charge for parking.

Weekly news update

A few stories from around the County this week...

DeLano's in Tam Valley is to get its own Post Annex.

The Marin Store is a new on-line store promoting food, fashion, art etc created in Marin, or made by companies based in Marin.

Peet's proposed new outlet in Sausalito has to pass the "no chains" rule that blocks formula retailers from locating on the waterfront.

Restoration Hardware relaunched it's Corte Madera store last week with a cocktail reception. The store shall be know from here on as something like The Gallery at Restoration Hardware. To emphasize the point, they've hung curtains outside the entrance (see photo). The merchandising matches Resto's recent strategic decision to position themselves at higher price points, and the store has some impressively huge sofas, industrial chic tables and massive metal floor lamps. There's also a new children's section.

Finally, as the opening of the new Paradise Foods at Pacheco Plaza draws near (planned for November 2), I couldn't help but notice a very candid quote in the IJ from the owner, David Gilmore, who said of the new store, "I had been kind of talked into doing this at the start". And while he "feels really good about it now", let's hope the people of Novato feel good about paying top dollar for the store's premium product.

Gap is 40... but sales are down.

Congratulations to Gap on its 4oth birthday tomorrow.

"On August 21, 1969, Don and Doris Fisher opened a shop in San Francisco called Gap that sold jeans and records. Now Gap is one of the most iconic brands of our time and jeans have become the foundation of everyone’s wardrobe,” said Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America.

To celebrate, there will be simultaneous acoustic performances at 700 Gap stores across the country on the evening of Thursday, August 20 (tonight), including the store at The Village at Corte Madera.

Unfortunately, there is still no end in sight for Gap's deteriorating sales performance. The retailer has now recorded negative sales growth for a staggering 20 quarters. That the company has managed to survive for so long on such poor results is due to its huge $2 billion cash reserves, plus cost cutting and inventory management that has helped to maintain profit levels.

The downside of Gap's cost cutting is the impact it has on merchandising. The group's stores are struggling to remain relevant in the face of strong competition from the likes of American Apparel and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Meanwhile, merchandise quality at Banana Republic is noticeably poorer. Right now I'm wearing shoes I bought from BR three years ago. They're Italian made and excellent quality. Similar shoes for sale today at BR are poorer quality stock made in China or India and selling for the same price. The result is improved margins for Gap in the short term, but bad news for long term customer retention.

Weekly news update

The Novato Advance opens up a debate around development planning for the North Redwood Boulevard corridor, including the usual shock and outrage that it will ruin the small town feel of Novato, and landowners manouvering to sell plots for development, in this case it's the Dairymans Feedmill, which would make a lovely mall.

There are several new retailers and restaurants opening in Tiburon, including Bistro 35, which will replace the Sweden House. May Madison kitchen store on Main Street, and on Ark Row there's Elixir, Prima Palate and Pure Elegance.

For gadget fans, Brookstone will be taking over the space vacated by Shabby Chic at the Village at Corte Madera. It's second time around for Brookstone, after it's previous store was dumped last year to make way for Lacoste. (btw, has anyone out there ever seen a shopper in Lacoste?)

Shabby Chic goes out in style

After just eight months, Shabby Chic, the flouncy, earthy, flowery seller of everything shabby and chic closed its doors at The Village at Corte Madera this month. The retailer, a victim of the recession and an unfortunately-timed decision to embark on a major store expansion program, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month and has been forced to close most of its stores.

However, keeping true to founder Rachel Ashwell's philospohy of living and breathing the brand, she has maintained a fascinating blog of her journey through these tough times, complete with snippets of wisdom, heart-rending outpourings of grief from her fans, language as flowery as her bed sheets, and photos from her new book...

February 2:

This is a blog I never in my wildest nightmares thought I would have to write. Last Thursday evening Shabby Chic filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The road to recovery for Shabby Chic will be hard and recovery is by no means certain. I find myself in a situation of having to understand parts of business that are challenging for a flea market girl.

February 12:

Our Greenwich Avenue and East Hampton Stores have closed. My staff were of such support to the end. Both landlords are gentlemen. They took the time to travel to meet me last week for tea.

There has been many a night we find ourselves sitting in my office, regrouping of the day’s events and discussing the following days agenda. Often we don’t even notice the sun has gone down, and we are talking in the dark with the exception of the light source from my computer.

March 2:

As always I look for guidance and metaphors in life... Some flowers are annuals, some perennials. Even though some flowers just have one season to make their mark, they still leave behind memories, the same way some stores that we prematurely had to close, will.

2007 Retail Sales data for the four largest cities

Here is another more detailed cut of the 2007 Retail Sales data that was released at the beginning on this month. The charts show the share of total Marin County sales that is captured by each of the four largest cities for four types of retail store.



For Apparel stores, Corte Madera is the place to go. More than a third of the County's sales at apparel stores take place here. The Village at Corte Madera captures almost all of these sales and it's share has probably strengthened since then. Since 2007 several new apparel stores have opened at The Village, including Abercrombie & Fitch, True Religion, Martin & Osa, Puma and Michael Stars.

General Merchandise is also strong at Corte Madera (think Nordstrom & Macys), with San Rafael (Northgate department stores) also getting a quarter of total county sales. The winner however is Novato, with the big boxes at Vintage Oaks (Costco, Target) helping the city take a third of county sales.

Sales at Eating and Drinking places is by contrast widely distributed across the county. Almost half of sales in these outlets occur outside the big four cities. Marinites are lucky to have many options in this category, with multiple eateries available in towns such as Tiburon, Sausalito, San Anselmo and Larkspur.

When it comes to Furnishings & Appliances, San Rafael takes the prize, capturing almost 50% of Marin County sales. Big boxes along 101 and Bellam, and smaller furniture and homewares outlets along Fourth Street, help make San Rafael the destination of choice for these purchases.

Top Retail Cities in Marin

Continuing our look at the retail sales tax data for Marin County from the California Board of Equalization (great name by the way). The table below shows total sales at retail outlets by city for the years 2006-07. So what is it telling us?

• San Rafael captures the largest slice of retail sales, with $1.3 billion or 38% of sales in Marin in 2007. San Rafael extends over quite a large area, which includes the downtown area, Northgate Mall, the big box retail along 101, Montecito Plaza and Home Depot.
• Novato is the second largest city, with 18% of the total, or $595 million. Most of this is drawn through Vintage Oaks.
• Corte Madera, with sales of $450 million, or 14% of the total, takes third place.
• The city with the greatest increase in sales was San Anselmo, with growth of $9.9 million, or 14% between 2006 and 2007. I don't recall any major retail changes taking place, so I wonder if the change reflects the impact of the floods on New Years Day 2006, which took out many downtown businesses for several weeks.
• Mill Valley also had a good 2007, up $6.9 million or 3.7% in 2007, possibly as a result of new store openings at Strawberry Village.
• Corte Madera recorded the greatest fall in sales over the period, down $4.2 million or 0.9% in 2007. This may reflect refurbishment work at the Town Center (Barnes & Noble) and The Village, which went through a program of renovations in 2007.

The BoE data also provides details of sales by retailer category. Unfortunately, the Board is in the process of changing how it classifies businesses, so we can't do a meaningfull comparison with previous years. I'll publish some charts with this data later this week.

Corte Madera considers major expansion at The Village

As reported in the Marin IJ, the Town of Corte Madera is considering a major expansion at The Village, including an additional 185,000 sq.ft of retail space and 300 new homes. The expansion is one of the options being offered in the town's draft General Plan. The 2008 environmental impact report was recently published on the town's website.

Village, said the company has no immediate plans for expansion, "but it's important for us to have that flexibility in knowing what we could do down the road."

Macerich, owners of The Village, are known to be looking at expansion options, including an expansion of Nordstrom.

Robert Redford coming to Marin

Yea, the first Sundance store outside of Colorado is set to open at the Village at Corte Madera. Based on the movie star's catalog business, the store will offer apparel, jewelry and home-decor.

For a visual clue, here's a shot of RR's Sundance store in Lone Tree, CO:
If Sundance doesn't satisfy the insatiable Marin appetite for throw rugs, do not fear, more will be available when Shabby Chic opens in the adjacent unit.

Shabby Chic founder, Rachel Ashwell, provides this insight about what to expect:

"For me, the secret to living well is to surround myself with beautiful things that are practical and deliciously comfortable. My designs are inspired by flea market finds and the appeal of sensible living. Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic is the marriage of my English heritage with the fresh and eclectic qualities of my California lifestyle."

Ladies and Gentlemen, get your wallets out.

News round-up

Borders for sale?: Barnes & Noble may buy the rival book chain.


Next time you go to Best Buy or Home Depot, be sure to haggle.


And next time you want to by a hoodie or track pants, don't go to Gap or Abercrombie & Fitch - go to Walgreens. They're introducing a clothing line called Casual Gear.

Handbag heaven: The Village at Corte Madera has signed up Tumi and Kate Spade for new stores. The Kate Spade retail brand will replace Sigrid Olsen. Both brands are part of the Claiborne group.

More moves at The Village

The tenant roster at The Village at Corte Madera keeps on a-changing. Latest retailers to fall victim to the Macerich leasing hounds are Brookstone, Max Studio and Cheaters, all of which were newly shuttered when I dropped by yesterday.

The boards are already up around these units, with cult frenchies Lacoste, sporty footwear store Puma and SoCal T-shirt peddler Michael Stars signed up to offer their wares to the voracious Marin public.

It's been quite a year for the Village as it races to cast off it's stodgy image by bringing in the hippest boutiques and trendiest chain stores. What a turnaround from owner Macerich's previous policy of marketing The Village as the classy safe mall for the thirtysomething Marin housewife, while positioning Northgate in San Rafael (which Macerich also owns) as the place to go for teen and twenties fashions. I'm guessing that they got the message that none of the cool retailers in the latter category wanted to go to Northgate.

I've certainly noticed more of a buzz in recent months, with bigger crowds and a younger demographic at The Village since the opening of Abercrombie & Fitch, Juicy Couture, True Religion and Lululemon.

Macerich are working on plans to extend The Village - so now's our chance to tell them what we would like to see there. What's that you say? Bring back Crate & Barrel...?

Tough January for Retailers

The slowdown in consumer spending is evident in the reported sales results, with many stores reporting a decline in year-on-year sales.

Retailers with outlets in Marin include department stores Nordstrom and Macys, whose same-store sales in January were both approx. -7% lower than the same period last year. Target was down -1.1% and Gap dwn -2%, while Ann Taylor and Abercrombie & Fitch each saw 0% growth.

Talbots, which runs Talbots and J Jill brands at The Village at Corte Madera, saw its quarterly sales fall by 6%, and responded by announcing that it would increase to 100 the number of underperforming stores it plans to close. Chicos, also with a new store at The Village, had a shocker, with January same-store sales down -22%.

Best performer among the large stores was Costco, whose same-store sales for the January period increrased by 7%. Sales at Ross were up 1.1%.

Retailer comings and goings

News that Liz Claiborne are closing their Sigrid Olsen chain of upmarket womenswear stores, with the brand's stores expected to be all closed by mid year, including the one at The Village at Corte Madera.


As the remix of tenants continues at The Village at Corte Madera, one new sign last week announced that Martin + Osa are due to open there soon. It will be the second Bay Area store for the American Eagle-owned brand, which opened its first local outlet last year at Westfield's San Francisco Center. The store's namesakes - Martin & Osa - were aparently a couple of adventurers who explored the world in the 1900s. So the brand is all about casual, outdoors gear; more upscale than American Eagle. Trendy but safe in a Banana Republic kinda way.


Talking of BR, a big goodbye to the Banana Republic store in Mill Valley, which closed its doors for the last time today. As you probably know, Mill Valley is where Banana Republic first started, sometime in the 1970s. They moved into larger premises in the town many years ago, but it is still a loss for the town. Although the lack of public outcry suggests BR won't be missed as much as Sweetwater, Village Music or even Jenny Loews, which closed last year.