Retail officials expect growth

Alicia Robinson

A slew of new stores will be opening this year in the area’s retail

enclaves and some shopping experts expect sales to maintain the

robust levels they reached in 2003.

This year’s sales are expected to be as good or better than last

year at South Coast Plaza, which was the shopping center’s “most

successful year ever,” marketing director Debra Gunn Downing said.

South Coast Plaza opened 15 new stores in 2003 and has seven

slated to open just in the first quarter of 2004, she said. New

stores will include Brooks Brothers men’s and women’s wear,

Restoration Hardware home furnishings, and Aveda Lifestyle Salon &

Spa.

In 2002, the center racked up more than $1.1 billion in sales, and

when 2003 totals are in, they’ll be at least that much, Downing said.

It was the same story at Fashion Island, where three new

restaurants will open and three stores are expanding this year,

Irvine Co. spokeswoman Nina Robinson said.

“Coming out of 2003, we had a terrific holiday season, and we

expect our same store sales to be up over last year,” she said.

Among the changes at Fashion Island will be Ozumo, a Japanese

restaurant, and a 16,000-square-foot addition to Nieman Marcus. More

new businesses are expected soon.

“We’ll definitely have more announcements coming through in the

first quarter of the year,” Robinson said.

New stores joining nearly built-out shopping centers are often

replacing stores that closed, said Richard Luehrs, Newport Beach

Chamber of Commerce executive director.

“It is new business, but net new business doesn’t occur all that

often,” he said. “Overall, I continue to see what I call a refreshing

of some of our [shopping] centers.”

Some forecasts predict 3% to 4% growth in sales for 2004, but that

growth will depend on what happens to interest rates, whether new

terrorist threats arise and other factors, Luehrs said.

“I think a lot depends on the governor’s budget,” said Mary Gilly,

a professor of marketing at UC Irvine. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

will announce his new budget today.

“He’s saying no new taxes, but they’re also talking [about] other

kinds of fees going up, so that could put a damper on retail sales,”

Gilly said.

Online shopping is on the rise, and that’s another threat to

people spending their shopping dollar locally, Gilly said.

Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ed Fawcett said

he’d gotten mixed messages about the local retail climate.

Some smaller boutique shops have done well, but the larger stores

aren’t seeing much of that growth, he said.

Overall, 2004 looks fairly good for sales, Fawcett said.

“Orange County is blessed with a good economy and even in tough

times our recessions are only slowed increases,” he said. “We don’t

drop by a lot.”

Consumer confidence here is so high in Orange County, Downing

said, that she thinks the retail sales boom may last a long time.

“I think it can go on as long as you have the right combination of

stores and the right market,” Downing said.