Results tagged “retail”

The upcoming holidays are about giving, and for many of us that means both giving gifts to our loved ones and to those in need. One way to help out in both areas comes via Chicago-based retailer CB2, who opened up a branch of their home decor store in a segment of the onetime Virgin Megastore space at 8000 Sunset this April.

The start of 2009 brought with it sad news for friends and fans of Book Soup, the much-cherished bookstore located on the vibrant Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, when its longtime owner Glenn Goldman passed away just a day after putting the shop on the market.

Last fall we talked with Samantha Page and Camilla Yates, whose delectable Sweet Square dessert bars were available by order for fans of hand-held treats that don't involve the word "cupcake." If you didn't have the chance or occasion to order up a batch of their squares, you might find yourself somewhere in the city where you can bite into one of their bars.

Starting late last year, the Downtown "destination" LA Live began to host all sorts of events, including a Grand Opening celebration, a Christmas tree lighting ceremony starring Britney Spears and the Mayor, a big screen broadcast of Obama's inaguration, and the openings of specific "on campus" spots like the Conga Room and the ESPN Zone. Touting itself firmly as LA's answer to Times Square (a promo video shown to some invited bloggers last year at the Ritz Carlton sales office declared as such), the LA Live-ers asserted that the development joining Staples Center, the Nokia Theatres, Club Nokia, and the Convention Center would be both a destination and a pit stop for locals and tourists alike.

The folks at DineLA take us on a quick look at the close-to-home vibe of Locali, the convenience store in Franklin Village that emphasizes consumer consciousness, locally-sourced products and ingredients, the spirit of community and environmentalism. Soon after they opened in January we were happy to report they carry vegan condoms, and with the mobile food trend and summer temps on the rise, we're even more happy they've put their unique frozen treats-mobile, the Icycle, on the street.

You (hopefully) heard it here first: The Fresh & Easy Hollywood store will begin to stock beer and wine starting Monday.

                     

Once upon a time, Angelenos flocked to 8000 W Sunset Blvd to buy CDs at the Virgin Megastore's US flagship. But since no one seems to buy actual discs anymore, the Virgin Megastore fell prey to economic hard times, and, following on the heels of iconic Sunset Strip music retailer Tower Records, closed up shop for good over a year ago.

Today is the second annual Record Store Day, and event put together by the Music Monitor Network, the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS), Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS) and Newbury and sponsored this year by NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers). All over the world in over 1,000 independent records stores, people will be celebrating he profound impact indie music retail has had on the music heard today.

Westfield is looking to do a 235,000 square foot expansion of their Sherman Oaks Fashion Square location, bringing back some of the outdoor promenade open air feel it had before the 1994 earthquake. It's been in an extensive community process for over three years with Westfield and neighbors working together, of course, not always agreeing together. After all, this is a regional mall smack dab in the middle of a single family home community.

...and another one bites the dust: Yankee Candles' Illuminations stores have announced they are shutting down all 28 of their retail locations as part of a large financial restructuring plan. The stores are located in 9 states, but half are here in California, including ones in Anaheim, Brea, Canoga Park, Costa Mesa, and at the Westside Pavillion. Illuminations joins the growing number of retailers with stores in the LA-area shutting down, such as Circuit City, Expo Design Center, and Mervyn's--not to mention the growing number of retailers implementing layoffs. So get your stinkin' candles now; Illuminations expects to be fully shuttered by the end of April.

If you are a decaf coffee drinker* and you like to grab your jitter-free java at Starbucks, get ready to cut your consumer hours...or up your wait time. The world's largest coffee chain has announced plans to save some bucks--"$400 million by September," according to USA Today--by having brewed decaf sitting ready only until noon. After noon, customers who want a cup of decaf will have to request it and sit tight; a 'bucks spokesperson said "it takes about four minutes to brew up a fresh cup." The stores wind up wasting product by brewing pots of decaf continually since the demand decreases in the afternoon, and these days, even for the coffee maven, saving a few bucks can go a long way. (*Seriously, what's the point?)

In early November of last year, electronics retailer Circuit City announced they were filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and would be closing down some of their stores and launching sales to help bring in much-needed revenue. But yesterday the struggling chain revealed they were pulling the plug altogether, and shutting down all 567 of their US stores.

Popular indie bookstore and longtime Sunset Boulevard retailer Book Soup has been mourning the loss of their owner and founder, Glenn Goldman, who recently lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. To honor Goldman, the store will hold a memorial event this week that is open to the public. Per the Book Soup website:

Everyone who knew Glenn or who appreciate the wonderful store he built is welcome to join us in remembering and celebrating Glenn's life this Friday, the 16th of January, in the store at 7pm. In lieu of flowers friends and colleagues may contribute to the "Glenn Goldman Booksellers Scholarship Fund" by donating below or emailing: GGBScholarshipFund@booksoup.com

Today's Daily News takes a look at one of Los Angeles' main streets, Ventura Boulevard, and how it's faring in the current economic crisis. Not surprisingly, things are not going well for business owners whose shops are located on "the San Fernando Valley's most robust commercial strip."

Sunset Boulevard is home today to another sad story: Glenn Goldman, the owner of the 33-year-old bookstore Book Soup, died yesterday, just one day after he put the cherished shop up for sale.

Japanese import convenience store Famima!! seems to have Downtown locked down. They currently have 5 locations in the area, and are prepping to open a sixth come February, but in an urban-center-Starbucks-esque move, they are opening it on the same block as another one. According to angelenic, "Downtown's newest Famima!! will be on the corner of 7th and Flower in the Roosevelt Lofts." Talk about convenient: "You won't even have to cross a street to swing by from the new Wilshire/Hope branch." Sadly, in other parts of LA County, Famima!! isn't doing as well. The Glendale location was shuttered in March following lackluster sales, as did two in Long Beach, and the one in Torrance in May.

Electronics retailer Circuit City announced recently that they were going to close 155 stores nationally in efforts to curtail their financial woes. According to a November 3 press release, "the stores identified for closure are located in 55 U.S. media markets, of which Circuit City will exit 12 U.S. media markets." Although not exiting California, they are planning on closing 24 stores in the state, including ones locally in Industry, Compton, Foothill Ranch, Thousand Oaks, Riverside, North Fontana, Pomona, Santa Maria, and Santa Barbara.

Take a close look at the shelves next time you're in the aisles of your local grocery store. Notice anything different? Like maybe there's a bit more room on either side of the rows of items? Pick something up and feel the bottom--as the LA Times suggests, grab a jar of Skippy brand peanut butter--now do you notice the "dimple" at the bottom?

Times are tough, which means saving a buck, or a penny, here and there is a high priority for lots of local shoppers. That means that a place like the 99 Cents Only store is a haven for penny pinchers and bargain hunters alike. But what happens when the economy can't keep a good thing going?

Ray Bradbury once called Long Beach's Acres of Books "a labyrinth, a tomb, a catacomb, a maze," and "a watering hole" of bookish treasures. The store, founded in 1934 by Bertrand Smith, has spanned over an acre of land at its Long Beach Boulevard storefront since 1960.

You may have seen this ad-mural go up at Melrose & Fairfax. It's part of clothing company 55DSL's viral-ad-whatever-the-fuck-it-is campaign to get people applying for a new job opportunity. The job: travel around the world in 55DSL clothes, or, as they say, "roam the earth and find all that is good and pure and kick ass." The application: a video application 1:55 seconds long.

I've got a conundrum, folks. You might, too: In a study entitled "The End of the Music Industry As We Know It" (suggested subhead: "And consumers feel fine"), Forrester Research, Inc., is reporting that half of music sales will be digital by 2011, and digital sales will surpass CDs entirely by 2012.

Anyone living downtown in an old converted warehouse is familiar with the specific brand of glee the comes with learning that the big empty retail space on the groundfloor of your building or across the street from your front door has finally been filled. In a downtown that is still growing and adding services for the ever-expanding resident population, any new service is met with excitement. As in: Will it be a Trader Joe's?

The fate of the empty Tower Records store on Sunset Boulevard has been decided: Demolition.

Agreed--for what it's worth--it's just not the same.

An opinion piece in today's LA Times raises the issue of what seems to be the rampant Pinkberry-fication of many of our local neighborhoods, using recent food and retail closings and openings in the popular Larchmont Village as an example of how major-chain development affects the unique vibe of a given area.

Our friends over at Austinist asked us to pass along this casting call for Lucky magazine--one of their writers, Breanna, made the cut and will be striking a pose in the mag's glossy pages come March '08--and now they're looking for some lovely Angeleno ladies for a local shoot. Could you be one of them?

As winds died down Sunday, firefighters gained the upper hand on the Malibu blaze that burned at least 49 homes and sent thousands fleeing. It is now 70% contained and officials expect full containment by Tuesday. The damage could run close to $100 million. Firefighters rescued a father and his 4-year-old son in a Sun Valley home that burned down this morning. The father got his wife and daughter out of the house, but,...

The NoHo Arts District is looking up as the opening of the NoHo 14 Lofts nears and the arrival (finally!) of the two-story Bank Heist restaurant/bar. Small steps, small steps, right? Well, yesterday, the "Metro board approved negotiating with Lowe Enterprises for [a $1 billion development] massive mixed-use project," according to the Daily News today. Christened as the NoHo Art Wave, the development located over and around the Metro Orange and Red Line stations will...