San Francisco's Retail Scene [Archive] - Page 7

dimondpark

Sep 29, 2006, 4:33 AM

San Francisco Mall May Supply Concept for L.A.
A tall mall must draw shoppers in and up. It could serve as a model for other cities.
By Roger Vincent, Times Staff Writer
September 28, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO — A new style of high-rise mall that may serve as a model for downtown Los Angeles and other big city centers will open its doors here today as the largest urban shopping center west of the Mississippi River.

The expanded San Francisco Centre in the heart of this city's historic commercial district at 5th and Market streets combines department stores, supermarkets, movie theaters, restaurants, shops, a spa and office space in two buildings, one nine stories and the other eight.

City leaders hope that the mall will further invigorate once-seedy Market Street and serve as a bridge between Union Square — now the city's main shopping attraction — and the grittier former industrial district south of Market Street known as SoMa, which includes new museums and hotels.

If successful, San Francisco Centre eventually could be a blueprint for renewing the once-vaunted shopping district of downtown Los Angeles, experts said. But it is a bold and risky bet that residents and tourists will frequent a so-called vertical mall that goes upward instead of outward in the style of most sprawling suburban shopping centers.

"Most American consumers, save for San Francisco and Chicago, aren't really attuned to vertical retailing," said Peter Lowy, chief executive of U.S. operations for Sydney, Australia-based Westfield Group, which owns the mall with Forest City Commercial Group. "Even New Yorkers tend to not shop vertically unless they are in a department store."

Los Angeles' most recent experiment in vertical malls, the four-story Hollywood & Highland Center, was widely shunned when it opened in 2001 in part because shoppers found it difficult to navigate. The developer sold it at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the new owners have labored to make it easier to get around inside.

Angelenos are expected to get another taste of vertical retailing in the $1.8-billion Grand Avenue project planned for Bunker Hill downtown that is to include a grocery store, shops, theaters and other entertainment features. Construction is slated to start next year.

But a high-end reworking of some of Los Angeles' historic department stores that have long since been turned to other uses will probably have to wait several years because downtown L.A. lacks the density of San Francisco.

Not enough people live in downtown L.A. yet, and it would take a lot of new development to restore its long-lost reputation as a daytime shopping destination, said Los Angeles retail consultant Greg Gotthardt of Alvarez & Marsal. San Francisco is also hotel-rich, with about 15,000 rooms near the city center, compared with about 3,000 rooms in downtown L.A.

Nonetheless, many shoppers are ditching traditional indoor suburban malls for so-called lifestyle centers that mimic Main Street, such as the Grove in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles.

The expansion of San Francisco Centre, which cost $460 million, is part of an industry trend toward making existing successful malls much bigger by adding shops and other uses, including apartments and condos. With the new addition, San Francisco Centre has tripled in size to 1.5 million square feet.

Remodeling and ambitiously expanding malls "is clearly something that is going to continue to happen across the U.S.," said competitor Art Coppola, chief executive of Santa Monica-based mall operator Macerich Co., which is also expanding some of its malls.

Retailers prefer to join proven centers, and the neighbors are less likely to object to expanding an existing center than they would to the creation of a new one.

And if the properties are near public transit hubs, public officials are often quick to approve the addition of office space and residential units, Coppola said. "It makes sense because it's smart growth."

San Francisco Centre is above an underground rail station and along one of the city's busiest bus routes. Across Market Street, the city's main thoroughfare, a turntable spins cable cars around and relaunches them back up Nob Hill toward Fisherman's Wharf.

"The whole mid-Market area has been difficult, but now I think it will come to life," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said. "It will ignite some long-range development."

He said he was also looking forward to the 25 million visitors the mall is expected to attract and the estimated $18 million it should contribute to the city's general fund through taxes.

The expanded San Francisco Centre combines the original Centre, a nine-story venue that opened in 1988 with a Nordstrom store, with an aged eight-story building that once housed the Emporium. It will contain, among other things, the nation's second-largest Bloomingdale's and a gourmet Bristol Farms market.

The Emporium building was built in 1896 and survived San Francisco's devastating 1906 earthquake but was destroyed by the subsequent fire. The building was rebuilt and has been a local landmark, offering through the years the city's first escalators, a circular bandstand for free concerts and a Christmastime department where only men could shop for women's gifts.

Restoring life to the cherished relic was a 10-year ordeal for owner Forest City Commercial, President Jim Ratner said. A combined project with San Francisco Centre next door made the most sense, but its owners weren't interested until Westfield, the world's largest shopping center owner, took it over in 2002.

"Melding the two buildings was the key to keeping the historical architecture while giving us the critical mass to go forward," Westfield's Lowy said.

The Market Street facade renovation brought back windows and storefronts on the sidewalk that had been boarded up for at least half a century, said architect Norman Garden of RTKL, the principal design firm for the renovation. "It restores the street fabric and original intent."

Bright natural light reaches most of the revamped addition through the facade windows, dome and new glass roofs, bathing floors below that open to the central core and are staggered in shape to evoke San Francisco's hilly topography. The light is a central part of the design scheme intended to coax shoppers to travel up and down several floors, which is rarely attempted in American retail centers.

"The challenge with vertical malls has always been getting the foot traffic flow worked out to attract people to each level," said consultant Gotthardt. "Otherwise you have significant dead zones and poor performance."

San Francisco Centre's multiple tiers are a gamble, Lowy acknowledged, but if the center works, the successful elements can be duplicated elsewhere. It's now one of very few vertical-style malls in the country

After today's opening hoopla, including Cirque du Soleil acrobats dangling from the high ceiling ends, San Francisco Centre will face the challenge of attracting enough of the region's demanding shoppers to prosper. Former Emporium patron Lillian Markinson gave it thumbs up so far.

"It's in good taste and not showy," said Markinson, who was there for a pre-opening tea. "It's one of the loveliest malls I have ever seen."

*
roger.vincent@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mall28sep28,1,489764.story?coll=la-mininav-business

SFBoy

Sep 29, 2006, 5:20 AM

Is it just me or did anyone else notice that the theaters were only playing old movies that take place in San Francisco?

fflint

Sep 29, 2006, 5:28 AM

^Yeah, that was the plan--San Francisco movies.

SFBoy

Sep 29, 2006, 5:34 AM

Was that just for the one day or is it gonna be longer?

fflint

Sep 29, 2006, 5:37 AM

I'm not sure. It's a special program.

EastBayHardCore

Sep 29, 2006, 6:07 AM

My wife was saying how cool it would be to hold a wedding under the dome.

Yea, but could you imagine explaining to people why you got married in a Westfield Mall? ;)

BTinSF

Sep 29, 2006, 7:17 AM

I'm convinced that most of the residents in the immediate area will not be the ones shopping at that grocery store.

Huh? Don't think the residents of, say, the St. Regis or 4 Seasons can afford it?

Ronin

Sep 29, 2006, 7:25 AM

Sounds like a normal meal.....for Tokyo:yes:
Its just somthing you got to deal with when new places open..such is life.

People will line up for it now, but 7 months down the road, once the novelty has worn off? :shrug:

Is it just me or did anyone else notice that the theaters were only playing old movies that take place in San Francisco?

Yeah, that was hilarious. I saw hecka people looking at the boards in puzzlement, especially the younger kids. Anyways, 10 bucks for normal price! I think I'll stick with the suburban metroplexes at $8.50 a pop.

I'm convinced that most of the residents in the immediate area will not be the ones shopping at that grocery store.

Perhaps employees working in the downtown area? I saw many suits and ties lining up for goods.

Anyways, I got there around 7:45, and hung around until about 10. This place is simply awesome! It brought back memories of all those malls in Shanghai. The hunnies were definitely dressed to impress too. I thought I was at a Madison Avenue runway show or something.

I stepped outside on a few occasions, and it seems like it was totally dead. I guess the entire city knew where the happenin' spot was. As far as the shops, some of the chain stores found in normal malls seemed to step it up as far as prestige. I don't recall other Metropark (teen clothier) branches selling the same $270 True Religion jeans found at Bloomie's.

BTinSF

Sep 29, 2006, 7:41 AM

The sadly typical SF sidebar:

SAN FRANCISCO
Homeless feel unwelcome
Police deny rousting panhandlers near new Westfield Mall
- Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006

Those with means went shopping Thursday, and those without means made themselves scarce.

The new shopping center on Market Street was no place to be broke.

"They told me three times to get off the sidewalk,'' said panhandler Richard August, who had given up his usual spot near Fourth and Mission streets, in the shadow of the newly expanded, $460 million Westfield San Francisco Centre mall.

August reluctantly moved to Fifth Street, where he said pickings were slimmer. He was holding a paper cup. Inside it were exactly three pennies.

"Tough morning,'' he said.

Surrounding the complex were a score of private security guards and city police officers. The usual dozen or so panhandlers were all but gone. About a half-hour after the mall's grand opening, a homeless man in a wheelchair was shooed away from the Market Street door after two guards summoned two police officers.

August, a portrait artist without paints who was awaiting his next commission, said guards had ordered him to leave his usual spot, just east of the mall's new entrance on Mission Street.

"They're trying to run us out,'' he said, sitting on the sidewalk and gazing at the heels of the well-heeled folks hustling to the grand opening. "They want us to disappear. They're trying to attract the people with money, and those kind of people don't want to see us around.''

Officer Lee Dahlberg, one of a dozen or so San Francisco cops patrolling the sidewalk, agreed that there seemed to be fewer panhandlers in the area. But he said they had left of their own accord.

"When you straighten up an area, you attract a better clientele,'' he said. "The panhandlers don't want to be here. They do better someplace else.''

Nobody was hassling the homeless, Dahlberg said. They have as much right to the sidewalk as anyone else.

"There's pressure coming from the guards and from more people watching,'' Dahlberg said. "That doesn't mean we're picking on them.''

Trent Rhorer, director of the city's Department of Human Services, said there was no special order to roust folks from the front of the shopping center, only a long-standing effort in the mid-Market area to help homeless people find services.

At Fifth and Market streets, panhandler Anna Johnson said she was staying well away from the doors of the new center because she did not want to get into trouble.

"I know I better not go up there,'' she said. "They don't want us around. That's a place for the wealthy folks, not for us plain ordinary people. Do you happen to have $3 you could spare?''

Page B - 7
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/29/HOMELESS.TMP

Couldn't we all just enjoy ourselves--even those of us not having or planning to spend a lot of money but willing to leave our fellow citizens in peace, unpanhandled--and not have to worry about being UBER-COMPASSIONATE for one day?

SFBoy

Sep 29, 2006, 8:30 AM

The protestors won't allow it.

sf_eddo

Sep 29, 2006, 9:05 AM

I'm gonna say it - fuck the homeless. I couldn't care less about their problems with the mall.

EastBayHardCore

Sep 29, 2006, 9:09 AM

My God, I wish the rousting rumors were true. Then maybe the word would get out that the city isn't a great place for bums all over the country to come to exploit. I surely won't miss dodging bum shit on Market st. Bring out the fire hoses next!

sf_eddo

Sep 29, 2006, 9:15 AM

Fire hoses?

I'm surprised at your generosity, EBHC? Oh yeah, you're a progressive's progressive. ;) Care not Cash!

FourOneFive

Sep 29, 2006, 9:16 AM

I'm gonna say it - fuck the homeless. I couldn't care less about their problems with the mall.

amen brother. i say round them up and ship them off to where they came from... las vegas, texas, the east coast. i'm sick and tired of them sleeping on the streets and begging for change.

Ronin

Sep 29, 2006, 10:11 AM

I don't know about that. I got panhandled twice in less than ten seconds the moment I stepped out the door on Market.

fflint

Sep 29, 2006, 10:46 AM

Bums. Beggars. They've got no more business rolling their lazy asses in front of the doorways than do the security guards have business getting them the hell out of the way.

dimondpark

Sep 29, 2006, 12:29 PM

I cant stand homeless people who act like its my duty to witness their plight. Like I personally owe them something.:rolleyes:

dimondpark

Sep 29, 2006, 1:46 PM

some more flickr pics....

http://static.flickr.com/111/255333220_5385a1d732.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/121/255332887_34a192f0e7.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/60/255333325_c81f523001.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/122/255333053_9770332d7d.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/117/255332974_2a1f814e71.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/104/254415346_f10913306a.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/94/250194851_acc48db367.jpg?v=0

quashlo

Sep 29, 2006, 2:32 PM

Huh? Don't think the residents of, say, the St. Regis or 4 Seasons can afford it?

Of course those people can afford it. I'm talking about all the less advantaged folks living in SOMA, Civic Center, and the TL. Correct me if I am wrong, but the closest supermarket I can think of is the Safeway on the ground floor of The Beacon. Although it's got decent bus access if you live in SOMA or close to Van Ness, if I lived in the TL, I don't know if I'd want to be trekking all the way over there every couple of days to do my shopping.

I don't know about that. I got panhandled twice in less than ten seconds the moment I stepped out the door on Market.

Yeah, the homeless were still out there... If they weren't directly in front of the building, there were plenty just on the other side of Market.

texasboy

Sep 29, 2006, 2:46 PM

I don't know about that. I got panhandled twice in less than ten seconds the moment I stepped out the door on Market.

I think my brother and I beat you.

BTinSF

Sep 29, 2006, 4:15 PM

Of course those people can afford it. I'm talking about all the less advantaged folks living in SOMA, Civic Center, and the TL. Correct me if I am wrong, but the closest supermarket I can think of is the Safeway on the ground floor of The Beacon. Although it's got decent bus access if you live in SOMA or close to Van Ness, if I lived in the TL, I don't know if I'd want to be trekking all the way over there every couple of days to do my shopping.

OH! You meant ME! (I live at Turk and Van Ness);) ;)

Yeah, we used to have to trek to the Bell Market on Post (between Gough and Franklin--like 6 awful blocks away) but that closed so now it's the exhausting hike to Safeway on Webster (7 or 8 blocks) or, when the government checks come in, Whole Foods at California and Franklin (an 8-block uphill struggle). Of course those deeper in the Loin can go to Cala at California and Hyde (if their legs will carry them up the hill). And we can buy veggies at the Farmers' Market at UN Plaza on Wednesdays saving the long trip to any of these markets.

PS: Please excuse my sarcasm.;) ;) I'm just feeling that way today.:) :)

dimondpark

Sep 29, 2006, 7:43 PM

LOL@feeling sarcastic today

fflint

Sep 29, 2006, 11:10 PM

quashlo

Sep 30, 2006, 4:02 AM

What does that have to do with anything? Okay, so the poor cannot afford to buy things at Bloomingdale's or Bristol Farms--so what? So what? So fucking what?

I think you are missing my point. It's not whether or not people can afford to shop at those particular shops, but whether there are viable alternatives within their price range. If Bristol Farms was the ONLY supermarket in the area, then I think that would be a problem.

Yeah, we used to have to trek to the Bell Market on Post (between Gough and Franklin--like 6 awful blocks away) but that closed so now it's the exhausting hike to Safeway on Webster (7 or 8 blocks) or, when the government checks come in, Whole Foods at California and Franklin (an 8-block uphill struggle). Of course those deeper in the Loin can go to Cala at California and Hyde (if their legs will carry them up the hill). And we can buy veggies at the Farmers' Market at UN Plaza on Wednesdays saving the long trip to any of these markets.

Yes, I forgot about the Farmers Market at UN Plaza. Perhaps all those newspaper articles about the neighborhood grocery stores closing is getting to my head.

BTinSF

Sep 30, 2006, 7:58 AM

OK, so I checked it out today and specifically I checked out Bristol Farms to see if it's a place I WOULD trek to (yes, it IS walking distance if I feel like a modest hike), not for everyday groceries but for specialty items. Frankly, it's probably not their fault but I felt modest disappointment. It's nice, if expensive. The mood lighting is swell (if no better than the Mission Bay Safeway). I can only compare prices on stuff I buy a lot but, for example, they wanted $2.99 for a box of DeCecco pasta that I think I got at Whole Foods for $2.39. But I have to say it really didn't seem like a high "Wow!" factor as compared to not only Whole Foods but even places like Molly Stone's. In fact, their produce section reminded me a lot of Molly Stone's and I'm betting the turnover will be considerably lower than Molly's so that after a while the stuff will start looking a bit more wilted than Molly's (unless they are scrupulous about picking it over several times a day). What I may end up going there for is deli and cooked items when I don't feel like preparing my own dinner and happen to be in the area.

As for the rest of the place, the impression was of consumerism run amok (a line half a block long to open a charge account at Bloomingdales??). And the mall as a whole is awesome--a great place to hang and especially on a gloomy day like today (not many more of them until I'm in sunny Tucson). But the individual stores were in some cases also a little disappointing. Eddie Bauer, for example, is a pale imitation of not only their old store on Post St. but some other of their mall stores I've been in (yes, the company has been in recent turmoil and who knows what they are doing with their format now?).

Frankly, I did NOT spend a lot of time in Bloomie's. My clothes in recent years tend more to Old Navy accessorized by Bauer and LL Bean. Somebody mentioned Burberry raincoats above and I've already got one left over from the days when I had more fashion pretensions. So once I checked out exactly WHO couldn't wait for Jimmy Choo shoes and few other things, I split for the likes of Bauer.

Ronin

Sep 30, 2006, 9:08 AM

Yeah, I was wondering why the heck Eddie Bauer was there as well. I don't see anyone rockin' that stuff anymore. For the outdoorsy wear, North Face owns all, and even Columbia, but Eddie Bauer?

The Adidas shop is weird too. It's not large enough to be a showcase store ala Niketown, but everything is priced at face value. Heck, you can find a more varied selection of Adidas apparel at your local Macy*s. The only people I saw in there were German and French, and no "native" Americans. Adidas is, and will always be regarded as European apparel. Not to spread ill will or anything, but I predict that Adidas will be one of the first to close down.

Another oddity is Oddysea surf shop. A surf shop in downtown SF? I know SF has a major surf scene, but I guaran-darn-tee you that the true surfers would opt to visit a real shop in Pacifica or Santa Cruz or the like. I think that most would rather swim in a low tide full of great whites than to be caught dead in this swankville. All the employees there look like Hollister carryovers rather than true surfers (I sure ain't complainin' about the female workers though). Besides, can you imagine someone actually purchasing a board there, and lugging that thing in and around Market Street?

SFBoy

Sep 30, 2006, 10:33 AM

The best part of the entire mall were the two guys playing soccer in a glass box outside the Adidas store. :haha:

dimondpark

Sep 30, 2006, 12:48 PM

It cant be understated how convenient the mall is for those of us that come over on BART from the east bay...saved me a ton of time.

Anyway,
I did think it was very elegant and the dome was gorgeous.

SSLL

Sep 30, 2006, 2:47 PM

Gorgeous pics! One question: I keep hearing that it's the largest urban mall west of the Mississippi. What's the largest urban mall in the US? Is it not SFSC?

J_Taylor

Sep 30, 2006, 3:26 PM

Gorgeous pics! One question: I keep hearing that it's the largest urban mall west of the Mississippi. What's the largest urban mall in the US? Is it not SFSC?
Ever been to mall of the americas or somthing like that in Minnesota?
Its got a roller coaster inside of it..

San Frangelino

Sep 30, 2006, 4:11 PM

I always thought of Mall of Americas being a suburban mall (Even though it may be within city limits). If memory serves me rightly, its closer to the airport than the cities core. I guess the definition of "urban"is broad. I would think that if it included the Mall of America as "urban" then South Coast Plaza would maybe have to be a contender, or those malls on the Las Vegas strip (thinking mainly of fashion show mall) which are equal if not larger to the size of SFSC.

I suppose if we narrow it to malls in the urban core or "heart" SFSC fairs very highly as one of the largest. Again though, you may have to include LV bein that its in what would easily be considered the cities heart. Another contender out east would be "Eaton Center" in Toronto, which is a bit larger a believe than SFSC. I was suprised to find out the total square footage of three of Chicago's downtown malls (900 michigan, Chicago place, and Water Tower Place) are nearly equal in size to SFSC. I posted where i found that information awhile back on here. I can maybe again find a size comparison when I have too much time on my hands.....again.

BTinSF

Sep 30, 2006, 4:18 PM

Yeah, I was wondering why the heck Eddie Bauer was there as well. I don't see anyone rockin' that stuff anymore. For the outdoorsy wear, North Face owns all, and even Columbia, but Eddie Bauer?

I wasn't bashing their existence. Only the fact that the store is quite small compared to the former one on Post. Their clothes are still very much "rocked" by us baby boomers but you just won't find all that much in the store. I actually saw a couple things I might have bought there but they didn't have my size so I will have to order what I wanted online as I might have done anyway.

By the way, just for grins I also checked out the $250 "smart" sneakers at Adidas. You think they'll sell a lot of them?

BTinSF

Sep 30, 2006, 4:21 PM

San Frangelino

Sep 30, 2006, 4:26 PM

No....I am accounting for the fact that SFSC is 1.5 million square feet now. That is a long way from being new information to me. And when I was speaking about finding/posting information "awhile back", it was regarding the big three Chicago shopping centers.

Anyhoo I am just throwing my "two bits" in regarding SSLL's question on the monkier I keep hearing that it's the largest urban mall west of the Mississippi. What's the largest urban mall in the US? Is it not SFSC?

Not about giant malls in general.

By the way...this is the post I was refering too regarding Westfield SFSC and Chicagos malls. Its a 91 article, but I don't believe there have been any great expansions to Chicagos malls, however there is an office portion to SFSC that I think is accounted for in the 1.5 million and not with these three center's and their combine square footage of 1.4 million square feet. But that's all I was refering too.

I was having a dull day on the job and thought I would look up the size of "Mag Mile" shopping Centres in Chicago. Specifically Water Tower Place, 900 Michigan Avenue, and Chicago Place. The First article I came across from the New York Times http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...51C0A967958260

said that
Quote:
WITH the opening last September of a third vertical mall on this city's fashionable North Michigan Avenue, some questioned whether the "Magnificent Mile" could absorb its 320,000 square feet of additional space.

The new Chicago Place mall supplements a total of 1.1 million square feet in Water Tower Place and 900 North Michigan Shops and 800,000 additional square feet in stores along the avenue.

Now take into account that the article is from 1991, which may not be accounting for any expansions. But if it still rings true, that would give the total space of the three centers around 1.5 million square feet, about the same as SF's soon to open Center. I was suprised to find that out, thinking that the centers there were much larger. I didnt account for the Westfield shopping mall On the "Mile" which I think is called North Bridge. Anyone know how large that is?

Anyhoo I thought it would be interesting to note being that there is an upcoming proposal to add another 200,000 square foot center between 5th and 6th. Also I am not sure if I read correctly but the JMA Ventures Tower addition to the Mercantile building on Mission and Third might have a small retail center as well. Not to mention a 300,000 square foot Metreon and 100,000 square feet underneath the Four Seasons Tower all nearby.

I always hear that the San Francisco Shopping center is suppose to be the largest Urban Mall in the West. Which Urban shopping centers are larger in the east, and how is urban defined?

dimondpark

Sep 30, 2006, 7:07 PM

I once read that the largest urban mall is the Carousel Mall either in Rochester or Buffalo....I forget which city. SFSC is supposed to 2nd.

fflint

Oct 1, 2006, 1:17 AM

The mall itself is quite impressive--a spacious marble and metal beehive, and a serious retail contender.

Architectural Musings of a Non-Architect

The dome is absolutely sublime, both as a vision and as a circulation impetus. Glimpsed almost immediately upon entry from Market Street, the restored neoclassical dome is simultaneously simple and intricate, and it draws the eyes (and the shoppers) upward from most every location.

Along the way, we encounter the expected as well as the serendipitous. Most of the mall consists of gray-on-white marble walkways and the usual hodgepodge of individual shopfronts, with generous cutaways in the center affording a commanding and grand sense of place. The randomly situated miniature lounges, with mod leather furniture, are an especially nice touch.

The real architectural challenges appear on the top two floors. This is where we finally reach the elegant old dome and its supporting columns, which are surrounded by a free-standing shawl of offices, theatres and a massive day spa. This is also where the design begins to fail, aesthetically.

It's not a total disaster, mind you, and it can be fixed if and when the desire is manifested. The curved metallic-Mondrian facades of the office component actually work up alongside the creamy dome structure in a fairly reasonable juxtaposition--nothing earth-shattering, nothing too jarring.

But the Metreon-meets-Palace of Fine Arts ensemble implodes under the weight of another, wholly unnecessary component--two tall floors of brown marble, seemingly transplanted from One Post Street or 333 Bush Street. The day spa clashes with each of the other components and rends them. It does *not* work. Looking out from what should be the commanding overlook at the theatre lobby, the day spa's singular sensation is one of dour, light-robbing aesthetic failure.

The simple white marble subway portal blends perfectly with the "2001: A Space Odyssey" theme of the Powell Street Station.

Shops

The stores are...well, the stores. Most are bland, but of good quality. A few are actually interesting. I thought the Adidas store was rather ingenious, with its triple-stripe architectural theme expressed in everything from the lighting scheme to the stairwell as if the entire store were a royal blue velour jogging suit. The lighting scheme at Next was also notably attractive, with the ultra-white pod effect softened by recessed pink, green and blue mood lighting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art store is disappointingly small and boring. As others have noted, the Eddie Bauer shop is quite small--but it is not irrelevant like some may think. The Bose store was a fun diversion.

Bloomingdale's

Bloomingdale's really is the star of the show, however. It is a larger, more elegant and interesting store than any of the others. It is pleasingly spacious, the materials are alternately vibrant and subtle and everywhere sumptuous, the departments are well laid-out, and everything is lit well without being too bright. Well, except for the Louis Vuitton department--it's glass walls turn various colors in a deliciously gaudy display of icy lighting technology.

A few days ago I wrote that I didn't know what sorts of things distinguished Bloomingdale's from, say, Neiman Marcus or Sak's--but I can now say that Bloomingdale's has a more decadent approach to wealth than the others do. While equally rarified in price, Bloomingdale's isn't stuffy or off-putting like those other stores. Where Neiman-Marcus and Sak's are slightly hostile doyennes in white gloves and an impenetrable shroud of disdain, Bloomingdale's is a saucy debutante getting reckless with Daddy's money. It's a place where I could take acid and actually have fun. The other stores have $500-per-plate china sets--but they don't have $500-per-plate china sets simultaneously well-suited for museum display and for Alice's tea party with the Mad Hatter. The wall of Versace china was spell-binding in its over-the-top gaudy display of psychedelic colors and shapes, so exquisite, and so freakish, right there among the more conventional housewares. Behold Bloomingdale's.

The Food

I was unable to get a table at the Straits or the nearby steakhouse, and Zazu appeared closed by the time we were ready to dine--so we traipsed down to the food court. There is a good selection of fast food, as the articles in this thread have noted, but the crowds in line at all the outlets were immense. We settled for cookies and a tour of the new Bristol Farms "supermarket."

Bristol Farms is one rather small market split into two halves by a passageway into the old SF Centre. One side has a chocolatier, assorted nuts and fascinating varieties of soft drinks (I had a birch beer, which tastes a bit like spearmint), beautiful and exotic cut flowers, and even a small pharmacy. This is, no doubt, where they had hoped to sell liquor. The other side has ordinary grocery items and a beautiful display of produce--but it is rather small in comparison with the huge deli area, with its infinite array of gourmet prepared foods, warm and cold. There were like three kinds of tabouli. While it is a tempting dining option that will no doubt draw me up from Powell Street Station, I would not call this Bristol Farms a "supermarket," and I'm entirely unsure of how the Chronicle came up with a 30,000 square foot figure for it.

The Street

We left the building after nightfall, and the facade was a blaze of glory. I don't remember ever seeing the building lit up like that--either at the street or above--when it was the Emporium. It's almost disorienting, just how different that block feels now that everything is open and on and attracting large crowds of unusually stylish people. As one forumer noted above, "the hunnies" really are dressed to the nines--high, severe style. Big concept, big money style. Not everyone--but many, and they really stand out in a town that has been dressed down for so many decades. Perhaps they're only out for the opening weekend, but I know I wouldn't mind if the fashionistas stuck around for a while to help the city remember that fashion can be fun.

Budget Buster

Just keep the me the fuck away from San Francisco Centre until at least Xmastime. You don't have to be a baby-boomer to wear Eddie Bauer, and you don't have to actually need a new cologne to find another one irrestistably natural yet complex. I walked through the Market Street doors expecting to window shop, and walked out them with five bags and receipts for $400 worth of merchandise. And they were all good bargains. Oy vey.

BTinSF

Oct 1, 2006, 3:57 AM

We left the building after nightfall, and the facade was a blaze of glory. I don't remember ever seeing the building lit up like that--either at the street or above--when it was the Emporium. It's almost disorienting, just how different that block feels now that everything is open and on and attracting large crowds of unusually stylish people. As one forumer noted above, "the hunnies" really are dressed to the nines--high, severe style. Big concept, big money style. Not everyone--but many, and they really stand out in a town that has been dressed down for so many decades. Perhaps they're only out for the opening weekend, but I know I wouldn't mind if the fashionistas stuck around for a while to help the city remember that fashion can be fun.

I guess this is the place to say something I've wanted to say for a day or two. I went out of town for 5 days including last weekend and got back Tuesday. I took AMTRAK and let them bus me back across the bridge and through town making their several regular stops (Ferry Building, Pier 39, 4th/Market) which covered a fair portion of the downtown. The place seemed ablaze with light and people--at 10:30 at night. Not just around the SFSC which was having its red carpet preview but all over the downtown. I was in a bus full of tourists and they seemed agog. I admit I haven't really had much reason to be in the Union Square or lower Mission or even Embarcadero areas at that hour in a long time, but I don't remember it looking this lighted up, busy and, well, sophisticated and urbane before. I don't think the disorientation you felt would have been limited to out front of SFSC. The town is looking good after the sun goes down!

I walked through the Market Street doors expecting to window shop, and walked out them with five bags and receipts for $400 worth of merchandise. And they were all good bargains. Oy vey.

Yeah, I never thought of myself as a metrosexual before but I just had to have a crockery pumpkin aromatherapy thingy from Bath and Body Works (a guy's gotta have some kind of Halloween decorations) and that required me to buy a couple jars of salt body scrub which is not a product I normally use: scrub + candle = $82. Adding in a felafel sandwich (not near as good as Gyro King's--Grove across from the library) and soda downstairs for lunch and they nailed me for near a C-note.

rs913

Oct 1, 2006, 4:19 AM

I checked this place out tonight too, and spent $390 less than fflint (hee). Would have been $400 less if I didn't pick up dinner at Bristol Farms.

Speaking of which, I think Bristol Farms, while not a "supermarket", got it exactly right. Nobody is going to do serious grocery shopping in a mall, but plenty of people will grab a pizza or prepared entree before jumping on BART. So what I saw, a small "grocery" section and a much larger deli section (reminiscent of the Whole Foods in NYC's Time Warner Center, if anyone's been there), made perfect sense. The only thing I wonder about is how they seem to allow you to pick up stuff in one section and check out in the other. How would they prevent shoplifting?

One interesting thing about opening weekend...lots of DJs and electronica/house being played in the open spaces. I guess they really want us to remind us this isn't just a typical Westfield mall transplanted to the Big City.

As for the rest, fflint summed it up well. I'm sure the hottie fashionista chicks will be a regular fixture at this place, considering the stores represented here. I agree that not only the immediate vicinity of the center but the surrounding streets seemed to have a vitality I've usually only seen during the holiday season. So, even though people love to bash malls, I say long live the new SF Centre (for now, anyway)

Edited to add:

1) The new wing of the center seemed reasonably integrated with the old. I thought the two halves would seem really out of sync but didn't find that to be the case.

2) To see lots more reviews of the new SFC, check out Yelp. Damn, is everyone and their dog in SF using that site?

dimondpark

Oct 1, 2006, 4:27 AM

dimondpark

Oct 1, 2006, 4:31 AM

looks like we SSP forumers are doing their fair share to help consumer spending. LOL

dimondpark

Oct 1, 2006, 4:33 AM

rs913,
I too noticed the hottie fashionistas all over the place. I knew we had them, guess it took this to bring 'em out....was today stiletto-day at the mall or what?

BTinSF

Oct 1, 2006, 4:35 AM

I'm sure the hottie fashionista chicks will be a regular fixture at this place, considering the stores represented here.

It being San Francisco, I saw at least as many "hottie fashionista" twinkie dudes carrying clutches of Bloomie bags in both hands. ;) ;)

BTinSF

Oct 1, 2006, 4:37 AM

Ronin

Oct 1, 2006, 4:54 AM

rs913,
I too noticed the hottie fashionistas all over the place. I knew we had them, guess it took this to bring 'em out....was today stiletto-day at the mall or what?

I think this place takes the cake for most hotties per square foot, taking the title from fellow Westfielder, Valley Fair. My neck is still sore from Thursday evening. It was nighttime and all, so I couldn't sport my stunnas to hide my wandering eyes. :haha:

EastBayHardCore

Oct 1, 2006, 5:31 AM

great summary fflint.

I actually got back from there again-this time I went by car with some out-of-towners....not fun AT ALL. Traffic at the Toll plaza was terrible, Parking is horrendous, navigating thru the streets with the throngs of people even at 8pm was just very stressful. Note to self, no more driving to Union Square on Saturday evening.....you'd think I would have known that by now.

You Sac folk must be gluttons for punishment ;) When I was waiting in line on Wednesday morning for the preview event I overheard the young group in front of me complaining about the traffic on the bridge at 7am, who woulda thunk it huh? :shrug:

Ronin

Oct 1, 2006, 5:45 AM

You Sac folk must be gluttons for punishment ;)

Well, duh... they live in Sacramento. :haha:

dimondpark

Oct 1, 2006, 3:21 PM

excuse yall,
I guarantee you a chunk of all that hotness parading up and down Union Square(both male and female) was from Sactown:D

But Im now in Oakland-its just that my dad's sister was in from Houston and the silly hefer didnt want to take BART cause her ankles arent used to walking that much-hence another source of aggrevation I had last evening:haha:

It being San Francisco, I saw at least as many "hottie fashionista" twinkie dudes carrying clutches of Bloomie bags in both hands
For some reason on friday I felt like dressing up...dunno why?

Yeah, I never thought of myself as a metrosexual before but I just had to have a crockery pumpkin aromatherapy thingy from Bath and Body Works (a guy's gotta have some kind of Halloween decorations) and that required me to buy a couple jars of salt body scrub which is not a product I normally use: scrub + candle = $82. Adding in a felafel sandwich (not near as good as Gyro King's--Grove across from the library) and soda downstairs for lunch and they nailed me for near a C-note.
Its funny how a hundred dollars feels more like a 20 nowadays.

rs913

Oct 1, 2006, 3:29 PM

But, where is the largest urban mall located? NYC or Chicago. Hello Google.

The official "largest urban mall" is apparently this Carousel mall in Syracuse mentioned upthread, but from looking at the Google satellite image (http://tinyurl.com/zo7l9), it doesn't look like an "urban mall" at all...more like a regular suburban parking-lot mall that happens to be really close to downtown, hence the classification.

The SFC's closest equivalents (in terms of store mix and overall feel) seem to be the four urban malls on Michigan Ave. in Chicago, but only Water Tower Place approaches it in size.

I too noticed the hottie fashionistas all over the place. I knew we had them, guess it took this to bring 'em out....

Well, there were all those signs all over the place ordering that they "unite" with "foodies", or something like that...

coyotetrickster

Oct 1, 2006, 3:43 PM

Ever been to mall of the americas or somthing like that in Minnesota?
Its got a roller coaster inside of it..

Yeah, but Mall of the Americas is not an urban mall. It's in a suburb of Minneapolis (Bloomington). So, no matter how many attractions are in said, it's a suburban mall. But, where is the largest urban mall located? NYC or Chicago. Hello Google.

BTinSF

Oct 2, 2006, 5:43 PM

Retail a-go-go:

Big retailers take quietly to Union Square
San Francisco Business Times - September 29, 2006
by Sarah Duxbury

All year, all eyes have been on Westfield as it furiously signed leases with 110 new tenants prior to its opening this week.

But while Westfield grabbed headlines and attention in recent months, several significant deals were quietly executed on and around Union Square.

Barneys is the biggest name, and the biggest lease, taking over the 60,000-square-foot building that once housed FAO Schwarz.

Brokers have already seen a Barneys effect. Julie Taylor of brokerage Cornish & Carey said interest has increased in 26 O'Farrell St., 3,000 square feet sandwiched between Macy's backside and Armani.

Other retailers are also changing the look of the area, hot on the heels of European retailers H&M and Zara, which have been very successful here.

Spanish fast-fashion retailer Mango signed on more than 7,000 square feet at 117 Post St., the former Rizolli Books site, for $725,000. They are paying $320 per square foot for a 2,265 square foot ground floor with additional retail areas on the second and basement levels.

Mango opened one of its first U.S. stores in Westfield San Francisco Centre this week. By launching its U.S. invasion from a west coast beachhead, Mango bucked the trend set by Euro-rivals Zara and H&M which first set up shop in New York. Mango has stores open in Costa Mesa, Bellevue, Wash., and now San Francisco. Its second store here, on Post Street, will probably open in 2007, and five others are scheduled to open soon around the country, primarily in the west. Mango has yet to secure a New York location.

"A lot of newer, fashion-forward brands" are coming to Union Square, said Vikki Johnson of brokerage Johnson Hoke. "It's great. We definitely needed a kick in the pants."

Quiksilver, Steven by Steve Madden and American Apparel are some of the arrivals soon to land on Union Square.

That doesn't mean that Union Square is turning from its well-heeled past. Cartier will move across the street into the former Brookstone location at 250 Post for $850,000, or $249 per square foot for the 3,411-square-foot ground floor, with additional retail floors. One of Cartier's other luxury brands is likely to take over the old lease.

Then there's 185 Post, now under construction and poised to become a signature, multitenant property.

Other big spaces could also come into play in the next couple of years. The family that owns 301 Geary St., a prime Union Square corner and former home of Casual Corner, is said to be preparing marketing materials for the space, which has a 5,000-square-foot ground floor, an 8,000?square-foot lower level and a mezzanine.

Nearby, 800 Market St., an 8-story, 49,000-square-foot building recently sold to Blatteis & Schnur, a Los Angeles brokerage, for $22.76 million. They plan to invest $18 million to renovate and reposition the lower level retail, which could come online in 18 months.

Sarah Duxbury covers retail for the San Francisco Business Times.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/10/02/story12.html?t=printable

BTinSF

Oct 2, 2006, 5:50 PM

Accidental duplicate post--sorry.

fflint

Oct 2, 2006, 9:19 PM

I really hope the new owners give 800 Market a facelift while they're adding the ground-floor retail component. The plain, weathered concrete facade has looked horrible for 15 years running.

Edit: I found an old photo of the building. I never realized the building was old and had only been remuddled to look like mid-century schlock!
http://www.mikehumbert.com/SF_Guide_060710/05_Market_St/43_Westbank_Building.jpg
http://www.mikehumbert.com/SF_Guide_060710/05_Market_St/44_Westbank_Building.jpg

FourOneFive

Oct 5, 2006, 3:41 AM

Other big spaces could also come into play in the next couple of years. The family that owns 301 Geary St., a prime Union Square corner and former home of Casual Corner, is said to be preparing marketing materials for the space, which has a 5,000-square-foot ground floor, an 8,000?square-foot lower level and a mezzanine.

Has Casual Corner actually closed? I sure hope so.

One glaring retail omission from the Union Square shopping district? Pottery Barn! :yes: And, I wouldn't mind a West Elm too!

fflint

Oct 5, 2006, 6:34 AM

Yes, what used to be Casual Corner is now an art gallery.

BTinSF

Oct 5, 2006, 7:38 AM

It's always fun to know what they think about us on the other coast. As usual, the New York spin seems fairly positive. The Wall Street Journal on Westfield SF Centre:

Property Report

A Mall Grows in San Francisco
With 170 Stores on Nine Floors, Can the Westfield Centre Thrive As Department Stores Decline?
By RYAN CHITTUM and VAUHINI VARA

October 4, 2006; Page B1

Judging from its first week, one of the nation's largest urban malls, the Westfield San Francisco Centre, is poised to shake up the city's retail landscape. Shoppers waited in a line that stretched around the block at Market and Fifth streets to preview the 338,000-square-foot Bloomingdale's, second in size only to the flagship Bloomingdale's store on Manhattan's East 59th Street.

The 1980s rap star Biz Markie spun records, a fashion show featured outfits by up-and-coming Bay Area designers and the cinema showed "The Maltese Falcon" and other classic San Francisco movies. Diners jammed seven full-service restaurants and a food court that features 15 "casual gourmet eateries" featuring dinner plates, silverware and table service.

"It's kind of like Vegas," a 36-year-old lawyer, Allison Wang, commented to her husband, Tim Wang, as they stood near the historic domed rotunda incorporated into the design of the nine-story mall.

But can the Westfield San Francisco Centre thrive over the long term, on the edge of the city's tourism and retailing hotbeds and in an era when fewer Americans shop in department stores? The question nagged at a mall restaurateur, even as he reveled in the crowds. "San Franciscans don't like malls," said Chris Yeo, the chef at Straits Restaurant, a Singaporean restaurant on the mall's fourth floor. "When the hype is over, who will come here?"

Urban malls have had a spotty history in the U.S. New York's Time Warner Center and Chicago's Water Tower Place -- both smaller than the Westfield San Francisco -- have done well, but others have sputtered, most notably the Manhattan Mall in New York's Herald Square and the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles, which hosts the Academy Awards in its Kodak Theatre.

More broadly, enclosed malls are battling, and sometimes morphing into, open-air "lifestyle centers," where shoppers can park near storefronts. Mall-based department stores continue to lose ground to discounters. Even as overall U.S. retail sales rose some 24% over the past six years to $2.2 trillion, department-store sales declined nearly 14% over the same period to $86.7 billion last year, according to the National Retail Federation, a Washington trade group. The trend is likely to continue. Department-store spending in the U.S. is forecast to drop by 5.5% by 2010, according to the research firm Euromonitor International.

An element critical to an urban malls' success, experts say, is drawing shoppers up to higher floors, says Paco Underhill, author of "Call of the Mall" and chief executive of Enivrosell Inc., a New York retail consulting agency. At Chicago's eight-floor Water Tower Place, the top floor is connected to a Ritz-Carlton hotel.

Spiral escalators in the Westfield San Francisco Centre show off all angles of the mall. "It's almost like a Ferris wheel ride," says Mr. Underhill. "There's excitement and joy, whereas if you're going up a dark escalator at Manhattan Mall, where you don't know where you're going to end up, that's a lot tougher." Manhattan Mall, which opened in 1989, converted several of its upper floors to office space in 2002.

Cultural attitudes also may make a difference. "San Franciscans embrace the urban, European lifestyle with street retail," says Bill Huelsman, senior vice president for West Coast retail at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., a Chicago-based commercial real-estate services firm. "L.A. is very much an automobile culture." Westfield San Francisco Centre has subway lines located at the basement level.

An urban mall, if successful, reverberates in the surrounding area. Manhattan's Time Warner Center transformed the downtrodden Columbus Circle area by bringing in a high-traffic, mixed-used project, including the 300,000-square-foot shopping mall at its base. "It has rejuvenated the entire Broadway corridor," says Robert Cohen, executive vice president at Robert K. Futterman & Associates, a New York retail real-estate services firm.

Australia-based Westfield Group and Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, which jointly developed and own the $460 million Westfield San Francisco Centre, combined 755,000 square feet of new mall space anchored by Bloomingdale's with 500,000 square feet of existing mall space, anchored by Nordstrom. The development also includes 245,000 square feet of office space above the mall, with tenants including San Francisco State University.

To mark the site's history, the mall incorporates a 250-ton dome and a Beaux Arts facade that were part of the Emporium, a San Francisco department store for 100 years until it closed a decade ago.

The Westfield San Francisco Centre developers are banking on the pull of a critical mass of anchor stores, both within the mall and nearby. Nordstrom Inc. responded to the arrival of Bloomingdale's next door by renovating its 350,000-square-foot store. A Neiman Marcus and a Saks Fifth Avenue are just a few blocks away. Barneys New York, a unit of Jones Apparel Group, is planning to open a 60,000-square-foot store near Union Square next year.

Bloomingdale's, with its array of posh brands including Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, is "trying to separate ourselves from what we define as department stores," says Michael Gould, chief executive of Bloomingdale's, a unit of Federated Department Stores Inc. "We see ourselves playing the specialty-store market. Each floor feels like a store unto itself."

Peter Lowy, Westfield Group's chief executive, says the mall's other retailers -- 170 in all -- also will draw shoppers. "There was big retail demand that was unmet in the marketplace, because you couldn't get space in Union Square and in the old San Francisco Centre," Mr. Lowy says. Half of the stores in the mall are new to San Francisco, he adds.

The new Westfield Centre will draw shoppers from all over the Bay Area, predicts Kazuko Morgan, a senior director for retail at Cushman & Wakefield. "This is really something you'd see in Asia, where they spend a fortune on their malls," she says. Renée Safir, a 14-year-old private-school student wearing Abercrombie & Fitch jeans, worried that the new mall will ruin San Francisco's "hippie" vibe.

Just two blocks from Union Square, the neighborhood immediately surrounding the new mall still has rough spots. A former shopping hub, it declined in the 1950s as San Franciscans began moving to the suburbs or traveling there to shop. The Market Street area "just became shabby," says Susan Goldstein, city archivist for San Francisco. Legitimate movie houses turned into porn theaters, the homeless population grew and many residents avoided going south of Market Street. The Emporium changed hands several times and finally closed in 1996.

The neighborhood has been slowly gentrifying, though. Retailers including Gap Inc. and Urban Outfitters Inc.'s Anthropologie have cropped up amid the dollar stores and discount retailers. The San Francisco Historical Society plans to open a museum in the old mint building nearby. Well-off residents are drawn to pricey high-rises overlooking the San Francisco Bay. "That part of Market Street is undergoing a rebirth," Ms. Goldstein says.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AH182_WESTFI_20061003193055.jpg

--Vanessa O'Connell contributed to this article.

Write to Ryan Chittum at ryan.chittum@wsj.com1 and Vauhini Vara at vauhini.vara@wsj.com2

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115992610205082027.html

sf_eddo

Oct 5, 2006, 7:49 AM

Renée Safir, a 14-year-old private-school student wearing Abercrombie & Fitch jeans, worried that the new mall will ruin San Francisco's "hippie" vibe.

By far the best quote in the article.

BTinSF

Oct 5, 2006, 8:00 AM

By far the best quote in the article.

Yes, I detected their tongue in cheek on that one too.;)

Ronin

Oct 5, 2006, 9:53 AM

Now, the question is... is Renée a boy or a girl? :haha:

rap star Biz Markie spun records

What? He actually performed? Darn it. I knew I should have gotten there sooner.

fflint

Oct 5, 2006, 11:01 AM

Here's the site of what we today call San Francisco Centre, a few years back:

http://www.mikehumbert.com/SF_Guide_060710/05_Market_St/51_Albert_S_Samuels.jpg

http://www.mikehumbert.com/SF_Guide_060710/05_Market_St/53_Emporium.jpg

http://www.mikehumbert.com/SF_Guide_060710/05_Market_St/54a_Lincoln_Building.jpg

fflint

Oct 5, 2006, 11:13 AM

found this classic san francisco shot on flickr. it was taken in the late 1950s. imagine if mid-market looked like this again. ironically, weinstein's department store is where that developer is envisioning putting that new large retail development (target?).

http://static.flickr.com/48/151998298_97372dd469_o.jpg

I found one looking in the other direction. The Woolworth's in the photo was at Powell and Market, where today the Gap is located:

http://www.mikehumbert.com/SF_Guide_060710/05_Market_St/66_Lights_on_Market.jpg

BTinSF

Oct 5, 2006, 4:25 PM

The Woolworth's in the photo was at Powell and Market, where today the Gap is located:

http://www.mikehumbert.com/SF_Guide_060710/05_Market_St/66_Lights_on_Market.jpg

That's good to know for orientation, but now that you mention it I remember shopping there (at Woolworth's) numerous times. It wasn't that long ago really--the Gap came in when they rehabbed the building maybe 10 years ago (or so?).

Ronin

Oct 6, 2006, 4:18 AM

Man, I miss that little pizza cafe at Woolworth's!

J_Taylor

Oct 6, 2006, 1:32 PM

I like the old shots;)
I think they look a lot cooler than what it market street looks like today.
BUT thats just a from what I can see.

bobcat

Oct 7, 2006, 2:51 AM

delete. wrong thread.

dimondpark

Oct 7, 2006, 3:27 AM

speaking of convenience stores....those mini-sized 7-11s in DT SF are very cute. LOL

sf_eddo

Oct 7, 2006, 5:54 PM

Ah yes, the 7-11s on Market Street - I know them well.... ;)

fflint

Oct 7, 2006, 9:31 PM

I hit up the new "San Francisco Centre 9" theater last night. Average screen size; excellent sound; good elevations on the stadium seating; leather upholstery. Nice!

Ronin

Oct 7, 2006, 9:54 PM

Are they showing the first run movies yet? Or still those classic oldies?

Also, I wonder how they are going to split the titles with the Metreon. Will they both be showing the same ones, or possibly evenly dispersing them amongst each other?

fflint

Oct 7, 2006, 10:02 PM

First run. The classics were only the first day.

I don't know how things will eventually work out, but it looks like the Metreon is going to lose out. The excellent new Scorsese flick "The Departed" is playing at SF Centre but not at the Metreon. I don't know if that is a temporary strategy to familiarize people with the new theater, or if that will become common--but the only flick I wanted to see last night *wasn't* playing at the Metreon.

Ronin

Oct 7, 2006, 11:07 PM

That's a shame. The Metreon is truly one of the best theatres out there. Their sound system is insane.

By the way, the Departed is a great movie, isn't it? It gives you a great glimpse of the Boston cityscape as well. If you liked it, I highly suggest the original HK version, Infernal Affairs.

fflint

Oct 8, 2006, 1:01 AM

I loved "The Departed." An instant classic, some of the best acting I've seen in years, and an unusually accurate portrayal of Boston "tooling." It just isn't a conversation between two or more Bostonians if there isn't some brutally funny wordplay flying at the speed of sound.

dimondpark

Oct 8, 2006, 1:23 AM

speaking of 800 Market...what a prominent location! I'd love to see something not-so-expensive yet very hip there.

munkyman

Oct 8, 2006, 5:54 AM

Flew in from New York yesterday, to spend some time with family. So of course, what do I do, I head over to the Emporium building to check out the new mall. I don't know if it was a result of it being Fleet Week or not, but it was absolutely PACKED. I was shocked to be honest. And not just the Westfield, but everything up to Union Square and a little beyond was a Hong Kong sidewalk.

The Bloomingdales really is quite big, and as you walk through people sort of have this goofy look on their face, like they can't believe this place exists in SF. I over heard one woman saying to her friend as she walked by, "I can't believe this place is this big!" The best way to describe her demeanor was "giddy," and she wasn't some teenager either. The Food Court was even busier, there was no place to sit, but since I had to run, I grabbed a tea smoothie from this place called "Teaz Me." To be honest it wasn't that great, but then again I tried Watermelon Kiwi. I asked one of the women behind the counter if it was this busy usually, and she replied that it had been like this since the opening. Maybe it's the novelty of the place. Hopefully though it continues.

On the same level as the Food Emporium, in the basement, is the BART/Muni entrance. The entrance is simple and functional, but it is very indiscreet, kind of tucked away next to the Pete's Coffee & Tea. There should be a big blaring sign! The good news: People were walking in and out of that exit, which at least means that people know it's there. But until I saw that entrance, it never dawned on me just how accessible this place is by public transit. Really, it doesn't get any better than this.

The dome - took my breath away. I don't know why - it is after all just a freaking dome. But I felt a great deal of pride when looking at it, and I think it was my turn to have the goofy look on my face. I guess it feels like you're looking at a piece of history. Regardless, I loved it.

Anyway, that was my impression of the place. I had to go out to the East Bay shortly after that, which was a bummer. If I hadn't had to leave I would probably still be in the city right now. It was a very fun day to be in the city.

SSLL

Oct 24, 2006, 2:43 AM

From: http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/10/22/22mall.html
________________
If you build it, will they take the bus?
San Francisco builds an epic mall, with no parking.
By Bob Keefe
WEST COAST BUREAU
Sunday, October 22, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO — The Westfield San Francisco Centre has everything you might expect at the biggest shopping mall west of the Mississippi: an enormous Bloomingdale's, a nine-screen movie theater and 170 specialty shops on nine levels.

When developers completed a $460 million renovation last month that tripled the mall's size to 1.5 million square feet, though, there was something they did not add: parking.

Building a mega-mall without new parking might seem unfathomable just about anyplace else in America. But here, developers and city officials cordially agreed on that point to encourage public transportation and reduce downtown traffic.

Not allowing any new parking was just the latest result of a downtown growth management policy developed in 1985, said Joshua Switzky of the San Francisco Planning Department.

City leaders "came to the realization that we can't grow and have economic vitality downtown (by) accommodating additional automobiles," Switzky said.

In addition to the mall, about 16 million square feet of office space has been built in downtown San Francisco since 1985.

The number of new parking spots added since then? Almost none, according to Switzky.

Other big cities, most notably New York, Boston and Chicago, also limit downtown parking. But San Francisco's policy of refusing to allow almost any new parking flies in the face of city planning elsewhere, where new construction almost always comes with a mandate to build new parking too.

It might be something other cities should consider — especially in places such as Austin that are in the midst of major downtown redevelopments, said Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Most cities don't even consider limiting parking, said Shoup, author of "The High Cost of Free Parking." Typically, city leaders say "shopping has to come with parking or you can't have (new) shopping at all," he said. "And you wonder why places like Atlanta are at the top of the heap of cities with (traffic) problems."

Though few U.S. cities have gone as far as San Francisco, what's happening here is indicative of a trend nationally, said William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, a trade group.

In Dallas, Washington and elsewhere, developers have built or are planning housing and retail shopping centers that rely on public transit as much as public parking.

In Atlanta, parking lots at several public-rail stations are set to be replaced by stores and high-rise homes as urban living takes off again.

Car-clogged Austin is counting on public transport to reduce downtown traffic congestion and the need for more parking lots. Rail service is scheduled to begin in Austin in 2008 and is tied closely to the revitalization of the downtown core.

San Francisco's Westfield mall doesn't even have a parking lot. The nearest parking is across the street at a city-owned lot that also serves the Moscone convention center and other attractions. It can hold about 2,600 cars.

Officials expect about 68,500 people a day on average, or about 25 million a year, will visit the mall. That works out to one parking spot for every 26 mall shoppers.

Even so, officials say the parking garage will be full only on big shopping days during the holiday season.

To be sure, San Francisco and the location of its newly expanded mall are unique. The 49-square-mile city is one of the most densely populated in the country and one of the best for pedestrians. Its narrow streets and steep hills were built for cable cars, trains and horses, not SUVs and sedans, and many have never been updated.

The mall also is in the middle of one of the biggest hubs for public transportation outside New York City.

More than 30 different public transit sources are within a few blocks of the mall, including the Powell Street terminus of the city's famed cable car line, several stops for the Bay Area Rapid Transit subway system, and stops for municipal trains and buses.

"People here are used to using transit, and the system is pretty good," said Jim Chappell, president of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, a nonprofit group that advocates mass transit and less public parking. Even with relatively few parking lots in the city, most go unfilled on typical days, he said.

In a statement, mall co-developer Westfield America said that at least a few weeks after opening, the reliance on public transportation seems to be working.

Of course, not everybody is happy taking the bus or train to go shopping. Just ask anyone who lives outside central San Francisco who isn't served by BART or some other public transit and has no choice except to drive to the mall.

"The parking is daunting," said Daniel Smith, manager of the Brookstone store in the mall. "I don't think there's any question we'd see some (business) increase if there were a better parking situation."

kenratboy

Oct 24, 2006, 3:09 AM

Great article - but if the city wants to limit parking...and not expand public transportation (they are starting with Transbay) - how the fvck are people supposed to get there?

EastBayHardCore

Oct 24, 2006, 3:57 AM

30 transit sources? Anyone wanna take a stab at it?

rs913

Oct 24, 2006, 5:32 AM

Don't at least some of these people who "aren't served by public transit" have the option to drive to a BART, CalTrain, or ferry station, park, and head into SF by transit?

Granted, the transit situation isn't always convenient and is ill-suited for those with mobility constraints or families with small children. But, I suspect there's a lot of able-bodied people on top of that who are unable to think outside of the box and see options other that driving and parking right at the front door...and who insist that this dense city accomodate their inability to think outside said box.

On another note...are there any reports yet about how the mall is affecting Union Square businesses, especially the "redundant" stores?

kenratboy

Oct 24, 2006, 5:41 AM

BTinSF

Oct 24, 2006, 7:44 AM

Well, to play devils advocate - if I lived in Walnut Creek and wanted to do a lot of shopping at Westfield SF, it may be a huge PITA to hoof everything home on BART, or not be able to dump stuff in my car and keep shopping.

Having commuted daily to the East Bay, my answer would be that however bad "hoofing" home on BART might be, it's not as bad as the Bay Bridge (but that's just me).

sf_eddo

Oct 24, 2006, 9:02 AM

The mall sits on TOP of two different rail systems and every line in the world from AC Transit to SamTrans heads to the vicinity of the mall. I have no pity for those who complain about parking - stay in Walnut Creek or Serramonte.

People in the Bay Area just don't get that an urban mall, should, in fact, be urban.

craeg

Oct 24, 2006, 5:33 PM

Seriously. It's very amusing that people continue to be horrified that a new mall was opened without new parking. Very western.
Can you imagine the NYtimes running a story about how the manhattan mall was opened with no new parking?

BTinSF

Oct 30, 2006, 4:19 PM

Well, OK, this is Berkeley retail but it's only a few minutes away by BART.

I certainly hope Berkeley doesn't do anything crazy like build housing or provide a shopping experience 90% of the population find highly desirable:

BERKELEY
Neighbors say no to popular market
Trader Joe's project hits snag over traffic, low-priced alcohol
- Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, October 30, 2006

Most communities would be breaking out the Two-Buck Chuck and organic flaxseed chips at news that Trader Joe's is coming to town.

Not Berkeley.

In a city famous for its love of specialty gourmet food, irate neighbors are fighting a new Trader Joe's slated for University Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, now home to a Kragen outlet.

Residents are concerned about traffic, parking, the building blending in with the neighborhood, and the large volume of low-cost alcohol for sale just a few blocks from the UC campus, Berkeley High School and a number of homeless service agencies.

Not to mention the four stories of apartments that would be on top of Trader Joe's, making it one of the biggest housing developments in Berkeley.

Meanwhile, droves of Berkeleyans would love a Trader Joe's, if not necessarily so much housing at that spot.

The issue is headed for a showdown Nov. 9 at the zoning board, which is scheduled to vote on approving the $50 million project.

The Berkeley battle stands in contrast to last week's announcement that a new Trader Joe's is being warmly welcomed about 5 miles away in Oakland. Slated to replace a shuttered Albertsons on Lakeshore Avenue in the Grand Lake neighborhood, the Oakland Trader Joe's was sought in a campaign by local residents and Councilwoman Pat Kernighan.

If it's approved in Berkeley, Trader Joe's -- with its island decor and mix of basic food with organic and exotic imported foods -- would open in 2010. If it's not approved, the developers said, Trader Joe's likely will back out and the project will be resubmitted with more housing and less retail.

"Either way there will be a project there -- what we don't know is exactly what that will be," said Berkeley City Councilwoman Dona Spring, whose district includes the Trader Joe's site.

Developers Chris Hudson and Evan McDonald, proteges of Berkeley development mogul Patrick Kennedy, bought the 1-acre site in 2002 and have been haggling with the city and community ever since. The project began with 186 units of housing filling five full stories, 4,000 square feet of retail, 71 parking spots and almost no setbacks from adjacent houses. The proposal now has 146 units, four times as much retail as before, twice as many parking spots, landscaping around the perimeter and a stepped-back roof that goes from three stories to five.

"These are significant concessions we've made," said Hudson. "But the neighbors keep changing the bar. We're just looking at each other and scratching our heads because we've done everything they asked."

The neighbors most upset about the project live on Berkeley Way, a residential street parallel to University Avenue where the Trader Joe's parking lot entrance will be. A constant stream of cars and delivery trucks will dramatically change the character of their quiet street, they say.

"Trader Joe's is a nonunion store owned by a secretive German family that sells specialty food and low-cost alcohol," said Steve Wollmer, who lives 250 feet from the site. "Do we really need this in our neighborhood?"

Part of Trader Joe's popularity stems from its assortment of low-priced wine and spirits. It spawned the "Two-Buck Chuck" nickname when it sold Charles Shaw wine for $2 a bottle, though many of its other wine offerings fall into a higher price range. Wollmer fears that the availability of inexpensive wine will prove too tempting for the thousands of underage students and homeless people who live nearby.

A Trader Joe's spokeswoman would not release the company's alcohol sales figures, but a homeless advocate said the store's abundance of cheap wine is not an issue.

"I am convinced that the cost and distance of alcohol has nothing to do with people drinking. If a homeless person, or anyone, wants to drink, they'll know where to get it," said Boona Cheema, executive director of Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency in Berkeley. "I think it's great that Trader Joe's is coming to downtown."

Many in Berkeley agree with her, enticed by the prospect of affordable, high-quality groceries within walking distance of downtown, BART and the UC campus.

"For years, downtown residents and merchants have been wanting a supermarket downtown," said Michael Caplan, who worked on downtown development for the city and starts today as Berkeley's economic development director. "There are hundreds of new units downtown, and as it becomes more of a neighborhood, people want basic neighborhood amenities."

The nearest Trader Joe's are currently in Emeryville and El Cerrito. The Oakland outlet will open in early 2007.

Berkeley is hardly underserved by grocery stores, though no large markets can be found downtown, where Trader Joe's would go. Within its 10 square miles lie four Andronico's, Whole Foods, Safeway, Grocery Outlet, Berkeley Bowl and dozens of small specialty shops. A second Berkeley Bowl, which at 91,000 square feet will be Berkeley's biggest grocery store, is slated to open in West Berkeley by 2010.

Some in Berkeley say they welcome Trader Joe's, but it's the 146 units of housing they don't want. The units, most of which are one-bedroom apartments configured around a central courtyard, are too small to accommodate families, said Spring.

The developers say they feel they've made as many concessions as they can and still turn a profit.

"We think we have a great project here, and we're willing to invest in the long-term future of Berkeley," Hudson said. "But at some point, Berkeley's got to decide whether it wants to be Berkeley 1950 or Berkeley 2050."

E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.

Page B - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/30/BAGMTM2HDE1.DTL

I think Trader Joe's in SF may be the only place in town I've never seen a homeless person. The library is full of them. Maybe we should tear it down.

San Frangelino

Oct 30, 2006, 4:34 PM

Wollmer fears that the availability of inexpensive wine will prove too tempting for the thousands of underage students and homeless people who live nearby.

Some in Berkeley say they welcome Trader Joe's, but it's the 146 units of housing they don't want. The units, most of which are one-bedroom apartments configured around a central courtyard, are too small to accommodate families, said Spring.

There is very much a Helen Lovejoy "ring" to the opposition in this article.

dimondpark

Oct 31, 2006, 7:02 AM

speaking of Trader Joe's, as the article states, Oakland's new one is slated to open next year at the now defunct Albertson's on Lakeshore Av, and not a moment too soon. Although I must admit, having no tenant has really done wonders for the area's horrible parking situation. LOL

rs913

Oct 31, 2006, 8:00 AM

Well, OK, this is Berkeley retail but it's only a few minutes away by BART.

I certainly hope Berkeley doesn't do anything crazy like build housing or provide a shopping experience 90% of the population find highly desirable:

I'm starting to wonder why Berkeley residents are so extreme in their opposition to projects like this. There's no concessions on their part, no negotiation, and the most absurd excuses offered as justification. Do they see themselves as the guardians of Berkeley's "reputation"? Or are they afraid new business might attract yuppies and make the place vulnerable to a massive gentrification wave?

munkyman

Oct 31, 2006, 5:06 PM

I'm starting to wonder why Berkeley residents are so extreme in their opposition to projects like this. There's no concessions on their part, no negotiation, and the most absurd excuses offered as justification. Do they see themselves as the guardians of Berkeley's "reputation"? Or are they afraid new business might attract yuppies and make the place vulnerable to a massive gentrification wave?

It's called property values. If you allow no more housing in your town, the value of every house there increases drastically, b/c demand far outstrips supply. It's similar to the situation in San Francisco. You have people (NIMBY's) who want nothing more than to keep everyone else out of their neighborhoods and cities. They masquerade as "environmentalists," and everyone knows how positively Californian's treat environmentalists and their cause. But in reality they just don't want you or anyone else in their neighborhood. We are truly a provincial metro.

The Bay Area really is the most welcoming and progressive area of the country - but only for those who are already lucky enough to live here. To the rest of you, sorry, move to Tracy (which people do).

munkyman

Oct 31, 2006, 5:28 PM

It's called property values. If you allow no more housing in your town, the value of every house there increases drastically, b/c demand far outstrips supply. It's similar to the situation in San Francisco. You have people (NIMBY's) who want nothing more than to keep everyone else out of their neighborhoods and cities. They masquerade as "environmentalists," and everyone knows how positively Californian's treat environmentalists and their cause. But in reality they just don't want you or anyone else in their neighborhood. We are truly a provincial metro.

The Bay Area really is the most welcoming and progressive area of the country - but only for those who are already lucky enough to live here. To the rest of you, sorry, move to Tracy (which people do).

I thought this was a great little opinion article that sort of summed up the Bay Area's opposition to housing. The link is http://neveryetmelted.com/?cat=48

Geez, look at me bashing on my own state, I'm turning into Richard Mlynarik. Yikes.

26 Aug 2006
California’s Rich Against Everybody Else
California, Left Think, Regulation, Real Estate

The spectacular scenery, a typically booming economy, and a climate which permits you to grow lemons and avocados in your backyard makes Californians seem rather spoiled to the rest of us. Californians typically express their appreciation for all their good fortune by the cultivation as a local art form of cloaking an unlimited sense of entitlement in the rhetoric of idealism.

How do you keep the other fellow (who actually owns the land) from doing anything with it that might deprive you of the pleasure of looking at it undeveloped? You just come up with an appropriate worthy cause: protecting some purportedly endangered amphibian, rodent or weed; avoiding sprawl; maintaining open space; and voila! You get to keep out the riff raff, and be spiritually enlightened too.

Today’s Wall Street Journal describes the plight of the Mexican immigrant worker in Monterey County renting out a room in the 1000 sq. ft. house that cost him half a million dollars, and still spending 70% of his income on his mortgage payment.

Meanwhile, Reuters describes the accelerating middle class exodus from idyllic coastal California to the baking hot interior Central Valley (renowned for its 110 degree temperatures) in search of affordable housing.

OAKLAND, California - Father Mark Wiesner has grown accustomed to wishing parishioners bon voyage as they flee the San Francisco area’s high housing costs for California’s Central Valley, where developers are increasingly transforming farms and ranches into a new suburbia.

“So many young couples I marry have to go to Modesto or Tracy to start their married lives,” said Wiesner, a Catholic priest in Oakland on the San Francisco Bay. “They simply can’t afford to stay here in the Bay area and to buy a single-family dwelling.”

Tracy and Modesto are 50 and 80 miles east of Oakland respectively. Both have seen blistering growth in recent years amid a middle-class exodus from California’s famed coastal urban centers in search of affordable housing.

Analysts say the middle-class flight will press on even if coastal home prices sag amid a national housing slowdown. Home prices near the state’s coastline would need to collapse to make buying a home there possible for many households.

Barring a collapse, ever more Californians will call the state’s Central Valley home because homes there are relatively affordable. July’s median home price in San Francisco was $771,000, compared with $438,000 in San Joaquin County roughly 60 miles to the east, according to real estate information service DataQuick Information Systems.

Southern California is seeing a similar exodus to Riverside and San Bernardino counties, known as the region’s Inland Empire, from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.

“Having been in the house market in Los Angeles, I can tell you a house with little bit of privacy and space to call your own is pretty hard to come by,” said economist Christopher Thornberg of the consulting firm Beacon Economics. “For many people getting out to that Inland Empire is the only way to really have a backyard for the kids.”

J Church

Oct 31, 2006, 5:33 PM

Before folks abandon the topic of the Westfield and parking, it bears mention that there's parking at most BART and Caltrain stations--BART stations average 1,000 spots apiece. The extent of the "hoofing" would be a few hundred feet, probably less than if you parked by the mall.

BTinSF

Oct 31, 2006, 5:52 PM

:previous: If I drive to the store or mall, I have to "hoof" stuff about 1/4 mile from the basement parking garage of my building to my apartment anyway. Many San Franciscans with no indoor parking have to "hoof" farther than that from the parking space they can find on the street (if they can find one). It may be an issue for suburbanites, but not, I think, for most city dwellers.

BTinSF

Nov 6, 2006, 8:07 AM

When I was going to school in North Carolina, there were two banks in town going head to head: Wachovia and North Carolina National (NCNB). NCNB became Nationsbank became Bank of America. So apparently the old rivalry will now be back here on the left coast:

Big bank branching out here
Wachovia hopes to amass market share after Golden West buy
San Francisco Business Times - November 3, 2006
by Mark Calvey
Najib Joe Hakim

Bay Area residents may have a front row seat to an epic battle among the nation's largest banks as Wachovia tries to capture part of the California market long dominated by Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Wachovia, the No. 4 bank nationally by assets, is already making it clear that it has high aspirations in California.

"We are the underdog. We have fewer branches, we have fewer employees and we have fewer customers in California," said Pete Jones, executive vice president and western banking group executive for Wachovia. "But the advantage of being the underdog is that every time you turn around, there's somewhere you can take a little bite of business so you're no longer the underdog."

But is there room for another major bank in California?

"Very much so," Jones quickly replies. "When you think of all the potential here. When you walk down the street and see all the activity, you can see there's plenty of room for all of us here."

Indeed, some observers believe Wachovia's California ambitions will inspire other major players, like Chase (No. 3 by assets nationally) and HSBC to expand rapidly in the state.

Wachovia's push into California banking began in September 2005 when it purchased the parent of 19-branch Western Financial Bank, based in the affluent Orange County community of Irvine.

The company further pursued its western ambitions when it closed last month on the purchase of Oakland-based Golden West Financial Corp., parent of World Savings.

Wachovia's blue-and-green signs will begin dotting the Bay Area landscape when it converts Bay Area World Savings branches in next year's fourth quarter. The Charlotte, N.C., bank will reflag its Western Financial branches in Southern California next February.

World Savings branches back East, where World Savings overlaps Wachovia's banking territory, will become Wachovia offices in early 2008. The deliberate pace of the conversion reflects lessons hard learned by Wachovia predecessor First Union, which had a merger integration process with Corestates of Philadelphia that even the bank's then-CEO likened to World War II.

First Union merged with Wachovia in 2001, taking the Winston-Salem bank's name but keeping First Union's Charlotte headquarters and CEO.

Wachovia is likely to target the people now banking with Wells and BofA, although no bank's customers are off limits.

"We've competed very successfully against them on the East Coast and in Texas," Jones said of California's two largest banks.

Wachovia's imminent arrival in California hasn't gone unnoticed by California's largest banks. Wells Fargo's annual gathering of Bay Area store managers last month was peppered with references to Wachovia, rallying the troops against the latest incursion.

Also preparing for an intensifying competitive battle in one of its most important markets is Bank of America, whose headquarters is just a few blocks from Wachovia's in downtown Charlotte. BofA has launched several initiatives, like free online banking and, more recently, online trading for customers with $25,000 in deposits with the bank. BofA's chief financial officer told Wall Street last month that the bank is mulling a dramatic move in mortgages to boost market share. It would not be surprising to see BofA up the ante again with other measures to solidify its position as California's largest bank.

Calling the same plays
All three banks appear to be reading from the same play book.

Wachovia's Jones discussing the importance of customer service echoes similar remarks by Wells Fargo CEO Dick Kovacevich and BofA CEO Ken Lewis.

"We're successful when people think we're a big bank that acts like a small bank," Jones said. "We have the product capabilities and the sophistication to take care of just about every need a retail customer to the largest company would have."

Wachovia, like Wells (No. 5 nationally), BofA (No. 2 nationally) and other rivals, are eager to meet all of a customer's banking needs, with a heavy focus on cross-selling existing customers.

Jones said the bank's focus on customer service rests upon keeping the sales pitches in check.

"You don't want to sell somebody something. You want to listen to their needs, their goals, literally their dreams and match products that will help people attain them," Jones said.

Analysts are impressed with Wachovia's service culture.

"Wachovia smothers you with service," said Dick Bove, a banking analyst with Punk Ziegel & Co. and a Wachovia customer in Florida. "When you go to Wachovia to handle a transaction, you might get a call the next day from Gallup wanting to know about your experience at the bank. I don't think other banks are doing that."

Hearing Jones talk about his views on how customers should be greeted when visiting the bank suggests Bove isn't exaggerating.

"We want people to think they've come home at the end of the work day and their family's there to greet them," Jones said. "That may sound a little corny, but it's important to us."

Bove recently issued a report saying that Wall Street is underestimating the power of Bank of America's coast-to-coast franchise. But Bove says Wells Fargo might be more vulnerable on the customer service front.

"Wells is in a questionable position," he said, citing the bank's customer satisfaction scores by independent third parties.

But the San Francisco bank might point to its success in cross-selling additional products to its retail customers as one sign of customer satisfaction. In the third quarter, the bank hit a record 5.1 products sold per retail customer, on the way to its internal goal of eight that insiders like to call the "great eight."

While the jury is still out on who will win and retain California customers, there's no doubt that all bankers will be fighting for turf.

Even the Bay Area's community bankers are gearing up for battle.

"We have a marketing program in place that we'll kick off when Wachovia arrives," said Brian Garrett, president and CEO of the Community Bank of the Bay in Oakland. "We have SWAT teams in place to help us compete against Wachovia and others."

Bankers anticipate that one of the first orders of business for Wachovia will be to dramatically cut the high rates paid on World Savings certificates of deposit, a move unlikely to be warmly received by World's depositor base.

Some bankers anticipate the Wachovia-World integration will rival the Wells Fargo-First Interstate Bank integration in 1996 that displeased so many customers that the combined bank eventually merged with Norwest Corp. of Minneapolis to become today's Wells Fargo.

Putting down roots
Wachovia is also expected to take steps to significantly boost its local profile when the conversion begins in Northern California late next year.

As it's done in other markets Wachovia has entered, early advertising is likely to help people learn how to pronounce the bank's name (hard "k," accent on the second syllable).

The company plans to be a significant player in philanthropic endeavors to support education, the arts and the United Way among others.

One program Jones is especially proud of supporting in Dallas is Destination Graduation, which helps Hispanic youth in selected high schools stay in school. The program grew out of concern that in some schools, only 45 percent to 50 percent of Hispanic ninth-graders were still in school by graduation day.

"We want people to think we're not only a good bank but a good corporate citizen," said Jones, who will move to Lafayette from Dallas after his son graduates from high school in May. He will work in Wachovia's western headquarters, which is Golden West's former headquarters in downtown Oakland.

Wachovia, like BofA and Wells, operates with regional executives, or market presidents, that are the face of the bank in various markets. Wachovia is expected to name a regional executive for the Bay Area in late 2007 or early 2008.

Given Wachovia's acquisitive nature, some expect the bank will make fill-in acquisitions to boost its California banking franchise.

Greater Bay of East Palo Alto, with a collection of community banks that ring the Bay Area, is a likely candidate to find a suitor in Wachovia. Greater Bay, which operates San Francisco's Golden Gate Bank, Mt. Diablo National Bank in the East Bay and Mid-Peninsula Bank in Palo Alto among others, is the subject of persistent takeover speculation.

Wachovia CEO Ken Thompson has told Wall Street that the bank won't pursue a major merger for the next couple years as it digests Golden West. But a Greater Bay acquisition isn't likely to concern Wall Street, given the bank's relatively small size.

Bove joins a chorus of analysts who believe Golden West wasn't the right ticket into the Golden State.

"The timing is wrong to buy a thrift at the top of the housing market," Bove said. "A thrift has the wrong customer base."

Tom Brown with Second Curve Capital in New York also was dubious of the Wachovia-World deal.

"Wachovia's acquisition of Golden West will prove to be a value destroyer," Brown wrote in his initial reports on the merger. "In integrating Golden West, Wachovia will inevitably destroy the very business model that made Golden West so great to begin with.

"Wachovia aims to build multi-product relationships with customers, the same way that Bank of America and Wells Fargo do," Brown said. "It is exactly this model that Golden West has so successfully competed against in the past.

"I'm still a big fan of Ken Thompson, but I believe he has made a costly mistake," Brown said.

For his part, Wachovia's Jones isn't letting the naysayers impede his mission. He's been traveling throughout California in recent weeks meeting with the bank's new employees as well as community and business leaders.

So far, Jones says he's been pleased with the reception he's received.

"People in California are willing to give you a chance," he said.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/11/06/focus1.html?t=printable

FourOneFive

Nov 6, 2006, 6:29 PM

i'm curious to see how Wachovia will hold onto World Savings' current customers. Most of World Savings' customers had their mortgages and CDs with World Savings, but had their regular checking and savings accounts with BofA or Wells. I personally think its going to be a disastrous merger for Wachovia in the long run.

rs913

Nov 6, 2006, 7:02 PM

Here's some unfortunate news for those who follow downtown Walnut Creek. I wonder why this store couldn't survive? Maybe, despite what the article says, Bristol Farms could swoop in?

Walnut Creek Andronico's set to close Dec. 22
By Pia Sarkar
San Francisco Chronicle - October 21, 2006

Andronico's said Friday that it will shutter its supermarket in Walnut Creek, confirming suspicions that the location would be the next to go after the recent closure of its Danville store.

Unlike the Danville store, however, which was bought by Lunardi's Market last month, the Walnut Creek store does not yet have a new owner and 91 employees will lose their jobs.

Phil Tucker, special projects coordinator for Local 1179 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, said the union first found out about the closure Friday afternoon, even though there had been rumblings of the possibility for several weeks.

Although Andronico's provided workers with 60 days' notice as required by the union contract, Tucker said he was expecting more of a heads-up. "I'm surprised we didn't have more notice of their intent to close," he said.

Employees will continue to receive wages and benefits until Dec. 22, the anticipated store closure date.

In a meeting Friday with Bill Andronico, grandson of the supermarket chain's founder as well as its president and chief executive officer, the union was told that the company would try to reassign approximately 25 of the 91 workers to the eight remaining Andronico's stores in the Bay Area while the rest would receive assistance with job placement.

The local grocery chain is also negotiating to find a tenant for the Walnut Creek store, although Tucker said it would not be another supermarket.

Andronico said it is necessary to close the Walnut Creek store as well as the one in Danville to make the company more financially sound, as advised by his bank, with which he has discussed this for more than two years.

He assured that there would be no more store closures after the one in Walnut Creek and noted the financial health of the remaining stores as evidence of the company's commitment.

"The core stores are very strong and all contributing to company profitability," Andronico said. "That should go a long way."

Nonetheless, the elimination of the Walnut Creek store strikes another blow to grocery workers, who already lost jobs this summer when Albertson's shuttered 37 stores in Northern California. Tucker said that even though many of the 1,500 or so displaced workers were reassigned after those closures, a number of them have since been laid off from their jobs or have cut back their hours from full-time to part-time work.

sf_eddo

Nov 21, 2006, 12:47 AM

COMPLETE rumor that I haven't been able to verify yet - Westfield's gonna sell the Metreon.

fflint

Nov 21, 2006, 1:43 AM

That would be an odd move, seeing as they just recently bought it.

rs913

Dec 3, 2006, 11:36 PM

So has anyone been to Union Square since Thanksgiving? It's interesting to note that (based on my extremely unscientific observations yesterday) holiday-season weekend foot traffic in the area seems just as heavy as it was last year before the Westfield opened, suggesting that the mall hasn't hurt businesses on the surrounding streets as some feared.

I'd be curious if there's any official data on that, though...

kenratboy

Dec 4, 2006, 6:05 AM

rs913 - it seems a lot of the shops in the area cater to either the small-shop experience or very hi-end goods. Ya ain't gonna handle a million dollars worth of watches at the lame Tourneau in Westfield like you will in Shreve or Shapur.

Also, I think a lot of people from other areas go to downtown SF to shop AWAY from malls, and Westfield is just adding a niche, not taking away from ones already there.

BTinSF

Dec 18, 2006, 5:56 AM

Konichiwa!

Japanese retailer attempts Bay Area translation
San Francisco Business Times - December 15, 2006
by Sarah Duxbury
Najib Joe Hakim
Masayoshi Naito of Daiso USA Holdings.
View Larger

Konichiwa, Daiso: The Japanese mega retailer is opening its first California store in 12,000 square feet at Serramonte Center.

A hybrid of a dollar store and IKEA, Daiso sells private-label housewares -- most for just $1.50. A huge hit in Japan, where it operates 2,500 stores in a country the size of California, the $3.5 billion retailer is beginning an American expansion.

The first Bay Area store opens in Daly City on Saturday, and Daiso has a 70,000 square foot warehouse in Hayward. It will soon open stores at Eastridge Mall in San Jose and at NewPark Mall in Newark, with plans to operate up to 20 Bay Area stores. They will range from 6,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet.

Daiso made a splash when it opened its first U.S. store near Seattle in October 2005. It will have four stores open there by year's end, and a fifth will open early in 2007.

Most of Daiso's U.S. stores will be company-owned, at least at first. Once it establishes its name here, the company will consider franchising.

Growth abroad
There are 400 Daiso stores outside Japan, mostly in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Saturation at home has forced the retailer to look abroad to grow.

Daiso packages some 100,000 products, and none will sell for more than $15, a spokesman for the retailer said. The Serramonte store, being fairly large, will sell close to 30,000 items.

Despite cheap prices, Daiso doesn't want to be confused with tchotchky dollar stores and their poor-quality merchandise. Daiso has made a concerted effort to elevate its quality by contracting directly with factories -- something its size allows it to do, much like Wal-Mart, with whom it expects to compete.

"Price and quality are very important for the Japanese market, and customers (there) accept our merchandise," Masayoshi Naito, president of Daiso USA Holdings, said through an interpreter. "We feel that (Japan) is the most challenging place to be successful, and we'd like to bring that kind of merchandise to American customers ... who we think would enjoy shopping our products."

Success in the U.S. market is not assured. Daiso is well-known to Japanese and to many Asian Americans, but the broader mass audience that it hopes to reach has never heard of it. Further, Daiso's packaging is almost exclusively in Japanese. The company is translating it into English, but that will take time.

Focus on Asian areas
A recognition of these hurdles has shaped Daiso's U.S. expansion strategy. Early on, it will focus on communities with large Asian populations, like the Bay Area and Seattle, to whom its brand is already familiar. And starting on the West Coast gives Daiso proximity to its Japanese distribution base.

Those considerations led it to Serramonte, where well over half of all shoppers at the mall are Asian, according to Cherie Napier, marketing manager for Serramonte Center. The mall also pulls shoppers from San Francisco, since its Target, along with another Target across Interstate 280 in Colma, are the closest Target stores to the city.

Daiso also suits Serramonte's current needs and longer-term merchandising plans.

The store will fill a standalone location that formerly housed a Good Guys. It has been vacant for nearly a year as mall owners Capital & Counties considered options for the site. Eventually, Capital & Counties plans to build a lifestyle center outside the mall proper. For now, it looks forward to the traffic it expects Daiso to bring.

"Our shopper is a price-conscious shopper. We had no home goods retailer at all, and that's really a niche we needed to fill," Napier said. "We think it's going to be a home run."

sduxbury@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4963

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/12/18/story15.html?t=printable