Friday, October 27, 2006

More interesting is the possibility of Saks Fifth Avenue taking over the anchor tenant spot for the project going up at the old downtown Bellevue Safeway. That would mean three upscale department stores on three different blocks...

Thursday, October 26, 2006

There are 59 Starbucks within a 2 mile radius of the center of Seattle. There are 437 within 50 miles of Seattle. There are only 52 within 50 miles of St. Louis.

There are 17 Costco locations within 50 miles of my house. There are only two within 50 miles of St. Louis.

Sad. Oh, so very sad. For St. Louis!
Seattle vs Bellevue - Round One

Seattle and Bellevue seem to be competing for the fastest growing skyline. In fact, there is a severe crunch to get buildings up. The funny thing is, a construction boom like this hasn't taken place since the tech boom of the 1990s. And even funnier? The only thing constricting construction isn't the lack of investors or interested buyers or anything like that. It's a shortage of high-rise construction cranes! The company that builds them is based in Salem, Ore., and there are apparently only 60 or so allotted for the Puget Sound region. Unfortunately, there are more than 60 high-rises that want to be built, so companies have to reserve them at least a year in advance before they plan to start even breaking ground. It's simply ridiculous, but in a simply delectable way.

The astounding wealth of this area is becoming as big of a concern as it was during the tech boom, and it's strikingly evident in the area's retail landscape. While we have typically been known to be stuck in our North Face jackets and our silly Birkenstocks (with a flash of flannel for good measure), there are several developers who are trying to change that. Two of the biggest are Kemper Freeman Jr. and Schnitzer Northwest. Kemper's family is the original developer of Bellevue Square, and it remains one of the few good shopping malls in America not owned by a development trust (all of the others are also upscale, including South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA, and The Somerset Collection in Troy, MI). His Bellevue Collection is the most exciting thing to happen to the Pacific Northwest retail scene in, well, forever. However, he has had his fair share of setbacks. He has tried to land Saks Fifth Avenue as a tenant for the longest time, but negotiations in 1992 fell through. In 1999, at the height of the tech boom, he came extremely close, enough to talk about it to the press, but I guess the bubble burst and it fell through again. Now the rumor is that they're looking at one of the parking garages, seeing about tearing it down and building a fourth anchor department store at the mall. The other rumor is that J.C. Penney is leaving and Saks could take over, but I highly doubt that scenario. We'll see how that goes, but in the meantime, he has been consistently criticized for not matching the interior of the mall to the caliber of the stores, which he rebukes by saying he wants all the attention on the stores themselves. Further criticism has been raised after he started raising the rent, driving out local tenants and leaving only large national chains to survive. However, considering that the Nordstrom there is one of the top locations in the nation, and the Abercrombie & Fitch is within the chain's top three, it's hard to argue with the rising rent. Smaller local retailers have been forced to move elsewhere, but I guess that's how things go. Apparently, if people aren't buying it, it won't be staying at Bellevue Square! The center has consistently had averages much higher than the national numbers in terms of sales per visitor, length of stay per visitor, and sales per square foot. I honestly love Bellevue Square, and especially the Lincoln Square Cinemas. I'm just waiting to see how things develop...

In the meantime, Kemper has a lot of competition on his hands coming from Schnitzer Northwest, a developing firm intent on taking full advantage of all the Eastside's abundant wealth. In fact, pointing out this abundant wealth was how Schnitzer Northwest was able to land their anchor tenant, Neiman Marcus, for their new two tower development, the Bravern, right next to the Meydenbauer Convention Center. Their developer was originally planning an upscale shopping center and was trying to court Kate Spade to open a boutique there. That fell through, but Neiman Marcus (which owns Kate Spade) was intent on coming back to the Seattle region after their failed Galleries of Neiman Marcus concept failed miserably from the time it opened in Westlake in 1999 to the time it closed in 2002. Neiman Marcus does extensive research before they open new locations, and they were looking at places like Rainier Square and Seattle City Centre before Schnitzer pointed out that, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal, 9 of the 10 wealthiest zip codes in the Puget Sound region were located on the Eastside (the tenth, surprisingly, is in Snohomish). Convinced, Neiman Marcus agreed to anchor the mixed-used development, opening March 2009. Personally, I think Seattle's vast tourist base would have been a healthier option for the store, but what do I know? Now The Bravern is hoping to use Neiman Marcus' symbol of wealth to attract similarly upscale retailers. By the time I graduate from college, I'll be able to see how that turns out!

Across the lake, downtown Seattle has had a relatively upscale retail history. In the 1980s and 1990s, there had been boutiques for Hermes, Gucci, and Burberry, as well as high-end department store I. Magnin in the retail core. Those have all since closed, but others, namely Escada, St. John, Louis Vuitton, and Barneys New York, have all found enough business to survive. In fact, Barneys has found business so good that they are moving to Pacific Place next year, taking over Pottery Barn, which is about to close. This is a strategic move that puts them directly opposite the Nordstrom flagship, and right next door to Tiffany & Co. and Cartier. Their old spot in Seattle City Centre mall along 5th was somewhat less visible, only pedestrians walking towards the "luxury" intersection at 5th & University would have seen it. Interestingly, their new spot in Pacific Place isn't actually too much larger in term of square footage, but it does command a lot more foot traffic, which is what Barneys wants, considering Seattle's influx of Asian tourism. Supposedly, fast-fashion retailer H&M is looking into the old Barneys location. Now that could be exciting!

Saturday, October 14, 2006

My favorite collections for next spring were Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Hussein Chalayan, Valentino, Giles Deacon, Undercover by Jun Takahashi, Miu Miu, Bill Blass, Gianfranco Ferre, and Andrew Gn.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Movies I'm really aching to see:
1) Old Joy
2) Running With Scissors
3) Zodiac
4) Bobby
More to come...

Thursday, October 05, 2006

The newly edited version is now up here The Lovely, Lonely Polar Bear.

And here's the story:

The Lovely, Lonely Polar Bear

Once upon a time, Clif was just a regular, lovely polar bear. His coat of fleece was the brightest, most beautiful white. Sadly, as the years passed, more and more of his fellow arctic dwellers found themselves meeting tragic ends. Melting arctic caps led some to drown, while others met their fate at the hands of intrepid, idiotic explorers. One day, feeling lonely and confused, Clif decided to try his luck at the city life. Unfortunately, he found himself an alien in a confusing, deceiving world. There was no room for this tundra-roaming beast amongst all the celebrated penguins. Loneliness and insecurity consumed Clif. Where was his arctic utopia?


The most talented designers right now are Miuccia Prada, Hussein Chalayan, Nicolas Ghesquiere, Stefano Pilati, Alber Elbaz, Andrew Gn, Alexander McQueen, Ralph Rucci and arguably Marc Jacobs.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Sneak Peek @ The Lovely, Lonely Polar Bear



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View the entire series here

Sunday, October 01, 2006

In the simple scheme of things, everything is as it seems.

So, the world will arrange itself justly. Tonight, I watched The Science of Sleep. It was truly something to appreciate. Gael Garcia Bernal (pardon my lack of accents) is a marvel, from Y Tu Mama Tambien to The Motorcycle Diaries. Charlotte Gainsbourg, for those of you who don't know, has been famous for quite a long time. She was in 21 Grams, but most don't remember. She's the daughter of Jane Birkin (a famous, impossibly chic French chanteuse et actrice) and Serge Gainsbourg (a big French songwriter). She's been in movies since she was much younger, has been beloved across Europe, and only recently started catching American eyes in very recent years. She, like her half-sister Lou Doillon, has also been capturing la couer de la mode in recent years. She's quite amazing, really. It's all in the effortless way they put their pieces together, so much ease and refinement. But anyways, the leads in the film were spectacular to say the least.

Did you know that, back when London was the biggest city in the world, all the crossbeams on all the electrical posts were constructed so that they faced London, so that travellers would always know whether they were going towards or heading away from town?

Whenever I'm homesick and/or bored, I go home shopping for houses in the Seattle area. And I've realized that it'll be difficult to afford a house around there once I graduate. The housing market continues to boom, and will do so until midway through 2007. Then it's expected to slow down, but that's a relative term. But there are truly some fantastically gorgeous homes in the area! Ah, if only I had a few million to throw around...