The temporary stores may indicate a struggling economy, but they also benefit some retail businesses.
By Sherene Tagharobi / Special to The Malibu Times
A recent wave of pop-up retail stores has surged throughout the city, further underscoring the impact of the national recession on commercial real estate.
The pop-ups are temporarily replacing hard-to-fill spaces left by former tenants forced to close or relocate due to the economic slump, but some Realtors say tenants are also being driven out by the city’s strict commercial development standards.
A lack of city-approved commercial development within Malibu creates limited space, therefore allowing commercial property owners to command higher rents, local Realtor Tony Dorn said earlier this month in a telephone interview.
As a result, Dorn said, hard-to-fill vacancies exist in nearly every commercially zoned office building and shopping center in the city, including the Malibu Lumber Yard mall, Cross Creek Plaza and Point Dume Village.
But while pop-up stores may be a sign of a struggling economy, they generate income for property owners in the absence of permanent tenants, and they also benefit retail businesses.
The designers of I Can 2 and Stelle, two labels that have been sold wholesale to high-end boutiques and department stores in the past, decided to open up a pop-up store together in the Cross Creek Plaza where the Salon at Malibu Creek used to operate.
Retailers who used to buy their products became unable to afford them, I Can 2 designer Alexandria Skouras said earlier this month in a telephone interview. So they opened the pop-up store, offering their overstock merchandise at significant discounts.
“With the economy the way it is now, unfortunately both of us got lots of store orders, we shipped them out and they were returned,” Skouras said.
She and Stelle designer Barbara March had only intended to keep the store open for the month of July, but because it has been so successful, they decided to extend their lease through August.
“We’re still selling like crazy,” Skouras said. “And people are still buying. The beauty of the pop-up store is we’re in and we’re out. It’s been very fortuitous for all of us being able to rent in Malibu and not have a long-term lease,” Skouras continued, adding that all profits from sales of Stelle merchandise and a percentage of I Can 2’s sales will benefit March’s foundation, “March to the Top,” which provides educational and health care to the people of Africa.
Just across the street at the Malibu Lumber Yard, a new pop-up clothing store called Sanctuary is taking a different approach to the pop-up trend.
The Sanctuary pop-up, also a brand sold in stores such as Anthropology and Bloomingdales, is not a discount store, Brand Manager Erica Enoch said earlier this month. The merchandise is not as pricey as some higher-end brands that are having trouble selling their product in today’s slow market, she said.
Enoch said Sanctuary has been very successful so far, and that its success has inspired the company to take the store on the road after its Malibu stay ends Sept. 8.
She said their focus is “new fresh products at the right place and right time.” Right now, they’re offering a “laid back” line appropriate for summer wear in Malibu, she said, adding that the brand’s next move could be to open up a pop-up store in New York for its winter collection.
Despite the presence of pop-up stores, Malibu Lumber Yard mall developer Richard Weintraub earlier this month said the shopping center has, for the most part, been leased out and that pricey leases or lack of tenants are not to blame for vacancies there.
“It’s just a matter of how the leases played out, leaving a few months open,” he said.