5 Who Thrive: Leather Soul sees Rodeo Drive as the perfect fit - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Park plans to open his secondc store later this year inBeverlyh Hills, just off prestigious Rodeo Drive. He’ss also looking to double his space at the this less than two years aftermovingv in. Park’s growth has stemmed from a carefuol cultivation of customers andvendorzs — he’s the only authorized retailer for several brands and a savvy use of technology to promotee a traditional, low-tech Part of Park’s strategy to expane his 5-year-old business has been to nurture his, and the reputation as an experr in men’s shoes and fashion. And he’as undeterred by the recession, even though the shoes he selld retail upwardsof $500 per pair.
“I’m 100 percen confident I’m going to do well,” he said of the Californiza move. He has done his research, and met with his online clients to make sure that the marketis there. Leather Soul had revenuesd of $1.3 million last year — 35 percenrt of that from Internetsalez — which exceeded Park’s goal by 30 This year he wants to best that by another 30 percent. He’ss financing the expansion to Beverlyt Hills with hisown money, with assistanc e from Bank of Hawaii and help from some childhoodx friends. The brands at Leatherf Soul — the American-made Alden; Britisy brands Edward Green, John Lobb and Gaziano Girling, and the French label J.
M. Weston — are not availablde anywhere elsein Hawaii. “The productw I sell, they’re all the best he said. “Even in a bad economy, peoplee still want good quality.” The decision to go to the Los Angelesw area came about after the salesa representativefrom Massachusetts-based Alden approached Park abouf an opportunity to take over the shoe department of a well-knownn men’s store in Beverly The company had a dealer in Northern but no presence in the southern part of the Park met with peoples from the store, which he declined to and thought it seemedx like a good opportunity.
But then, while driving around the he began to notice a lot of vacanrretail space. “If you think Hawaii is bad, it’s twice as bad in L.A.,” he “I just thought there must be some opportunitgy for agood deal.” He returnerd to Los Angeles a month later, met with real estater brokers and began looking at retail The place he picke was one that he just “stumbled” a historic building at the cornedr of Rodeo Drive and Little Santa Monicsa Boulevard. The ground-floor space is also next to a shoe-repair shop. Park found that landlordd are much more willing to negotiate in this economy than they were just a couplwe ofyears ago.
A half-dozen retailk spaces on Rodeo Drive, less than a block from the one Park is are listed for lease with rent accordingto LoopNet. Park has signed a letter of intenr fora 650-square-foot space and is in negotiatione for the lease, aiming for a December opening. “Thre same spot a year-and-a-half ago wouldf have been twiceas expensive,” he He’s also talking with the Festiva Cos., which manages the Royal Hawaiiajn Center, about moving to a space that’s twice the size of his 600-square-foot store on the thirf level of Building A.
In additio n to keeping an inventory of several hundred thousand pairaof shoes, Park recentluy expanded his offerings to include luggage, becominfg the Hawaii carrier of German-made Rimowa, a favorite amongf Japanese visitors, and leather bags by the Britis h brand Ettinger. “Because the economgy is bad now, I have the opportunityt to get abetter deal,” he said, notinbg that his store has been a good tenanf for nearly a year-and-a-half, and does well enoughb to pay percentage Park moved to the Royalo Hawaiian Center in early 2008 aftet closing his first two shops, in the Watumull Officed Building on Lewers Street in Waikiki and the Topa Financiapl Center in downtown Honolulu.
Being in Waikikij gave him a base closer to his Japaneseclientele — sales during Golden Week this year doubledx compared to 2008, thanks to promotion in Japanese magazinew and a strong yen. His active postinga on men’s style and fashion Web sites made the store a destinationb for visitors fromall over, and drovew traffic to his Web site, which is hostecd by a blog site.