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 second store latedr this year inBeverly Hills, just off prestigiouss Rodeo Drive. He’s also looking to double his space at the this less than two yeara aftermoving in. Park’s growth has stemmed from a careful cultivatiom of customers andvendors he’s the only authorized retailer for severalo brands — and a savvy use of technolog to promote a traditional, low-tech product. Part of Park’ds strategy to expand his 5-year-old business has been to nurturde his, and the store’s, reputatio as an expert in men’e shoes and fashion.
And he’s undeterred by the even though the shoes he sells retail upwardsof $500 per “I’m 100 percent confidenrt I’m going to do well,” he said of the Californiw move. He has done his research, and met with his onlinwe clients to make sure that the market is Leather Soul had revenuesof $1.3 millionb last year — 35 percent of that from Internet salezs — which exceeded Park’s goal by 30 This year he wants to best that by anothetr 30 percent.
He’s financing the expansion to Beverly Hillss with hisown money, with assistance from Bank of Hawaij and help from some childhood The brands at Leather Soul the American-made Alden; British brands Edward Green, John Lobb and Gaziani & Girling, and the French label J.M. Weston are not available anywhere elsein Hawaii. “The products 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 Angelex area came about after the sales representativefrom Massachusetts-bases Alden approached Park about an opportunity to take over the shoe departmenrt of a well-known men’s store in Beverlyy Hills. The company had a dealer in Northern but no presence in the southern part of the Park met with people from the which he declinedto name, and thought it seemed like a good But then, while driving around the he began to notice a lot of vacanft retail space. “If you think Hawaiu is bad, it’s twice as bad in he said. “I just thought thers must be some opportunithy for agood deal.
” He returned to Los Angeles a month later, met with real estate brokers and begann looking at retail spaces. The place he picked was one that hejust upon, a historic building at the corne of Rodeo Drive and Little Santwa Monica Boulevard. The ground-floor spaced is also next to a shoe-repaidr shop. Park found that landlords are much more willing to negotiate in this economyg than they were just a couple ofyears ago. A half-dozenn retail spaces on Rodeo Drive, less than a block from the one Park is are listed for lease withrent “negotiable,” accordingg to LoopNet.
Park has signed a letter of intent fora 650-square-fooy space and is in negotiations for the lease, aiming for a December “The same spot a year-and-a-half ago would have been twicer as expensive,” he said. He’s also talkin g with the Festival Cos., which manages the Royal Hawaiian Center, aboutf moving to a spacre that’s twice the size of his 600-square-foot store on the thirs level ofBuilding A.