Barneys Warehouse Sale draws shoppers downtown

The Barneys Warehouse Sale is back with its semiannual orgy of high-fashion discountery. But this time is different. The West Coast version of the bargain bin has moved east a bit from Santa Monica to downtown's L.A. Convention Center.

Reporter Carla Hall made the trek and found that Westsiders weren't thrilled with the new venue.

"The convenience factor here? Not so much," said Brenna Egan, a laid-off fashion editor. "When it was at Santa Monica Airport, you drove in, there it was, you drove out. It was like a valet sample sale. Here," she said, gesturing toward the expanse of the convention center, "it's like a maze."

But Egan, who lives in Carthay Circle, brightened as she showed off her finds, including an Yves St. Laurent top marked down from $1,400 to $424.

"I'm willing to go the extra mile -- the extra 10 miles -- for 75% off."

There was grumbling about the $12 parking fee at the convention center and the healthy walk from wheels to deals. At the Santa Monica Airport, parking was free and closer.

On the upside: actual bathrooms, not port-a-potties as in Santa Monica. The sale runs until Aug. 23. Hours vary. The Los Angeles Convention Center, South Hall, 1201 S. Figueroa St.

Photo: Shoppers search for bargains at the Barneys Warehouse Sale at the L.A Convention Center. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Westfield Santa Anita celebrates opening of Promenade expansion

Westfield Santa Anita's Promenade expansion opens this afternoon with a grand opening celebration at the Arcadia shopping center that will continue through the weekend.

The Promenade offers shoppers an "open-air experience in a garden oasis setting." Opening weekend festivities include live musical performances by the California Philharmonic, a $5,000 cash giveaway, fashion shows, food sampling and a special Mother's Day gift.

The $120-million, 115,000-square-foot expansion features 30 new stores and restaurants including Banana Republic, Coach and Talbots.

-- Andrea Chang

Photo: Westfield Santa Anita's new Promenade expansion the day before its grand opening. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

CB2 store opens in West Hollywood

Crate and Barrel's jaunty offshoot, CB2, previously was available to Southern California shoppers only online or by catalog (shipping costs!) or by flying to stores in Northern California, Chicago or New York (furniture is soooo difficult to cram into those overhead bins).

Now, nearly a decade after the chainlet debuted, CB2 has opened its first local store, and sixth overall, at 8000 W. Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, the site of the shuttered Virgin Megastore.

Like Crate and Barrel, CB2 carries housewares, accessories and furniture but with a younger, more urban  vibe. The CB2 website says it "dials up the fun" and describes its stuff as "affordable modern" -- that is, cheaper with brighter colors and a funkier edge than at its more staid mother ship. It's definitely a step up from Target, and maybe even Ikea.

Apartmenttherapy.com, which says the store this weekend will be donating a percentage of sales to Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, has pictures here.

-- Nancy Rivera Brooks

Echo Park books: Stories old and new

Just down the street from the papaya-walled Laundromat on Sunset Boulevard, in the heart of Echo Park, is a new bookstore-cafe named Stories.

Opened in November, it is the brainchild of Liz Garo and Claudia Colodro. Both are veteran booksellers: Colodro got her book savvy working for Dutton’s book store in North Hollywood for six years; Garo spent time in sales at Book Soup on the Sunset Strip.

Stories, a hip, loft-like store with concrete floors and high ceilings, is as peaceful as a college library during finals. Small tables are stationed at the front adjacent to the two-story shop windows facing the street. Tucked into the back corner, a small cafe dispenses coffee, killer blondie brownies and soup-and-salad fare.

In between the reading room and the cafe, shelves are stacked with a happy marriage of new and used books. Perusing the cookbook section toward the rear, I found "Tassajara" by Karla Oliveira, a gourmet vegetarian cookbook from the Buddhist monastery standing alongside "The Vogue Cookbook of Menus and Recipes" from 1964. In the children's section, there is a nice selection of new copies of award-winning "Polar Express," as well as vintage books such as "Reggie the Goat" (1967) and Little Golden Books from the 1920s.

Although the owners try to keep a 50-50 ratio between new and used books, "the vintage ones fly off the shelves so fast, it’s often more like 70% new and 30% old," Colodro said. They also take books in trade, generally offering 25% cash and/or credit toward the store’s retail price.

Pop culture, paperback fiction and regional L.A. are among the shop’s specialties, although there’s also a good number of biographies, gardening, art and design books — "a little bit of everything," Colodro said. What it doesn't carry — or want — are technical, computer and text books.

With independent bookstores practically on the endangered species list, it’s refreshing to see a small,
neighborhood bookstore flourishing. Stories is at 1716 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park; (213) 413-3733; myspace.com/storiesla. Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.

—Barbara Thornburg 

A new addition to L.A. malls: ads on your cellphone

Going to malls is hard enough, what with all the stores tempting you with their 50%-off sales and their sweet-smelling Cinnabons. Sometimes, you just want to plug your nose and close your eyes and go get those black socks you needed at Macy's without hearing the siren call of any of the other stores in the mall.

Now, it will get even harder to avoid temptations at malls -- if you're a Bluetooth user, that is. Macerich is partnering with a company called Intera Group to send Bluetooth users promotions and deals on their cellphones in five L.A.-area malls. Here's how it works: If you have your Bluetooth on, you might get a message from, say, the Westside Pavilion, asking whether you want to opt in. If you say yes, the service will send you a message from advertisers, perhaps complete with a coupon or a gift card for a store in the mall.

The program will begin at the Westside Pavilion, the Oaks in Thousand Oaks, Los Cerritos Center, Lakewood Center and Stonewood Center in Downey.

It's a win-win situation, Intera says. The malls get money from Intera for allowing it to install Bluetooth transmitters. Advertisers get your attention. And you get more temptation at malls.

-- Alana Semuels

Photo: Westside Pavilion. Credit: pnoeric via Flickr

Clothing swaps: Save your money and the environment in one go

When the economy wobbles and it's time to tighten the vintage, studded leather belt, what's a glamazon to do to refresh the wardrobe?

Thousands of shoppers, it seems, are going the guilt-free, eco-friendly route by meeting online and in person to exchange clothes and accessories.

Organizers claim that these swap, or "swish," meets have several advantages: Participants can clear the unwanted clutter in their closets while saving a pretty penny by reusing someone else's outfits.

Some say that clothing trades help maintain sartorial creativity in an environment saturated by brands.

Others claim that the events are protests against textile waste, which some contend makes up 4.5% of residential waste, or 8.75 billion pounds per year. Whether sustainable or economical or ethical, the exchanges have seen a boom in interest recently.

Read on for swap events and online exchange forums...

Online sales decline 3% during holiday season

Nervous consumers weren't just skipping trips to the mall this holiday season -- many also were scaling back their online purchases.

Online spending reached $25.5 billion during the Nov. 1 through Dec. 23 period, down 3% compared with the year-earlier period, according to a ComScore report released Tuesday. The data tracker, which had been expecting flat sales, said it was the first time it had seen negative growth rates for the holiday season since it began tracking e-commerce in 2001.

"The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough season for retailers, both offline and online," ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said.

Online shoppers may have spent less, but more of them went window shopping at some websites during the month, through Christmas Eve. Such sites as Amazon.com and Walmart.com saw year-over-year increases in the volume of unique visitors to their websites, ComScore said. EBay.com recorded a 4% decline in the number of visitors compared with a year earlier, but it remained the most-visited retail site, with 85.4 million visitors.

The data tracker also found that the heaviest shopping day of the season was Tuesday, Dec. 9, with $887 million in sales.

-- Andrea Chang

Last-minute Christmas deals hitting the stores

Last-minute holiday shoppers are in luck this year: Heading into the final days before Christmas, some of the best deals of the season are just now hitting shelves.

Many stores are offering door-buster specials, buy-one-get-one-free bargains and perks such as free gift-wrapping. And dozens of online merchants, including Zappos.com and Gap.com, are extending their Christmas shipping deadlines to as late as Dec. 23.

"The last two or three Christmases, Black Friday and Cyber Monday ended up being the best days to shop," said Brad Wilson, founder of BradsDeals.com, a website that monitors discounts and coupons. "This year, that's not the case."

Most consumers haven't finished their holiday shopping yet, so expect to see big crowds at local shopping centers over the weekend. Kmart, Sears, American Eagle Outfitters and Victoria's Secret are among the big retail chains that are offering huge discounts.

At the Grove shopping center Friday, Lisa Taylor, 40, said she hadn't shopped since Black Friday.

"I still have a lot to do -- I haven't done much," she said. "Finances are a lot tighter this year, so I'm waiting until the last minute to do everything."

-- Andrea Chang

Photo: Hefty discounts have been in style this holiday season. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

If you're looking for unique, it has to be handmade

Crafters, artists and fans of handmade goods were out in full force at Unique Los Angeles during its debut at the California Market Center. About 6,000 people showed up to peruse goods made by some 200 vendors (most of them local) offering lithographs, jewelry, hair clips, letterpress stationery, T-shirts, clothing, leather goods, stuffed animals, children’s clothes and much more.

The setting — the unfinished top floor of the center — gave the show a loft-like, airy feel, perfect for the fun and funky items displayed in booths. Letterpress cards and stationery at the Tiselle booth caught our eye, the delicate graphics and lush colors standing out. Owner and designer Tianyi Wang, an Art Center graduate, said she draws some of the designs by hand before turning them into polymer letterpress plates. "My background is in oil painting," she said, "so I love mixing inks."

Next stop was the Purrr booth, where designer Junko showed us her one-of-a-kind clothes made from recycled vintage items: youthful mini-dresses fashioned from oversized men’s sweaters, embellished with little bows, and men’s shirts crafted into feminine blouses, complete with ruffles.

Santa's Little Helper: Gifts for the cat lover

 

Looking for the purr-fect gift for the feline in your life or a fellow cat fanatic? Here’s a few suggestions for Santa Claws:

Kittywalk closet sleeper: Tired of brushing off cat hair from your sweaters, dresses and shoes because  your favorite feline likes to snooze in the closet? This sleeper, which holds cats up to 15 pounds, hangs from the closet clothes rail so kitty has its own home in your closet. The faux fur pad inside the sleeper is removable and washable. $69.95.

Christmas tree scratcher: When your feline has cat scratch fever during the holidays, he or she might enjoy this unique scratcher shaped like a Christmas tree. The scratcher comes with a bag of certified organic catnip. $64.

Hello Kitty quartz watch necklace: The Hello Kitty line is a matter of taste even for the most ardent feline fanciers. But if you love Hello Kitty, you might like this necklace watch. $19.95.