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Barbara Fields Reopening Buying Office

In late May, retail forecaster Barbara Fields unexpectedly announced her retirement after 35 years in business with an email sent to clients, friends and colleagues.

The news came as a surprise, and Fields was flooded with phone calls and emails.

“All the clients were calling and saying, ‘No, Barbara, you can’t do this,’” Fields said. “They did not want me to leave.”

Fields shuttered her 12th-floor office in the California Market Center on June 1, and on June 14 she signed a lease for a new space for the Barbara Fields Buying Office on the CMC’s eighth floor. She will reopen her London office and resume her trend-scouting trips to New York and Europe. She plans to continue to host her biannual trend-forecasting seminars—known for Fields’ prediction of must-haves or “Million Dollar Items”—held during the Los Angeles Majors Market.

The trend forecaster has a few other changes in mind. Instead of creating a hard-copy trend book for her clients, she will distribute the information digitally.

The office phone number, (213) 627-6474, and website (www.barbarafieldsnyla.com) remain the same.

“I’ve never realized how appreciated I’ve been with my clients,” Fields said.

“As a conclusion I decided I’m going to move back with the clients I worked with before. They didn’t want me to leave. So here I am again. It was a short retirement.”