California Apparel News

A consortium of trade-show managers led by the operators of the Dallas apparel and menswear market is close to naming a downtown Los Angeles venue for a new gift and accessories market that would house up to 1.4 million square feet of space for gift, home furnishings and fashion accessory dealers.

The new center would go head-to-head with the L.A. Mart, the venue for the Los Angeles Gift Festival. The Dallas Market Center, which runs the International Apparel Mart in Dallas, is teaming with real estate affiliate Trammell Crow Holdings, New York-based George Little Management (GLM) and United Kingdom-based DMG World Media to build a facility aimed at providing a permanent home to exhibitors of the California Gift Show, currently held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

DMG owns the California Gift Show and has recently acquired a 25 percent stake in management company GLM with an option to buy the company out over the coming years.

GLM’s vice president of new business, Dorothy Belshaw, said there has been demand for more centrally located, modernized facilities as well as a permanent home for gift-show exhibitors. A new gift mart would additionally accommodate more home furnishings vendors as well as more fashion accessory companies, given the Dallas Market Center’s involvement, said Belshaw.

“We think the two venues can exist on a complementary basis,” Belshaw said. Trammell Crow is currently negotiating with landholders for a site that should be announced in August during the New York International Gift Fair.

Meanwhile, the L.A. Mart, which houses gift, jewelry and home furnishings vendors, is set to undergo a 75,000-square-foot redesign aimed at accommodating a broader base of smaller exhibitors with “market-time-only” showrooms.

The L.A. Mart, at 1933 S. Broadway, is redesigning its second floor to include 94 showrooms averaging 600 square feet each that would be marketed to smaller vendors who want the presence of a year-round showroom without the costs of a larger space.

The smaller showrooms should help companies save expenses with reduced move-in and move-out costs during show weeks and give companies a bigger marketing presence, said spokesperson Joanna Mannino of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. (MMPI), which manages the L.A. Mart, Chicago Apparel Center, Architects & Designers in New York and numerous other trade buildings. The market-time-only concept has been successful for MMPI properties in Chicago and High Point, N.C. All of the L.A. Mart showrooms will feature retail-type storefronts, premium wall coverings, display-quality lighting and carpeting, said Mannino.

Construction is scheduled to start this fall, with occupancy set for the January 2002 gift market.—Robert McAllister