Union Square gets an infusion of edgy luxury brands.
Downtown shopping district draws edgier designer brands.
Like many fashion enthusiasts, Sarah Somberg likes to mix emerging and established designer brands, including Alexander McQueen, the Row, Hermès, Mary Katrantzou, Tibi, Céline, Maison Margiela and Chanel. But when the New Yorker went bicoastal seven years ago, she wasn’t sure where to shop in her newly adopted part-time home of San Francisco.
Union Square’s recent retail evolution has cleared up Somberg’s confusion. During the last two or so years, Valentino, Alexander McQueen, Christian Louboutin, Kiton, Brunello Cucinelli, Vera Wang, CH Carolina Herrera and Maison Margiela have planted themselves in the area, and the stream of big-name and not-quite-as-big-name designer brands isn’t ending. Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Moncler, Marni and Harry Winston are coming soon.
The openings make “us feel a bit more on par with other major cities that have historically been considered more ‘fashionable,’ ” says Somberg, director of social media for the product design and manufacturing firm B+N Industries Inc. “Before these brands were here, many women were shopping in other cities like New York and Los Angeles, or Europe, or they were heading solely to Neiman’s, hitting up Susan’s or Wilkes Bashford and maybe occasionally landing at Carrots (now closed), Elizabeth Charles, MAC or Curve.”
The changes in Union Square have nudged San Francisco from fashionable to fashion forward. The latest arrivals have yet to become ubiquitous chains — Marni, Maison Margiela and Alexander McQueen each have six stores or fewer in the U.S. — and were previously available only at select department stores and elite boutiques in San Francisco. These brands skew understated compared to their logo-splattered luxury counterparts, and are headed by designers (Marni’s Consuelo Castiglioni, for example, who’s known for popularizing ugly shoes) sought out by fashion cognoscente.
The April unveiling of Maison Margiela signaled to Somberg the city’s fashion retail repertoire had come of age. “Margiela offers an especially unique shift in the luxe-scape in Union Square, compared to some of the mainstream luxury brands,” she says. “Frankly, I’m obsessed with its monochrome, logo-free aesthetic, where the focus is on white or ‘whites,’ as Margiela would call them, and I am very excited to see where (new creative director) John Galliano will take the brand.”
In some ways, Union Square is an improbable place for these boutiques to take root. Edgier brands often select edgier locations: In Los Angeles, Maison Margiela set up shop on a far-flung stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard, and Isabel Marant has just opened in San Francisco’s Jackson Square, a budding fashion destination that suits its low-key aesthetic.
Union Square retailers can struggle to build local clientele, a predicament harder for brands without the international recognition of a Gucci, Prada or Chanel that rely on repeat customers for sales. “I wonder how many locals are going into Union Square to buy something unless it’s for a special occasion,” says Alf Nucifora, chairman of the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco. “The truth is I don’t know where San Franciscans go, but a lot of the money that drives Union Square retail is driven by the tourist class.”
According to San Francisco Travel Association, last year 18 million people journeyed to San Francisco and nearly half of them visited Union Square, the 27-block area surrounding Union Square Park.
Doubling up
Yet Saint Laurent has made a strong commitment to Union Square. Two years after its retail debut in the area with a 1,400-square-foot men’s store, the brand decided to renovate and enlarge its store footprint to 2,400 square feet encompassing both menswear and womenswear. The recently finished retooled space on Geary Street reflects the Saint Laurent store format conceived in 2012 by creative direc-
tor Hedi Slimane: a clean, modern take on French Art Deco featuring a monochromatic color palette and contrasting materials, specifically leather, marble, glass and brass.
Nucifora thinks rising fashion brands locate in Union Square because they don’t have much of a choice. “In San Francisco, if you are going to do business, there is only one place that you can go to, and it is Union Square. There is a scarcity issue,” he says.
Fillmore Street, a favorite of contemporary brands such as Rebecca Minkoff, Rag & Bone and the Kooples, has gotten less affordable. Kazuko Morgan, a vice chairman at commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, calls the availability of space on Fillmore Street “basically zero.”
Within Union Square, emerging brands gravitate to Maiden Lane, a short pedestrian street that’s an alternative to Fillmore Street. Ali McEvoy, a retail broker with commercial real estate firm Colliers International, says, “The more esoteric brands are really focused on Maiden Lane. Maiden Lane has always had that quality and draw to it. Tory Burch moved in there when it was starting out. Marc Jacobs was more edgy when it came to Maiden Lane. As brands become more established, they look to Grant Avenue, Powell, Stockton and Post. Maiden Lane has always been cheaper than the rest of Union Square.” But there’s a catch: The street doesn’t attract the foot traffic of most major Union Square streets.
The right spot
The sleepiness of Maiden Lane didn’t scare Suitsupply. The Dutch men’s brand is scheduled to open a 4,547-square-foot store at 175 Maiden Lane this month, its first flagship on the West Coast. Maiden Lane fit Suitsupply’s criteria of not being a mall or the splashiest street in San Francisco. “It took us over two years to find the right spot,” says Nish de Gruiter, a vice president at Suitsupply. “It is very hard to capture the right intimate San Francisco feeling, while not being too mainstream. We don’t want to be mainstream.”
Larger retailers can absorb towering rents and may chalk up their store costs on Union Square to marketing expenses. Whether these pricey stores really pencil out is an ongoing debate. Eric Taillan, senior vice president of global retail for MAC, which opened a flagship at 45 Powell St. last year, indicates it’s possible for retailers to make money in the area. “The more national retailers that are coming to that street, the better the retail is going to become,” he says.
Brands esoteric or otherwise leasing locations in Union Square are banking on wealthy Asian tourists — Chinese travel to San Francisco is projected by San Francisco Travel to grow 20 percent in the next three years — and tech workers to bolster their businesses in the future. Leah Heil, general manager of nearby Westfield San Francisco Centre, says neighboring technology firms are important sources of shoppers patronizing the shopping center and adjacent Union Square environs. “We have the most tech-savvy shopper in the nation,” she says.
Taillan agrees that the tech crowds are transforming downtown’s shopper demographics. “With what is happening from a tech perspective, I think it is attracting younger people that are maybe a little bit more edgy. That is going to make that area different in the future,” he says.
Startup staffers may not be able to afford luxury prices, but their spending power is skyrocketing. Stephanie Nguyen, the 24-year-old creator of the style blog Sunkissed Steph, works as an editor at social shopping site Wanelo, which has offices near Union Square. She drops into Union Square shops about once a week such as Zara, Urban Outfitters and Banana Republic.
But Nguyen, who aspires to afford bigger-ticket items, definitely noticed Margiela’s appearance in the area. “I like the high-end brands, and it gives you the feeling of being in a very nice neighborhood. I do like that about Union Square, with these new trending, luxury stores coming like Margiela in Maiden Lane. It is really nice.”