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Fillmore Street lures ultra-chic boutiques to San Francisco

October 31, 2014 by  
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  • The Fillmore Street shopping area of San Francisco which has seen an influx of national and international retail brands, is reflected in the windows of the new Rag Bone. Photo: Sarah Rice / Special To The Chronicle / ONLINE_YES


A new wave of hip national and international retail brands — many of which have never had stores in S.F. before — are choosing to set up shop in the Fillmore Street area, giving locals cool alternatives to Union Square’s ultra-luxe stores this season.

Rebecca Minkoff, Rag Bone and the Kooples are a few who have recently opened their doors on the shopping strip that feeds into Pacific Heights, joining Sandro, body-care and fragrance purveyors Aesop and Le Labo, Nars, Alice + Olivia, and mainstays like Heidi Says, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Benefit. The area is also peppered with numerous coffee shops, brunch spots and buzzy restaurants, including Out the Door, Pizzeria Delfina and, down the street, State Bird Provisions.

Some, like Shadin Saah, a graphic designer who lives in Nopa, prefer the boutique aesthetic of Fillmore Street to Union Square.

“It’s a more personal shopping experience with unique, well-made items,” she said. “Plus it’s more affordable, and there is great food in Fillmore, too. Union Square doesn’t have that.”

The area also doesn’t have the up-to-$600-per-square-foot rents of Union Square. Truth be told, some of these retailers may have preferred the city’s historic square but couldn’t afford it.

“San Francisco has one of the strongest economies, possibly the strongest, not just in the United States but the world right now,” said Garrick Brown, vice president of research for the western United States at Cassidy Turley, a commercial real estate firm. “There is a lot of desire to be here.”

So Fillmore is a good second choice — even though rents there have doubled from $40 to about $80 per square foot in the past three years, Brown said.

Brands with multiple brick-and-mortar locations also don’t want to be shut out by the neighborhood’s chain store laws, so they’re getting in now, before they reach the cutoff mark. Eleven or more locations puts them in violation of the “formula retail” regulation that exists in some S.F. neighborhoods, including the Fillmore, Mission and Hayes Valley. Rag Bone, for example, paid $25,000-a-month rent on an empty space for seven months while waiting for the San Francisco Planning Commission to decide whether they were formula retail.

Technically they were — but even though Rag Bone already had 12 stores, plus leases on four more spaces around the country, the commission gave the OK. The reasoning was that the tenants the clothing boutique replaced, Royal Ground and Wash n’ Royal, were also chains, so the percentage of formula retail in the area didn’t increase. The neighborhood welcomed the New York company, which sells men’s and women’s clothing, shoes and accessories.

(It’s a rule with exceptions, apparently — and the commission has discussed raising the limit to 20 stores. Jack Spade was driven from the Mission last year after a months-long battle with activists in that neighborhood, even though that outpost would have just made 11 stores for the brand.)

The formula retail law was a draw for Rebecca Minkoff, says the company’s CEO (and Rebecca’s brother), Uri Minkoff. “We loved the neighborhood of Pacific Heights and the mix of family-owned, eclectic shops and well-known retailers,” he said. Rebecca Minkoff, famed for her on-trend handbags and ready-to-wear women’s clothing, is scheduled to open Nov. 20.

It all makes for some great shopping and eating in the neighborhood, but not everyone has embraced the changes. Bay Area designer Erica Tanov closed her Fillmore Street shop in late 2013 after six years in business.

“The profile of the street has changed since I opened, from an independent-store-owner-type neighborhood to a more corporate mix of multinational-type brands, which is a very different kind of shopper,” Tanov said. “Unfortunately, when a handful of corporate brands open up shop, it then attracts other corporate brands and then snowballs. A new kind of customer then follows — one that is attracted to well-known labels rather than specialized, local brands.”

Her shops on Berkeley’s Fourth Street, Marin Country Mart and inside ABC Carpet Home in New York City remain open. Tanov is now looking for an emerging S.F. neighborhood that better suits her brand. “I’m keeping an open mind and taking my time,” she said. “It has to be the perfect, special space.”

The Fillmore’s latest tenants may not satisfy shoppers looking for locally made, one-of-a-kind goods, but home-grown independents are thriving elsewhere in the city. Hayes Valley is home to the Rand + Statler, Azalea and Welcome Stranger stores (the latter two just opened second locations), and Convert Man. In an interesting twist, Metier’s owners just opened a tiny shop at 546 Laguna selling jewelry and accessories, and featuring a mix of vintage and new pieces, after closing their longtime high-end designer clothing store in Union Square in 2012.

But shoppers seeking the breadth of big department stores, and tourists looking for global luxury brands, will still flock to Union Square.

“I think (Fillmore is) more a respite for residents who want the Union Square experience without going there and dealing with the crazy crowds,” Brown said. “It does capture some of our tourism retail dollars, but in the long term will it challenge Union Square? Not really.”

Lingerie brand La Perla is accustomed to opening its flagship boutiques at the heart of the most important fashion streets of the world, and San Francisco is no exception.

“We want to ensure we are in every notable luxury shopping district worldwide, which certainly includes San Francisco,” said the company’s North America CEO Suzy Biszantz. “We are pleased to occupy a prime space on Geary Street to cater to local consumers, as well as international luxury travelers.”

Kristen Philipkoski is a Bay Area freelance writer and the former editor of Racked.com San Francisco who blogs at Stylenik.com. E-mail: style@sfchronicle.com

Downtown draws

San Francisco’s Union Square has situated itself nicely for this year’s holiday shopping frenzy. Well-known fashion brands have opened at an impressive rate in the last year, including Valentino, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, CH Carolina Herrera, Christian Louboutin and Leica; Burberry just remodeled and reopened. For bargain shoppers, there’s Neiman’s Last Call in Mid-Market, along with a new Nordstrom Rack. Here are a few of the more recent and planned openings in downtown San Francisco:

October

Brunello Cucinelli: The Italian brand, known for its fine cashmere, silk, fur and wool menswear and womenswear collections, introduced its new design concept with this store. 116 Grant Ave.

Cafe Coton: After closing all its U.S. stores this summer, the posh men’s shirts brand has new owners and reopened its Grant location as the U.S. flagship. 210 Grant Ave.

Indochino: Once an online-only operation, Indochino now has a half dozen showrooms across the country (and plans to open more). This is your destination for affordable, custom men’s suits. 61 Post St.

Neiman Marcus Last Call Studio: Look for an emphasis on women’s clothing from Vince, Michael Kors, Valentino, DVF and Theory. 767 Market St.

Coming Soon

Shop657: The Academy of Art Fashion School is opening up its first permanent retail store in December. Look for fashion-forward and avant-garde pieces from future design stars. 657 Sutter St.

La Perla: This year marks the brand’s 60th anniversary, and a new store opening in December. 170 Geary St.

— Kristen Philipkoski

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