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IRDC Preview: San Francisco Welcomes a Sea of Fresh Retail Brands

VMSD offers three retail hotspots that can’t be missed during your visit in September

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In the five years since VMSD’s International Retail Design Conference (IRDC) last visited San Francisco, the city’s retail story has been largely rewritten.

Near Union Square, the award-winning Westfield San Francisco Centre has been renovated and expanded, restoring its century-old Market Street façade and adding Bloomingdale’s to its diverse mix of brands. Retail spaces that emptied in 2009 and 2010 are filling again – with brands new to the city, new to the U.S., and just plain new. Target has begun construction on its first San Francisco store, an 85,000-square-foot CityTarget on the second floor of the Metreon complex. Emerging retailers such as Marmot have opened flagships on Union Square. And innovative start-ups dot the city’s multicultural neighborhoods, taking advantage of low rent and shifts in consumer values.

That’s heartening news to Bertrand Pellegrin, brand development consultant and former Gensler retail strategist, whose office sits a few floors above the Gap flagship three blocks from Union Square. “It got pretty bad here,” he says. “Americans on the West Coast were pretty demoralized by the recession and closed up their pocketbooks. It was depressing to see so many ‘for lease’ signs, even on Union Square.”
But Pellegrin sees the upside to the downturn. “It had a cleaning-house effect. Retailers that weren’t innovating fell away, and those that held on got more resourceful in terms of how they brought customers into the store,” he says. “Merchants at several luxury brands have told me they began calling customers to invite them into the store, or offered to send over staff to organize or assess their wardrobe and see what’s missing.”

But to Pellegrin, some of the most interesting innovators are at the grassroots level, in neighborhoods like the largely Hispanic Mission District. “These new retailers are offering affordable merchandise – recycled, vintage, locally designed – and people are responding to that, preferring to shop locally rather than in big-box stores.”

Here, VMSD previews The Mission, as it’s called, and two other retail enclaves that everyone should check out during IRDC, held September 7-9. (Also visit irdconline.com for information on the IRDC tours, including Westfield Centre, the Ferry Building Marketplace and Financial District Architecture.)

The Mission

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Cheap rent and a rich culture combine to make this once-gritty Hispanic neighborhood a haven for entrepreneurs. The result is an eclectic mix of fiercely independent retail concepts, interesting restaurants and many excellent taquerias.

Cab it from the conference hotel, the Parc 55 Wyndham, to 826 Valencia (826valencia.org), both the name and address of best-selling author Dave Egger’s original writing lab for students, fronted by the cleverly designed Pirate Store. Created to satisfy retail zoning requirements, the store succeeds in drawing curious kids inside to learn more about the nonprofit program.

Next door is Paxton Gate (824 Valencia, paxtongate.com), an emporium of oddities such as taxidermied creatures in costumes, preserved and mounted insects, bones, skulls and fossils. One block north is F.S.C. Barber (696 Valencia, fscbarber.com), an offshoot of New York men’s clothier Freemans Sporting Club, with a barbering concept in front and retail in the back.

Hang a left on 18th Street and try the award-winning Tartine Bakery & Café (600 Guerrero, tartinebakery.com) or Delfina (3621 18th St., delfinasf.com) for lunch or dinner, and check out Bi-Rite (3639 18th St., biritemarket.com), a 70-year-old independent gourmet grocery. Then continue west to find three more in the city’s growing collection of men’s clothing startups: Union Made (493 Sanchez at 18th, unionmadegoods.com), the super-minimalist MAAS & Stacks (2128 Market, maasandstacks.com) and The Common (383 Valencia, thecommonsf.com), with rough-hewn touches like pendant lighting made from old trash cans.

Union Square

Steps from Parc 55 is the retail nucleus of San Francisco, Union Square. The intersection of Post, Stockton, Geary and Powell Streets is home to flagship stores for Macy’s, Williams-Sonoma, Levi’s and more, and the charming Maiden Lane side street is lined with luxury brands.

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Recent additions to the Union Square mix include flagship stores for Barcelona-based fashion label Desigual (101 Powell St. at Ellis, desigual.com), outdoor gear retailer Marmot (165 Post St. at Grant, marmot.com) and two very different U.K.-based brands: AllSaints Spitalfields (140 Geary St., allsaints.com), known for its elaborate, industrial store designs (where do they find all those vintage sewing machines?), and Paul Smith (50 Geary St., paulsmith.co.uk), with its mélange of fashion, art and whimsy.

Three blocks south is the famed Westfield San Francisco Centre (865 Market St., westfield.com/sanfrancisco), home to Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and 200+ shops, restaurants and cafés. Check out Timberland’s new 2300-square-foot eco-conscious space, with its first entirely LED-lit sales floor; the nation’s first Edition store, a Banana Republic concept; and, among some 30 dining options, Top Chef Tom Colicchio’s ’wichcraft under Westfield’s gorgeous dome.

Ferry Building Marketplace

Every local we asked recommended spending an afternoon at this culinary destination (One Ferry Building at the foot of Market, ferrybuildingmarketplace.com), housed in the city’s historic Ferry Building on the waterfront. A mix of well-designed restaurants, cafés, creameries and specialty food retailers, the Marketplace is a magnet for both local and visiting foodies in search of fresh, local, artisanal and sustainable fare.

You’ll want to walk the entire Nave, or central hallway, to see all 35+ vendors – many with tiny footprints that offer valuable lessons in maximizing space. Among them are Gensler-designed McEvoy Ranch Olive Oil, Parisian-style pastry shop Miette, Oakland-based Blue Bottle Coffee espresso bar and Cowgirl Creamery artisan cheese shop.

For lunch or dinner, try Gott’s Roadside Tray Gourmet, Mijita Cocina Mexicana, Ferry Plaza Seafood or Hog Island Oyster Co., all designed by San Francisco’s BCV Architects, which handled the retail portion of the Ferry Building’s 2003 renovation.

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Betsy Smith is principal at Betsy Smith Worldwide (Cincinnati), providing copywriting and consulting to creative businesses in retail, hospitality, interior, graphic and interactive design.

 

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