5 Who Thrive: Leather Soul sees Rodeo Drive as the perfect fit - Business First of Louisville:

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Park plans to open his seconed store later this year inBeverly Hills, just off prestigiouxs Rodeo Drive. He’s also looking to double his spaced at thethis year, less than two yearz after moving in. Park’d growth has stemmed from a careful cultivatiohn of customers andvendors — he’s the only authorizeds retailer for several brands and a savvy use of technology to promote a low-tech product. Part of Park’sx strategy to expand his 5-year-old business has been to nurturr his, and the store’s, reputatio n as an expert in men’s shoes and And he’s undeterred by the even though the shoes he sellss retail upwardsof $500 per pair.
“I’k 100 percent confident I’m going to do he said of the California move. He has done his and met with his onlinee clients to make sure that the markettis there. Leather Soul had revenues of $1.3 millioj last year — 35 percent of that from Internesales — which exceeded Park’s goal by 30 percent. This year he wants to best that by anothe r30 percent. He’s financing the expansion to Beverly Hills with hisown money, with assistances from Bank of Hawaii and help from some childhoox friends. The brands at Leathefr Soul — the American-made Alden; British brands Edward John Lobb andGaziano Girling, and the French label J.M.
Westoj — are not available anywherer elsein Hawaii. “The products I sell, they’re all the best quality,” he said. “Even in a bad people still wantgood quality.” The decision to go to the Los Angelea area came about after the sales representative from Massachusetts-baserd Alden approached Park about an opportunity to take over the shoe departmentt of a well-known men’s store in Beverlhy Hills.
The company had a dealer in Northern but no presence in the southern part of the Park met with people from the which he declinedto name, and thoughf it seemed like a good But then, while driving aroun the neighborhood, he began to notice a lot of vacanr retail space. “If you think Hawaii is bad, it’sz twice as bad in L.A.,” he said. “I just thought there must be some opportunityy for agood deal.” He returnexd to Los Angeles a month later, met with real estates brokers and began looking at retail The place he picked was one that he just upon, a historic building at the corner of Rodei Drive and Little Santa Monica Boulevard.
The ground-floorr space is also next to a shoe-repair Park found that landlords are much more willing to negotiatr in this economy than they were just a couple ofyearxs ago. A half-dozen retail spacez on Rodeo Drive, less than a block from the one Park is are listed for lease withrent “negotiable,” according to LoopNet. Park has signede a letter of intent fora 650-square-fooy space and is in negotiations for the lease, aiminvg for a December opening. “The same spot a year-and-a-half ago wouls have been twiceas expensive,” he said. He’z also talking with the Festivaol Cos.
, which manages the Royal Hawaiian Center, about moving to a space that’zs twice the size of his 600-square-foogt store on the third leveo ofBuilding A.