Mark Cross Opens in ‘the Right Space’

A store shouldn’t enter the Beverly Hills retail fray without a vague idea of who its customer is.

Mark Cross has more than a vague idea.

“Our customer is very well educated, with a household income of $100,000 and over. Thirty percent have graduate degrees. Most play sports: golf or squash, that type of thing,” said Steve Hanson, Mark Cross marketing director, in from New York for the leather company’s latest store opening.

That customer also frequents Beverly Hills, he says, which made Mark Cross’ move to the coveted “Business Triangle” just a matter of finding “the right space. . . . Obviously, it had to be near Rodeo.”

Status position secured, the handcrafted-leather retailer had its grand opening party last weekend in a walnut-paneled, 1,000-square-foot storefront at 9525 Brighton Way. It’s the 15th store for the New York-based, 142-year-old firm.

And as definite as the company is about its customer profile, it’s emphatic about the caliber of its leathers. One craftsman requires 12 hours to make one attache case, Hanson said. He pointed to the symmetrical grain of an ostrich-skin wallet, the result, he said, of using skin only from the hind side.

Founded last century as a Boston saddle and harness shop, Mark Cross has changed emphasis continually through the years--but as of the 1980s, the company finds an advantage in selling tradition along with its leather accessories.

Some luggage pieces are based on past styles, such as the boxy, overnight train case, designed about 50 years ago, which comes with a rectangular jewelry box inside that can slip precisely into a hotel vault.

Mark Cross also makes old-fashioned steamer trunks on request. And the firm is reviving an embossed-leather treatment it used in the 1920s.

In celebrating the Beverly Hills opening, Mark Cross further waxed nostalgic by auctioning a reproduction of the overnight bag Grace Kelly toted in the Alfred Hitchcock film “Rear Window.” The purse was sold for $3,600, which will benefit the American Cinema Awards Foundation.

Though the company carries purses and other personal accessories, Hanson says the Beverly Hills store will specialize in a business clientele, with desk-top accessories and briefcases displayed out front. Wares range in price from a $28 business-card case to a $5,000 ostrich garment bag.

Just as the Cross people untiringly assess their customer niche, they also realize that avid label watchers probably won’t be part of it. The Mark Cross lion-head logo is small and often hidden from view.

“People aren’t quite our customers if they’re looking for labels,” Hanson allowed. “We’re so discreet.”