Furs to Weather ControversyWhat’s the owner of...
Furs to Weather Controversy
What’s the owner of a fur coat to do? Bothered by animal rights activists who make rude comments and stage the occasional paint splattering, do you hang it up for good? After all, the poor thing is already dead . . .
Well, never fear. A New York coat maker is promoting a solution that lets you have your coat and wear it too.
Norman J. Lawrence, owner of Lawrence of London, is in Los Angeles this week showing, by appointment only at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, his collection of special custom-made raincoats that use your old fur as a removable lining. A showing last week in San Diego, where the average daily high temperature year-round is a decidedly un-mink-like 70.5 degrees, was swamped, he said.
“People are a little alarmed,” Lawrence said. Customers that Lawrence meets during his periodic showings around the country “are getting abuse. There’s no question about that.
“Our business is phenomenal . . . because there are so many fur coats lying idle,” Lawrence said. Lawrence’s coats, which come in a variety of fabrics, cost $1,800 to $2,250.
The Man to Watch
It’s a long way from the ’88 Summer Olympics in Korea to next week’s Los Angeles Marathon, but look for Carl Lewis to show up at the race.
No, sprinter Lewis won’t run in the marathon. He has signed on as a spokesman for one of the Marathon’s new sponsors, TAG-Heuer, a Swiss maker of sports watches. In a press release, the company claims that long before Lewis was a paid spokesman, he wore the watches “with everything from his track shorts to his tuxedo.”
Of course, the watches may well be in a category only Lewis can afford. Top-of-the-line models sell for $2,000. In that light, the company’s ad slogan makes sense: “For professionals at the top of their game.”
More for Nordies to Deal With
Between legal battles with unions and disappointing profit and stock performances, Nordstrom is taking its lumps these days. But recently Jim Nordstrom, who shares management of the Seattle retailer with brother John and cousin Bruce, was dishing out some dirt as well.
He took Los Angeles-based Gordon Co. to task for its management of San Francisco Centre, the glitzy vertical mall where Nordstrom opened a $67-million store in late 1988 in a seedy section of Market Street. The Nordstroms don’t often intrude in mall management and certainly seldom publicly air their gripes. So Jim Nordstrom raised eyebrows with statements quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle that the mall needed better and more stores and more attractive windows.
Now it appears that a new owner will have to deal with the mall, which real estate sources say has been suffering from losses and high store turnover. Last week, Gordon Co. said it has found a buyer for the bottom five floors of the center that are not owned by Nordstrom.
Although Sheldon Gordon won’t identify the buyer, sources say it is Power Corp., an investment group in Dublin, Ireland, which is paying an estimated $150 million to $200 million. Gordon said only that the deal is “in escrow” and is expected to close in about 40 days.
