Shopping Fraternity : Bullock’s Men’s Store is proving men really do like to shop--especially if they can have the car washed at the same time.

With its glossy wood floors, overstuffed couches, antique knickknacks and vintage sports trophies, the Men’s Store at Bullock’s South Coast Plaza has the atmosphere of an exclusive gentlemen’s club.

That’s how the store wants its customers to feel--not like shoppers but like members of a fraternity.

“We want them to feel like this is their store,” said Leslie Tong, who is in charge of the Men’s Store. “They don’t have to go through ladies’ lingerie to buy a necktie.”

As the store approaches its first anniversary in July, it can look back on a number of surprising successes. Sales are double the projections. The store has turned menswear into the top growth area for Macy’s West, its parent company. In January, the Men’s Store received the prestigious 1992 Retailer Award from the California Apparel Mart.

“We were fortunate enough to open a full-line men’s store at a time when men needed to shop,” said Sue Graham, group vice president of Bullocks’ South Coast Plaza.

“Women who may have shopped for men in the past are working or engaged in other activities, so men shop more. I think they enjoy it.”

To be sure, the Men’s Store tries to make shopping as painless, and even as pleasurable, as possible.

“It’s been referred to as a toy store for men. That’s a fairly apt description,” said Michael Wallen, president of merchandising for Macy’s West in San Francisco.

Here, guys can find everything from a $1,000 Giorgio Armani suit to a $50 baseball signed by Nolan Ryan.

They can leave their cars with the valet outside the store and have them washed and detailed while they shop. They can have their shoes shined in the shoe department, watch the game on television while being fitted for a suit or read the morning paper while enjoying free coffee.

Since its opening, the Men’s Store has adjusted swiftly to men’s buying habits, some of which caught the store by surprise.

One notable example: socks.

Bullock’s underestimated guys’ sock fetish; the store had to double the size of the hosiery department. Now it stocks an entire wall and standing shelves with all kinds of socks, from traditional black ones to those with unorthodox colors and contemporary graphics. To date, the department has sold more than 30,000 pairs.

Ties have taken off, too (sales have unexpectedly topped 40,000). Tie inventory tripled as a result.

“A lot of men come here to buy a tie or a pair of socks just as a souvenir,” Tong said.

The 80,000-square-foot store, formerly an I. Magnin, has the feel of a collection of stores under one roof.

“Swing shops,” designed so customers can quickly swing in and out of them, are situated throughout the store. They are nooks dedicated to one vendor (Nautica sportswear was recently featured) and change every couple of weeks to take advantage of fast-moving trends.

Level One is the more contemporary of the three floors. Here are stacks of perfectly folded jeans, hip T-shirts and an outpost for Ray Ban sunglasses. Fashions are young, though not as risky as those found on Melrose Avenue. There’s active wear, denim, young men’s, a Tommy Hilfiger shop and sportswear from American designers including Perry Ellis and Calvin Klein.

“Men find a line they like and stick to it,” Tong said, explaining the emphasis on individual designers.

One of the hottest new lines on the floor: Cross Colours, which is selling denim jeans dyed in bright red, black and green for spring, with graphics-driven T-shirts and baseball caps that give the collection a street-wise, homeboy look. The cast of “Different World” wears Cross Colours so often “it looks like a fashion show,” Tong said.

Men’s furnishings, accessories and fragrance--the latter another fast-growing department--occupy Level Two. One counter peddles sports memorabilia such as a basketball signed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and a football with Joe Namath’s autograph.

In the neckwear department stands a display devoted to ties with themes. The politically correct “Save the Earth” ties are printed with endangered species, while nostalgic Beatles ties are inspired by Beatles tunes.

Nicole Miller has her own department filled with her fun silk ties, boxer shorts, pajamas and robes. One bathrobe comes printed with the contents of a medicine cabinet.

“We’ve even sold a lot of her things to women, but we promise men there’s no women’s merchandise in the store,” Graham said.

Joe Boxer is also bringing humor to men’s underwear by making boxer shorts festooned with whimsical designs such as racing pigs, bananas and cows. One pair has “no no” printed in black and “yes yes” in invisible glow-in-the- dark ink.

At the top level a 2,400-square-foot shoe department is a store in itself, carrying everything from tennis shoes to formal loafers.

Bullock’s reserves the rest of the upstairs for designer collections, including sportswear, suits and outerwear. The Giorgio Armani boutique offers a complete line of the designer’s suits, ties, shirts and socks.

“They can dress head to toe in Armani,” Tong said.

The store’s ever-changing merchandise mix attracts both men and women shopping for men (and occasionally themselves), but most customers are men.

Tong often sees cliques of businessmen roaming the store together on their lunch hours or after work--a phenomenon she hadn’t seen at regular department stores. It’s not that men didn’t like to shop, she said, but that there haven’t been many stores with a large inventory devoted just to them.

“There wasn’t a lot of fashion being offered to men, so what could they choose from?” Tong asked. “There’s always been a need. If you build it, they will come.”