South Coast Plaza, Fashion Island Trade Heavy Punches

The store wars are heating up again at Fashion Island in Newport Beach and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, two of Orange County’s dominant shopping centers.

Fashion Island hit hard in late 1996 with the opening of Orange County’s first Bloomingdale’s department store. South Coast Plaza, which reportedly is nearing $1 billion in annual sales, hit back with 10 new stores, including Hermes, Coach, Mikimoto, Montblanc, Rainforest Cafe and babyGap. Several of the new South Coast Plaza stores are unique in Southern California: Coach, for example, is opening its first West Coast store, and the babyGap is the chain’s only free-standing location in Southern California.

Fashion Island is now readying a Bloomingdale’s home store that will open next Tuesday. Proceeds from an opening gala will benefit Angelitos de Oro, an arm of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Orange County.

Greg Johnson covers retail businesses and restaurants for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5950 and at greg.johnson@latimes.com