Fashion scene: South Floridians and tourists alike hit Miami Beach to shop for fashions, but residents still have to go off-island for some basic necessities—though some of that should change

South Florida CEO, April, 2004 by Rochelle Broder-Singer

Whether it's special food (or a leather jacket) for Fido at The Dog Bar, custom-mixed perfume at The Fragrance Shoppe or your shaving cream fix at Kiehls--there are few South Floridians who don't head to Miami Beach for at least one item they can't find anywhere else in town.

While today the epicenter of Miami Beach shopping is arguably the Lincoln Road pedestrian mall, it was the success, on Collins Avenue, of Armani's A/X store more than a decade ago (brought in by hotelier Tony Goldman) that made "South Beach" synonymous with fashionable shopping. "The store was just a homerun, out of the box," says retail broker/consultant Lyle Stern of Miami Beach-based Koniver Stern Group, which helped move the next retailers into that district: Express and Banana Republic.

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Today, Collins Avenue between 5th and 10th streets has become a fashion district, having added names like M.A.C. and Sephora cosmetics and Kenneth Cole to those early pioneers. It's still a place for the cutting-edge, too. Barneys New York opened its first freestanding Co-Op store outside New York City at 8th and Collins in August. Co-Op focuses on hot new designers and super-trendy fashions.

With the mix of international and domestic visitors who pass through the area, many brands consider it a top location for an outpost. That is the type of tenant targeted at Collins and 5th Street, where a new retail development is nearly complete. The 50,000-square-foot building, with a 225-space parking garage, will serve as a kind of anchor for the Collins fashion district. Broker Greg Masin, director of retail services at Cushman & Wakefield of Florida, says he is talking with national tenants. "Someone in other Class-A markets such as New York, L.A., Chicago or San Francisco would be interested in this location because of its visibility, the amount of foot traffic, both domestic and international, who will see this store," he says.

It may be hard to imagine today, but Lincoln Road, which had been up and down as a fashion district, was slower to revive than Collins. An influx of artists and arts patrons--beginning with the South Florida Arts Center, and eventually including the New World Symphony and the Miami City Ballet--helped set the stage for daring local boutiques and, eventually, shopping staples like The Gap, Victoria's Secret and Pottery Barn. The mall, which Stern refers to as a "non-traditionally anchored regional mall" attracts tourists and locals alike to its 1 million square feet of retail and restaurants.

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"You're going to find a target-rich environment in terms of the consumer buying power," says Stern, who personally owns buildings on Lincoln Road, and whose firm also handles leasing for many landlords there. "We average, on our couple of signs on Lincoln Road, probably 30 phone calls a week, and it's a good mixed bag of jewelry stores, card stores, ice cream stores."

Although many decry the influx of retailers on Lincoln Road that can be found in any indoor mall, Stern stresses that a solid mix of national tenants is necessary to maintain stability and to finance deals. "We are also working with national retailers that only have a few stores, like less than ten," he adds. Stern says the greatest threat to Lincoln Road's continuing success is not national retailers, but rather an over-abundance of restaurants. After all, while it's fun to imagine giving a dinner party with real.life.basic's Asian place settings, or smell the shampoos and body lotions at Browne's Apothecary, you really can't do much on a block full of restaurants once you've already eaten (and you can only stop once for an ice cream).

While rents on Lincoln may have pushed out some smaller stores, there are still opportunities in such South Beach spots as Washington Avenue. Former model Tamara Megill took only two weeks to chose a storefront at 710 Washington when she decided to open fashion boutique Experience Vanity. Most of her customers come in later in the day, after shopping Collins. "We get the flow. People are looking for something different," Mcgill says. About half of Experience Vanity's merchandise, which ranges in price from $30 to $1,200 per piece, is from local designers. "I want people to know that you don't have to go to New York to get fashion," says Mcgill. "Here you can be a pioneer." Since the October opening, the clientele has been a mix of local customers, Asian and British women and African-American celebrities visiting Miami Beach for events or music-related business.

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Seeing more retail space developed in Miami Beach is a priority for the city. "There are still a lot of items that residents have to leave the Beach to purchase," says economic development director Kevin Crowder. That is the need Jeff Berkowitz hopes to fill with a three-story. 170,000-square-foot development at 5th Street and Alton Road, scheduled for completion in 2006. Berkowitz (who also developed Dadeland Station), in partnership with Alan and Robert Potamkin (owners of Planet Automotive), is preserving a historic building as part of the development, and will also include a 940-space parking garage. He is talking with tenants like Publix, Bed Bath & Beyond. Linens and Things, Barnes & Noble and Borders. It will be the first thing people see as they drive over 395 onto the