Gucci-owned stores join Waikiki venture
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Two more European fashion houses have announced that they will open flagship stores in Waikiki later this year as part of the $140 million Honu Group project 2100 Kalakaua.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, both owned by Amsterdam-based Gucci Group N.V., will join previously announced tenants Chanel, Tiffany & Co. and TOD's at the 110,000-square-foot complex of nine, three-story townhouse-like stores.
Exterior construction of the Waikiki retail townhouse 2100 Kalakaua is 90 percent complete. The complex will be turned over to nine luxury fashion tenants for interior improvements in March and April.
Of the remaining four tenants, which have not been disclosed, all are European-based luxury retailers, and three do not have stores in Hawai'i, according to Tom Applegate, president of Honolulu-based Honu.
"It underscores the importance of the Hawai'i market — specifically Kalakaua streetfront retail — for global retailing," he said. "We really are on equal par to any other global flagship store."
Gucci is taking the project's biggest space, a 19,000-square-foot store next to Chanel that will be one of Gucci's largest stores anywhere.
The 7,500-square-foot Yves Saint Laurent store will be one of the first in a new line being rolled out since Gucci Group acquired the French fashion house two years ago and began reorganizing the brand.
The store will be modeled on the recently redesigned 8,500-square-foot outlet on Madison Avenue in New York, which incorporates Yves Saint Laurent fragrances and cosmetics with its Rive Gauche women's, men's and accessories collection.
Among the other luxury retailers suspected to be part of the Honu project are Bally, Boucheron (another Gucci-owned brand), Celine Paris and Hermes Paris.
Applegate said that none of the companies committed to the project backed out after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which severely hurt business for retailers such as Gucci in tourist markets. "It was the opposite of what you would have thought," he said.
Of the four remaining tenants, two have signed leases and the other two are close to agreement on leases, Applegate said. All are expected to be open Nov. 1.
2100 Kalakaua broke ground in October 2000 after being at a standstill from mid-1998 through 1999. The project is one of only a few large-scale retail development in the state on pace for completion this year.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
