Step by Step
APPAREL: Isack Fadlon wants to see if Sportie L.A.’s new clothing and accessories line has legs before stepping back into footwear.
Shoe vendor Isack Fadlon sees launching a clothing line as a crucial step before creating footwear.
Grounds For Growth
Supreme Bean takes chilled, bottled coffee to supermarket chain.
Supreme Bean hopes its glass act plays with customers as its bottled brew hits Whole Foods shelves.
Heating Up The Icing
Coffee Bean whips up birthday cake-flavored drink for anniversary.
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf treats customers with birthday cake-flavored drink to mark 50th anniversary.
Unwelcome Mat Greets Homeowners Rate Hike
INSURANCE: Mercury Casualty loses petition to halt premium reduction.
Judge’s ruling damages Mercury Casualty’s bid to raise homeowners premiums.
Read Their Lips
Kiss duo helps tune up eatery chain
Kiss members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons say their Rock & Brews restaurant project has the right makeup.
Tariff Punches Holes in Jeans
APPAREL: Denim makers may shift work out of L.A.
Jeans makers look to stitch together financial strategy after European Union triples tariff on denim pants.
In Search Of Promotion
Korean food company cues up pop star for chef-audition contest.
Korean restaurant chain Bibigo tunes up promotional campaign with “Gangnam Style” singer Psy.
Asian Accents
TOURISM: Hotels and shops offer cultural comforts to serve wave of Chinese visitors.
L.A.-area businesses look to add services that speak to a rising tide of Chinese visitors.
Towering Achievement In New York
Design firm tackles tourism project at new World Trade Center.
Design firm Hettema hits new heights with observation deck project for the new World Trade Center.
HOLLYWOOD: Sky’s the Limit on Development After Height Restrictions Lifted
Real Estate Quarterly
The first quarter vacancy rate in Hollywood rose to its highest level in a year, though it remained the lowest in all of Los Angeles County.
Redondo Beach Moves to Shore Up Hotel Options
HOSPITALITY: Hilton and Marriott projects to add 319 total rooms to city.
Springtime in Redondo Beach has brought new life to the hotel industry in the beachside city.
Hoping Every Dog Has Its Day
Pet food maker turns to crowdfunding to feed her business.
J.J. Israel hopes she’s not barking up the wrong tree by trying to crowdfund her doggie treats business.
Farmed Out
Fresh produce service feeds restaurants’ buy-local urges
Dan Chak looks to plant himself as a go-between for produce producers and the increasing number of restaurants looking to buy local.
Long Beach Hyatt Hotel Employees Elect Union
Employees at two Hyatt hotels in Long Beach, the 528-room Hyatt Regency Long Beach and the 138-room Pike Long Beach, said Monday they had voted to be represented by Unite Here Local 11.
Bagging On Consumer Culture
Thursday Friday line features images of high-price handbags.
Style is only skin deep for Thursday Friday’s canvas totes bearing images of designer handbags.
Heavyweight Competitor Puffs Up Cloud Storage
ONLINE: Gobbler greets Sony subsidiary as virtual boost for business sector.
Gobbler, a Hollywood cloud company, is unfazed by the prospect of competition from giant Sony.
Producer Looks to Deck Out Card Game as Show
TV: Gurin Co. sees Uno as nightly or weekly program with hefty cash prizes.
Producer Gurin Co. believes kids’ card game Uno has enough draw to make it as a game show.
Case by Case
Allure of building his own coffee business spurred Mel Elias to give up his law practice.
Former lawyer Mel Elias now keeps business brewing as Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s chief executive.
Sagging Jeans Maker Sees Cracks in Year Ahead
APPAREL: Guess’ gloomy outlook spurs analysts to lower target stock price.
Guess shares fall as jeans maker struggles to fashion a comeback.
Hollywood Farmers’ Market Racks Up Spice Alley
FOOD: Operator of weekly event sees new merchants as natural ingredients.
Shoppers who frequent the Hollywood Farmers’ Market on Sundays will soon have the option to brighten up their fresh haul of fruits and veggies.
Truck Fan Wheels In Career
Matthew Perlman gets in gear to restore, sell Defenders as business.
His love for Land Rover Defenders drove Matthew Perlman into restoring and selling the trucks.
Room Service
Hotelier now puts focus on management
Setbacks during the recession led hotel developer Avi Brosh to check into property management.
Factoring Spreads From Its Traditional Industries
Temp agencies and trucking companies are among the businesses fueling factoring’s growth.
Boutique Hotel Finds Room in Redondo Beach
HOSPITALITY: Developer Zislis Group gets OK to begin work at waterfront.
A makeover of the outdated Redondo Beach waterfront that began last month with a ceremonial ground-breaking for a new hotel is gaining momentum.
Eatery Growth Leads to South
DINING: Cheesecake Factory adds Latin America to menu.
Cheesecake Factory looks to follow up its Mideast expansion by dishing out licensed locations in Latin America.
Judge Demands Forever 21 Supply Chain Information
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday that a judge ordered downtown L.A. retailer Forever 21 Inc. to release supply chain information that the apparel company refused to disclose after the federal agency demanded it last summer.
Guess Shares Fall on News of President’s Departure
Shares of L.A. jeans company Guess Inc. fell Tuesday after news that Nancy Shachtman, the retailer’s president of North America, has left the company.
Clothing Maker Moves Needle With Online Sales
FASHION: Improved sector takes on bigger role for American Apparel.
American Apparel is fashioning online sales into a bigger part of its growth plan.
Denim Company Leaves Future of CEO Wide Open
APPAREL: True Religion lets contract of its founder expire amid plans for sale.
Jeans maker True Religion hasn’t quite sewn up the future employment status of founder Jeff Lubell.
NFL Rejects AEG Plan, Yahoo Reports
The National Football League has lost interest in the current plan to bring a team to downtown Los Angeles, Yahoo Sports reports.
True Religion Boots Founder
Vernon jeans maker True Religion Apparel Inc. will not renew its employment agreement with Jeff Lubell, the company’s founder, chief executive, chairman and creative director.
Toymaker Looks to Make Play to Increase Sales
MANUFACTURING: Jakks pins hopes on licensing deals, interactive products.
Toymaker Jakks hopes to get a handle on higher sales with interactive products and action figures.
Juice Shops Now Come With Side of Vegetables
FITNESS: Robeks, Jamba among chains looking to fatten up offerings.
Restaurants and shops offering more pressed vegetable juices and leafy green smoothies have been sprouting up all over Los Angeles.
Burger Chain Hopes for Fuller Plate
DINING: Umami looks to feed growth with equity investment.
Umami will tap a recent $20 million equity investment to feed the burger chain’s expansion plan.
Cheesecake Sales Fall Due to Sandy
Shares for Cheesecake Factory Inc. closed down 1 percent Wednesday after the casual dining chain reported that sales fell in the fourth quarter due to superstorm Sandy.
Beverly Hills Hotel Checks In With Touch of India
HOSPITALITY: Co-owners reposition boutique Sirtaj with kitchen and bar.
A small Beverly Hills hotel, once a 1920s boardinghouse, reopened last week with a new name and image after three years of renovations.
Positive Road Conditions
Regus Group says traffic drives interest in its flex office space.
Traffic might be creating in-roads for flexible office space in Los Angeles.
Farther, Wider
FOOD: Nutrition bar firm ThinkThin adds outlets while mulling new items.
Nutrition bar maker ThinkThin looks to expand by adding retail distributors and branching into new sectors.
Stretching Out
APPAREL: Joe’s Jeans looks to pocket more retail revenue with strategy to launch additional stores.
Joe’s Jeans is fashioning a stock surge with help from its retail store strategy
Valentine Treats Not Sugarcoated
Sugarfina offers up bittersweet labels for jokey candy kits.
Sweets maker Sugarfina unwraps tartly named treats for Valentine’s Day such as Men Are Pigs.
Analysts Say True Religion Is Negotiating Sale
Analysts at Benchmark Co. in New York have said they believe Vernon denim maker True Religion Apparel Inc. is currently negotiating a sale of the company, likely to a private equity firm.
Cherokee Returns to School Uniform Business
Brand licensing company Cherokee Inc. said that it has reacquired the school uniforms category of its Cherokee Uniforms line from Strategic Partners Inc. in Chatsworth.
It’s All in Wrist for Fashion Item
Oofkas co-creators hope their cuffs wear well at trade show.
Show business veterans try their hand at the apparel business with pricey wrist warmers.
Buttoned Up
True Religion’s Jeffrey Lubell has found jeans business good fit for his free spirit.
Independent spirit Jeff Lubell has fashioned a career out of high-priced denim as founder of jeans maker True Religion.
Label Maker Sticks With Plan to Sell Divisions
MANUFACTURING: Avery Dennison finds taker at 10 percent below 3M deal.
Canadian buyer peels off label maker Avery’s office products and design divisions.
L.A. Hotel Downtown to Become a Hyatt Regency
Chinese hotel ownership group Shenzhen New World Group Co., which owns the L.A. Hotel Downtown on Figueroa Street, said that it will spend $20 million to covert the independent hotel into a Hyatt Regency.
Shoemaker Opts To Sell Following String of Missteps
FOOTWEAR – Out-of-step K-Swiss becomes shoo-in with investors after acquisition by South Korean company.
Restaurants and Hotels Move In But Vacancy Rate Still Inches Up
Reports - The Hollywood office market fared slightly better in the fourth quarter than the third, though a quick glance at the numbers might have one believe otherwise.
Pizza Franchisers Look to Expand Pieces of Pie
DINING: Blaze co-founders sign two deals to open eight SoCal locations.
After launching two build-your-own artisan pizza restaurants last summer in Pasadena and Irvine, Wetzel’s Pretzels co-founders Rick and Elise Wetzel are lighting a flame under expansion plans for their Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza concept.
Schiffer and Gold Families Depart from 99 Cents Only
Deep discount retailer 99 Cents Only Stores has announced that three top executives – Chief Executive Eric Schiffer, Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Gold and Executive Vice President of Special Projects Howard Gold – are no longer employed by the company.
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