Retail Roundup

Jasmine Lee

Make more room for the leather

Lavish leather goods -- and the people who shop for them -- will have

more room after Louis Vuitton moves to a different location in South

Coast Plaza.

Louis Vuitton North America announced this month that its Orange County

store had outgrown its current spot at the Costa Mesa mall.

The shop and all its goodies will stay on level two, moving just down the

corridor. The relocation is expected to take place this summer.

The new store will feature more than 5,500 square feet of retail space --

allowing ample room for a larger array of products, from an exclusive

shoe collection to more of the carefully crafted luggage.

The store will retain its lavish look, with new limestone flooring,

exotic woodwork and elegant accents in leather and brass.

Car rental center hopes to rev up sales

A car rental center recently opened up near John Wayne Airport, hoping to

capture business from out-of-towners visiting the coastal city.

But sightseers and executives are not U-Save Car Rental’s usual

clientele.

The Illinois-based car rental company has been focusing on cornering the

“neighborhood” market -- renting cars to drivers who live in the area.

U-Save executives say business is “booming” and that the Southland is a

“hotbed.”

The Newport Beach location, which opened in November, strays a little

from U-Save’s usual philosophy, catering mostly to business travelers and

tourists.

During the heavy tourist season, the new rental center will get “loaner”

automobiles from a Tustin U-Save location -- which opened in 1997 -- and

from Arizona locations.

The company plans to expand its network of area car rental sites with a

Costa Mesa location within a couple years.

Store no longer suited Fashion Island customers

Brooks Brothers may have closed its doors, ending an old-fashioned era

where men really knew how to dress.

But enter the dawn of a new era, where on the Internet, the Fashion

Island store is still open -- at least until the end of its semiannual

sale.

According to the shopping Web site, men’s dress shirts and suits are 50%

off until Feb. 2. Quite a bargain if you can actually find the

merchandise.

Cyber-business for cable becoming easier

High-tech customers of Cox Communications, Inc., which provides cable

television service to areas of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, can order

pay-per-view movies, view their accounts and pay their bills on the

Internet.

Just log on at o7 www.cox.com/ocf7 -- the service is free for Cox’s

230,000 Orange County cable subscribers. The online service just might

change the minds of critics who think the cable company is

technologically behind.

A monthly newsletter, Martin Brower’s Orange County Report, reported in

its January issue that a technology insider said that “Cox Communications

is not up to speed.”