Colorado Real Estate Journal - March 5, 2014
When Saks Fifth Avenue closed its store in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, one of the first replacements considered for the department store anchor was an expanded Restoration Hardware. Last month, a plan for a new Restoration Hardware, now known as RH, was announced. The blockbuster expansion of RH is a four-story gallery space that will span 53,000 square feet, more than four times the size of the current 13,000-sf Restoration Hardware store in the metro area’s top mall. “When Saks announced it was leaving, we considered multiple uses for that space,” said Nick LeMasters, general manager of the center, which is owned and managed by the Taubman Co.
“Obviously, we had plenty of potential options,” LeMasters said. “In our typical methodical fashion, we took our time and really made sure we were making the right choice that played to the strengths of the regional shopping center,” he said. “We took our time; we don’t do anything fast.” But an expanded Restoration Hardware was always at the top of the list. “Our first discussions went back many, many years,” LeMasters said. “Really, we probably talked to them soon after we knew Saks was leaving.” It wasn’t clear at first that Restoration Hardware was the right candidate for the prime Saks space. “It really boiled down to the fact that, No. 1, they had been with us for a very long time and were an excellent fit for the tone and style of Cherry Creek,” LeMasters said. Perhaps what sealed it as the ideal candidate for the space was when the Restoration Hardware decided to grow its company in a big way, at a time when a lot of other retailers were pulling back. “They kind of had this change in strategy that was kind of a ‘go big or go home’ strategy,” LeMasters said. This is how Gary Friedman, chairman of RH, described the decision to quadruple its size at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center: “The intent of this larger footprint, full-line design gallery is to showcase the depth of our growing product assortment. “Cherry Creek has been a successful location for our existing store and will be the first Rocky Mountain venue for this new, broader expression of our brand,” Friedman added. RH, based in Corte Madera, Calif., and with more than a $2.2 billion market cap, sells bedroom, dining, upholstery, home office and media furniture products. It also sells such things as cabinets; ceiling, table, floor, wall and outdoor lighting items; as well as linens, draperies, rugs and pillows. If it sounds like it sells everything but the kitchen sink, hold on. It sells sinks, as well as faucets. The stores also stock dinnerware, glassware, flatware and table linens. It boasts that the items it sells include “collections of timeless, updated classics, authentic reproductions and artisan works that combine inspired design and high quality with unparalleled value.” The new, four-level RH fullline design gallery will feature a multistory atrium, outdoor garden and rooftop park, plus dedicated galleries for the brand’s numerous product lines, such as Living, Dining, Bed, Bath, Lighting, Tableware, Baby & Child, Small Spaces, Rugs, Outdoor and others – many of which could previously only be found in the brand’s Source Books. “RH’s new flagship store will be a breathtaking addition to our newly renovated center,” LeMasters said. “When the new stores opens in 2015, it will provide yet another reason for consumers to come to the Cherry Creek Shopping Center,” LeMasters continued. “Cherry Creek has long had a number of exclusive retailers and this will be another,” he said. “We draw from a 360-degree area,” LeMasters said. “We literally draw from every ZIP csode in the area and we always rank as one of the top tourist attractions in Denver and Colorado.” RH is expanding at a time when many other retailers are shrinking their stores. “I don’t know if RH is really bucking a trend,” LeMasters said. “I think it is a case-by-case decision by individual retailers,” he said. “Yes, some retailers are getting smaller, but in RH’s case, they are really looking at this store as a showcase and they really want to dominate their space and they felt like they needed to do that with a very large footprint,” LeMasters said. The current store, “about a 60-second walk” from the new addition, will remain open during the construction period. “We’ve already backfilled the current store’s space; we’re just not ready to announce it quite yet,” LeMasters said.