Street off Big Spenders

In Beverly Hills, Calif., that capital of conspicuous consumption, Rodeo Drive rather suddenly has become one of the world's premier shopping streets. Ever since Gucci set up an outpost several years ago, tony merchants have been rushing to Rodeo, until now there is no place left. If all that glitters on Rodeo is not gold, it is most certainly platinum, silver or the chrome plating on the bumpers of a typical shopper's Rolls-Royce. Los Angeles Bureau Chief William Rademaekers strolled down the drive and returned with this report:

Outwardly, Rodeo Drive (pronounced Road-eh-oh) looks like any other shopping street in the fertile crescent of Beverly Hills. The buildings tend to be one-and two-story structures, pastel, neo-Spanish, neo-20th Century-Fox. Even the ficus trees lining the street seem to be part of a grand design by Potemkin. Still, the veteran spendthrift arriving on Rodeo Drive has a sense of dej`a vu. No, the street does not possess the discreet elegance of Paris' Rue du Faubourg-St.-Honore, the stylishness of Rome's Via Condotti or the hustling excitement of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. But the very rich find most of the store names cozy and familiar: Courreges, Fred Joaillier, Gucci, Hermes. Bally, Celine, Ted Lapidus, Bilari, Nazareno Gabrielli, Battaglia, Mille Chemises, Omega, Saint-Germain, Pierre Deux and Lothars of Paris. Others are of questionable vintage: Giorgio, Mr. Guy, even a Jerry Magnin store that has the temerity to put sale soccer shoes in its window. In all, 60 stores along 2 1/2 blocks of Rodeo Drive rang up sales of $200 million last year.

In a neighborhood where spending vast sums quickly is a habit of nobility, the Saudis and Iranians are truly princes, if not kings. There is the story about the two Saudi princesses who, with their bodyguard, arrived late one Friday demanding to get in touch with the Bank of America, though the bank was closed. Soon, however, the bank delivered, in a special car, an envelope containing $200,000--shopping money for Saturday. Another Saudi princess recently walked into Giorgio, picked up $30,000 worth of dresses in a couple of hours, then with a flourish gave the owner's wife a gold and diamond pave bracelet for waiting on her.

Iranians come and go on Rodeo, lavishing hundreds of thousands of petrodollars. They also see the street as a handsome investment area. Bijan Pakzad opened the store of his dreams on Rodeo Drive, a men's store so exclusive (or merely overpriced) that, says he, "the only proper customer is the man who earns $100,000 a month." He and his partner, another Iranian, Daryoush Mahboubi-Fardi, adorned their store with a $400,000 brass and glass staircase, a $75,000 crystal chandelier and a gaggle of other niceties totaling $ 1 million.

Says Pakzad, with the modesty of a shah: "If somebody needs something, he doesn't belong here. If a man comes in and asks for a size 16 1/2 white shirt, he doesn't belong. But if a man comes in and says, 'I'm throwing out 24 white shirts and I'd like to replace them,' then that's my customer."

Fred Hayman, owner of Giorgio, has given his clothing store a British club atmosphere. He offers an espresso and cocktail bar (free drinks), a pool table, a "reading area" with a newspaper rack, supple leather chairs and a crackling wood-burning fireplace, presumably to give bored husbands something to do while their wives inspect the creations of some 60 European designers. Giorgio has no trouble paying its overhead. Most U.S. retailers would be happy to sell annually $100 worth of merchandise for every sq. ft. of floor space; Hayman claims that Giorgio averages $1,000 per sq. ft., and revenues last year were $4.5 million.

Gucci's Rodeo shop had sales of $ 15 million last year and attracts as many as 2,000 people a day. They buy "necessities" as varied as $89 loafers and $200,000 diamond-and-pearl necklaces, and they exercise their eccentricities. One man arrives regularly in a white Rolls-Royce, carrying Dom Perignon in a paper bag, sits down to drink with the help and customers, then drives away, usually without buying anything. Another buys Gucci presents for friends from an attache case stuffed with hundred-dollar bills; he also likes to drink champagne out of new Gucci loafers, then wear them home.

Comedian Red Skelton, who shops there, calls Rodeo a "nice, friendly street --but too expensive." But many Rodeo customers spend without even asking prices, sometimes because they do not speak English. Recently, a young Japanese rushed into Hermes, pointed in quick succession to a $1,000 lambskin jacket, an $850 suede coat, three silk robes at $700 each, five blouses at $350 apiece and many other goodies. While salespeople totaled all his purchases ($8,000), he dashed out to do more shopping. He returned shortly with new luggage to hold his purchases, then dashed off to catch a plane. At Lina Lee, an Iranian woman spent less than five minutes--and more than $ 1,900 --buying three silk and chiffon daytime dresses. Asked if she wanted to try them on, she replied, "No, no, I love them. I just know I want them."

Movie and TV stars, including Barbra, Raquel, Zsa Zsa and Cher, trek regularly to Rodeo Drive; but most customers are not well known, just rich. On a recent afternoon, Edna Weiss, a restaurant supplier's wife, drove up in her birthday present, a 1978 black Rolls-Royce, to do some shopping. Her schedule: a fitting at Gucci, up the block to Courreges to catch the sale, then perhaps to Knights for a gift. Says Weiss: "I'm very chauvinistic about Rodeo. I've been to all the major shopping centers in the world, and there's nothing that can compare."

There is a long list of retailers waiting to get onto Rodeo, and some pay up to $300,000 to buy out a lease. Since 1973, rents have tripled, to $3 or $5 per sq. ft., to the delight of such property owners as Greta Garbo and Health Food High Priest Gayelord Hauser. Tenants often must agree as well to pay a portion of property taxes and a percentage of profits.

If they can wait till mid-1980, new merchants may have the opportunity to move onto Rodeo. A group of investors headed by Mahboubi-Fardi and Developer David Rowen bought, for $6 million, a large parcel of land that now accommodates the Luau restaurant and a parking lot. They plan to raze the Luau and put up a 75,000-sq.-ft. building to house about 30 store shells, into which tenants will pour millions of dollars to make improvements, then wait for the big sales to people who never seem to run out of money.

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