Intermix could be setting up shop in the Bay Area. 

Renée Frojo
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Word on the street is that Intermix – the luxury fashion retailer recently acquired by Gap Inc. — is eyeing a location to plant its first store in the Bay Area.

But contrary to what one might expect, the retailer isn’t landing anywhere close to its new parent company in San Francisco. It’s heading straight to Larkspur.

While an Intermix spokesperson said no lease has yet been signed, sources confirm the retailer is planning on taking a space in the Marin Country Mart.

Digging a little deeper, that location is not as unlikely as it seems.

The outdoor shopping center’s owner, Jim Rosenfield, has a knack for persuading highly sought-after retailers that are first to market in a region into his malls. He also has a reputation for befriending the owners of said retailers and having some sway in their real estate decision-making.

And since Intermix already has one location in Rosenfield’s other shopping center in Southern California, the Brentwood Country Mart, it should come as little surprise that Intermix’s first Bay Area location would land on the retail guru’s turf.

If (but more likely, when) Intermix makes it to the Marin Country Mart, it will be in the company of several other first-to-market retailers, including Calypso St. Barth, Poppy Store and Space.NK.apothecary. Other popular retailers include James Perse and Roberta Roller Rabbit.

New York-based Intermix sells clothes and accessories from renowned design houses such as Yigal Azrouel, Yves Saint Laurent and Jimmy Choo, and describes itself as a boutique for “trendsetters, A-Listers and glam fashionistas” — with money to spend, of course. While I’m not sure the first descriptor fits the demographic of Marin, the latter surely does.

Renée Frojo covers hospitality, restaurants, retail and nonprofits for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/03/intermix-eying-unlikely-location-for.html