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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 Pérignon 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 Hermès, 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 Courrèges 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.