Edgy fashion retailer AllSaints to take former Coldwater Creek space downtown

AllSaints Spitalfields, an upmarket-clothing chain based in London, will soon set up shop on a prominent downtown Seattle corner, establishing its first Northwest location after expanding to the U.S. last year.

The edgy fashion retailer said Wednesday it signed a multiyear lease for a large store vacated by women's clothier Coldwater Creek at Fifth Avenue and Pine Street.

AllSaints' choice of downtown provides a bit of an economic boost after a rough 2009, when a spate of closures left the shopping district with 10 percent fewer stores.

Coldwater Creek closed its downtown store in January after 10 years, emptying about 13,600 square feet over two floors. AllSaints, which will occupy all of the space, hopes for an early fall opening. "This will be their only store in the market for the foreseeable future, so it will be a draw for downtown," said Maria Royer, a principal at Real Retail in Seattle, who helped negotiate the deal on behalf of landlord Metzler North America. "They're definitely an urban brand, but they have luxurious products that appeal to a pretty broad audience."

Named after All Saints Road in London's Notting Hill, the privately held retailer has been described as glamour-meets-grunge, with many prices between $100 and $200. Its website features $90 jeggings (extreme-skinny-fit jeans), military-style boots for $250 and an asymmetrical lambskin jacket for $510.

The new store will sell apparel and accessories for men, women and children under the AllSaints logo. It joins Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and Sephora at downtown's Fifth & Pine building, where Nordstrom once had a store before it moved to its current location at the former Frederick & Nelson space in 1998 as part of the development of Pacific Place.

AllSaints' announcement follows a recent decision by trendy Los Angeles-based clothing chain Forever 21 to take three floors of space occupied by Old Navy at Sixth Avenue and Pine Street a block away. Old Navy will soon move a block west along Pine next to the Gap.

AllSaints started in 1994 as a wholesale men's apparel brand but expanded to women's clothes four years later. Now with more than 70 European locations, it made its U.S. debut last year when it set up an in-store display at Bloomingdale's in New York City.

It has since opened stand-alone stores in Los Angeles, Miami and Boston. As many as 50 U.S. stores are planned for the next three to five years, including openings soon in New York City, California and Florida.

Kevin Stanford, co-founder of the Karen Millen fashion label, has a majority stake in AllSaints.

Amy Martinez: 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com

Dollar Stores in

Washington, Ore. to close

The Dollar Stores in Washington and Oregon are scheduled to close within the next 10 weeks because their parent company is going out of business.

Liquidation Outlet, based in Puyallup, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection March 25. In the filing, it said it had two secured creditors due $1 million and up to 200 unsecured creditors, mostly landlords, suppliers and utilities, owed $6.4 million. Its biggest assets listed were 38 stores and one warehouse valued at an estimated $12.5 million.

Owners Gary and Arlene Woodring couldn't be reached for comment.

Dollar Stores in the Puget Sound region include four in Tacoma; two apiece in Seattle, Kent and Bremerton; and one each in Bellingham, Federal Way, Lakewood, Marysville, Olympia, Port Angeles, Puyallup, Renton, and Tumwater and Lacey in Thurston County.

Seattle Times business staff and the Tri-City Herald