THE MAVEN OF ANTI-MALLS

An interview with Orange County’s retail visionary Shaheen Sadeghi

Laguna Beach resident Shaheen Sadeghi is the founder and creator of The LAB Anti-Mall, The CAMP, and the Anaheim Packing House, among other projects. But before he became a real estate developer, Sadeghi worked in the action sports industry, eventually becoming president of the Quicksilver brand. We spoke with him about his first retail development, The LAB, and how keeping an eye on cultural shifts has informed his future projects.

What sparked your desire to transition from a fashion executive to building The LAB in 1993?

With each of my experiences in the action sports industry, I learned that size wasn’t necessarily better. And as the story goes, size can be the enemy of cool. I recognized that so much of the newness, the innovation, and the excitement was coming from smaller companies. At the time, I was running a public company and recognized that this next generation of customers were not necessarily mall shoppers. The next generation of brands and products also didn’t want to be in a mall. Many of the small companies started to realize the fact that there’s a dichotomy with their brands and what’s out there.

It was through this process that I wondered if I could put together all of these small companies that don’t want to be in a mall and that’s how The LAB was originally founded. The LAB stands for Little American Business, and I felt it was an opportunity to create a platform for smaller companies to gather. I decided to go beyond fashion—I brought in hair salons, a co ee shop, and we were surrounded by like-minded, complementary products. I didn’t want this project to be all about consumption. From there, it evolved into other projects.

What about your decision to open The CAMP 10 years later?

I’m a musician by passion, and the best way I can compare it is it’s like writing new songs, or putting out a new album. By the time I started working on The CAMP, I felt there was even a further cultural shift. While The LAB was anti-establishment in the 1990s, by the time 2000 came around,

I felt there was another shift. I had this vision to do something that was good for the environment. At the time, being green was not part of the vocabulary.

But I wanted to build something within that ecosystem and bring in brands that were all outdoor oriented. The three elements of that project were the body, soul, and the mind. We wanted to hit all those notes, and we built this sustainable project which eventually became the first green retail center in the country. The world shifted at the same time, with organic foods becoming more popular and more of a focus on sustainability. Every project that I’ve done has a story and a purpose. So if I feel that there’s something we can say or do to make a di erence, then we spend the time to build it. But I don’t necessarily build for the sake of building.

With the Anaheim Packing House, what is the story and purpose behind that?

I’m a foodie and have been all my life. I recognized that the artistic expression is beyond fashion or beyond certain trends, and culinary arts really hadn’t been explored in America since we all grew up with national chain restaurants. We go through this tunnel of developing a new project every 10 years; as I see the shift, then we build a project. America fell in love with artisan food and street food, and things that had a purpose, with products that met their needs whether that was vegan or organic, or something else. This was a multi-layer shift that wasn’t measured by demographics. I think it was a massive opportunity and in the same format that we built The LAB, where we wanted to give small operators a place. The Packing House allows people to showcase their food without having to go through the traditional channels. So we curated all of those businesses with the focus on food. Things just sort of worked out, and the city of Anaheim was very supportive with the project.

What have you learned from these projects?

One of the things I’ve recognized is that we can’t move the needle from a cultural standpoint or a new product standpoint in a small space. So I think in some ways we have organically become community builders. I recognized that if the Packing House was going to be successful, then it needed more room to grow. By the time I got to Anaheim, I was able to option a lot of the surrounding space. In Anaheim, it was urban planning for the most part, and I give the city credit for trusting our vision. But it all goes back to my formula that we need a big enough canvas to pull o what we do.

What other projects are you working on right now?

I’m working on three fairly-significant residential projects–in Long Beach, Corona, and San Marcos. They each have a di erent flavor and tap into di erent local community opportunities. We’re also working with Cal State Long Beach to build an o -campus tech facility. I think the mentality these days is that everybody is cool, not only cities like New York or L.A. I call it the evolution of localization, personalization, and customization as opposed to homogenization. I think it’s not just happening here but across the country.