How many people does it take to move a car out of a shopping mall?

Seven. One to drive, one to direct the driver, two to move accompanying equipment, one to represent the store it’s leaving, one to widen doorways and one to make sure everything goes as planned.

I learned all about it early this morning as an Infiniti G37 convertible rolled out of Bloomingdale’s.

The vehicle had been on display since Dec. 9 as a cross-promotion between the department store and the car maker.

Four such cars were on display nationwide in Bloomingdale’s stores and will be given to winners of a drawing.

At 6 a.m. today, store engineer Armando Sosa rolled up the store’s gate and the men got to work.

They removed the stanchions and related displays, which include a bottle of Issey Miyake perfume and a pair of fuchsia Marc by Marc Jacobs pumps that will be sent overnight to Tennessee.

The car battery was reconnected and the top of the convertible was closed.

And then just a little problem — no gas in the car. It is supposed to have very little gas while it’s on display for safety precautions, but apparently it didn’t have enough to get started again.

“We’re going to have to push it,” the workers joke.

Ken Bourque and Trey Kadow go out to fill a gas can. When they get back, Bourque checked the car for any nicks or scratches he’ll have to report and Kadow put gas in the tank.

Then it’s time to move out. Behind the wheel, Bourque backs up off another Infiniti display and then turns left out of Bloomingdale’s and into the main hall of South Coast Plaza.

As the car rolls at about 2 to 3 mph (which seems really fast when it’s inside a mall), Kadow clears the way for the driver, moving potted plants and display signs.

The tightest spot comes at the beginning, where the car is squeezed between the two escalators in front of Corner Bakery, and in the middle where it turns right near the carousel.

Bourque and Kadow won’t even test the doorway between Boudin SF and Z’Tejas until a maintenance worker can widen it.

Eventually, he comes and pops the sliding glass doors back, widening the clearance from about 6 feet to 7 feet. Bourque folds back the side-view mirrors and very carefully takes the car through the exit.

He puts it on a truck and it is taken to Torrance, where there’s an Infiniti dealership. By about 7 a.m., the job was done and shoppers coming in later would have been none the wiser.

More from the South Coast Plaza blog:

• Louis Vuitton pays tribute to rainmaking designer
• Simon Pearce second store to close in 2009
• January promotions include storewide sales
• Saks holds sample sale before bridal salon closes
• County’s only Easy Spirit to close Thursday
• Carousels grind to a halt

For more on South Coast Plaza, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.

Remember before Louis Vuitton was a big, big deal? Maybe not. But a 2001 collaboration between Artistic Director Marc Jacobs and Stephen Sprouse helped launch it to where it is now.

Sprouse, who died in 2004, laid his mark of graffiti and neon on the iconic collection, and the Paris label is paying tribute to him in a new seasonal collection starting today.

The items cover all of Louis Vuitton’s merchandise categories and feature brightly colored roses, as well as graffiti and neon.

Click here for a slide show of the Stephen Sprouse tribute collection.

I particularly like the graffiti rings. What about you?

More from the South Coast Plaza blog:

• January promotions include storewide sales
• Saks holds sample sale before bridal salon closes
• County’s only Easy Spirit to close Thursday
• Carousels grind to a halt
• Mall back to normal but sales linger on
• Makeover at Chanel Makeup Studio

For more on South Coast Plaza, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.

Photo of store by Candice Shih

Five days after Easy Spirit closed at South Coast Plaza, another retailer will shut its doors.

Simon Pearce, which sells glassware and pottery, is holding its final sale this weekend, according to a store employee. Monday will be its last day.

Merchandise is marked up to 50 percent off; store fixtures and furniture are for sale, too. A typical glass bowl is originally priced at about $150, with signature collection items costing more.

The store, which opened in May 2007, signed a 10-year lease but sales fell short of projections, said Stan Warehime, West Coast regional manager and public relations ambassador.

“The way the economy is running, we felt we need to do this,” he said.

Simon Pearce’s location on the less-frequented west side of Bear Street also meant they missed out on about 40 percent of their potential clientele, Warehime said.

It was the only one of Simon Pearce’s 12 stores in a mall setting and the company wants to relocate this store to a street location with an outside entrance.

“South Coast Plaza has treated us extremely well. This was beyond what anyone could do. We were so new to the West Coast,” Warehime said.

Indeed, sharing the Simon Pearce brand was among the company’s goals. In the less than two years it has been in Costa Mesa, it partnered with local home tours, offered programs with South Coast Plaza and was featured in many of the county’s lifestyle magazines.

Brand recognition in Southern California has grown from 6 to about 36 percent as a result, Warehime said.

Photo of Simon Pearce by Cindy Yamanaka, The Orange County Register

Glassblower Simon Pearce, who is originally from Ireland, now bases his company in Vermont. Of his remaining stores, 10 are on the East Coast and another is in San Francisco.

Warehime said the relocation is planned for sometime in the next nine to 18 months. The future location could be anywhere between Santa Barbara and San Diego. Loyal customers have been invited to join its Stay in Touch program since October.

Simon Pearce products also retails in stores such as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Williams-Sonoma.

More from the South Coast Plaza blog:

• January promotions include storewide sales
• Saks holds sample sale before bridal salon closes
• County’s only Easy Spirit to close Thursday
• Carousels grind to a halt
• Mall back to normal but sales linger on
• Makeover at Chanel Makeup Studio

For more on South Coast Plaza, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.

And the promotions just keep on coming.

The end of the holidays apparently does not mean the end of deals and discounts at South Coast Plaza.

The Premiere Club newsletter was accompanied this month by a list of offers at 25 stores and restaurants. Most deals are some variation of buy-one-get-one-half-off discounts on selected items or gifts with purchase.

But a few are storewide sales that don’t require a minimum purchase. Get 25 percent off all purchases at Quiksilver and Roxy; 20 percent off at Cole Haan, NapaStyle and Pioneer; and 10 percent off at Frette.

The Web page must be printed out and presented at the time of purchase.

Click here to view and print the deals.

Click here to join the South Premiere Club for free.

Here comes the bridal sample sale.

Saks Fifth Avenue, which will close its bridal salon at South Coast Plaza, is featuring 50 percent off about 130 designer gowns. The annual sale starts today and lasts until Jan. 20.

The samples will be in sizes 8-10, which run large and are equivalent to typical 6-8 sizes.

Designers include Vera Wang, Reem Acra, Amsale, Kenneth Pool, Monique Lhuillier and Anna Maier Ulla-Maija.

The gowns pictured are, from left, by Reem Acra ($7,084 regular price, $3,542 sale price), Amsale ($5,200 $2,600) and Monique Lhuillier ($4,620 $2,310).

Saks is also marking select merchandise storewide up to 80 percent off from Thursday through Sunday.

The nationwide department store is consolidating its bridal salons to its Beverly Hills and New York stores. The Mission Viejo Saks does not have a bridal department.

Saks public relations coordinator Alexa Bonadonna explained the store’s decision in an e-mail:

“Saks Fifth Avenue’s goal is to offer an exceptional and comprehensive assortment of products to our clientele. It is critical, particularly in this current retail environment, to appropriately and wisely allocate our resources to higher growth businesses.

“Saks Fifth Avenue has made the decision to close 16 of our 18 Bridal Salons across the country. This decision will allow us to concentrate our Bridal Services exclusively in our most established Bridal Salons in our New York and Beverly Hills flagship locations.”

The South Coast Plaza Saks will continue to serve brides who made orders through December. However, it is not taking new orders. Alterations are not available for purchases of samples.

No other department store at South Coast Plaza has a bridal salon.

One of South Coast Plaza’s first stores is holding its final sale.

Today is the last day of Easy Spirit, which opened in 1966, and is currently on the second level in the Sears wing.

It is the only location of the comfort footwear brand in Orange County although other retailers, including Macy’s and JC Penney, sell its wares, too.

Nine West, which is owned by the same company as Easy Spirit, will move into its 1,938-square-foot location.

Easy Spirit’s lease was up and its parent company wanted a smaller store for its new Nine West concept, which eliminates apparel, said South Coast Plaza spokeswoman Debra Gunn Downing. The current Nine West store in the first level of the Bloomingdale’s wing is 2,800 square feet.

A corporate representative of Easy Spirit did not want to comment on what is being called a real estate decision and not part of any trend.

Store manager Yamid Mendoza said although the holidays were slower than typical that business was going well. “We were among the highest-volume stores” in the chain, she said.

The clientele was largely made up of loyal customers, some drawn by the varied shoe widths that Easy Spirit offers, Mendoza said.

The store’s six employees have been offered jobs at sister stores, such as Nine West or Bandolino, or severance packages. They were informed in late November of the closure.

On Tuesday, three quarters of Easy Spirit was already empty. The remaining shoes are all marked at $19.99, which is a bigger discount than the advertised 50 percent off. Regular prices are usually $59 to $89.

Styles left on the shelves include walking shoes, flats, athletic shoes, sandals, pumps and wedges (no boots or stilettos). Multiple sizes are available although the smallest sizes in stock are the ones on display.

After today, the closest Easy Spirit stores will be in Los Angeles and Escondido.