Aero & Co. Makes a Move
Less than three years after opening their landmark boutique in the anti-establishment Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, Aero & Co. owners Cynthia Vincent and Alisa Loftin plan to relocate in the city to Third Street in August. The Los Feliz store on Kingswell Avenue off Vermont Avenue will close later this month.
“While we love [Los Feliz] to death, it’s off the beaten path,” Loftin said.
Aero & Co. follows the slow exodus of other high-profile boutiques in recent years, including Monah Li and Epoch, which have sought different ventures.
Loftin said she chose Third Street for its highly visible location between the Beverly Center mall and the recently opened Grove open-air shopping center by Farmers Market. The lack of contemporary boutiques in the area was also a draw. Noodle Stories, Fils and B. Curious are among the few clothing destinations on Third.
Because the Third Street milieu is more “sophisticated,” says Loftin, the new 1,500-square-foot store will feature a different aesthetic from that of the Los Feliz store, including a different wall mural, color scheme and a scaled-back inventory of street-oriented designs.
Loftin anticipates losing some of her local client base, noting, “A lot of people in Los Feliz don’t travel to the Westside of town.” The owners had planned to keep their original location as well, but they couldn’t secure investors in time for the move.
“There’s a total guilt for leaving the area and our neighbors are sad to see us go,” Loftin said. “But the price level of our merchandise wasn’t supported by the shopper in this neighborhood.”
A grand opening party for the Third Street location is slated for early September. —Nola Sarkisian-Miller
