Rodriguez Introduces Cuban Concept Store
Ernest Hemingway’s lean prose and the tangy refreshment of mojito cocktails sparked America’s obsession with Cuba more than 60 years ago. Now, Cuban-American retailer Eddie Rodriguez hopes to turn this interest into a style revolution by introducing pre-Castro Cuba–inspired clothes and housewares at his Eddie Rodriguez boutiques.
Rodriguez, former president and creative director of the Wilke-Rodriguez menswear label, started his New York–based chain this year. He celebrated the grand opening of his 3,400-square-foot store on the seventh floor of the Los Angeles–based Beverly Center on Oct. 30.
The stores sell silk chiffon dresses and tropical-weight Italian-fabric pants that look expensive but retail at popular price points, mostly under $100.
“Even wealthy people are starting to demand more for less,” Rodriguez said. “That’s the handwriting on the wall.”
Rodriguez’s venture is a vertical business. He manufactures 10 collections annually— including menswear, womenswear, accessories, shoes and furniture—in factories across the globe. The items retail exclusively at Eddie Rodriguez stores.
Houston-based The Men’s Wearhouse Inc. funded the Eddie Rodriguez stores. The discount retailer of men’s business attire purchased the Wilke-Rodriguez line in 2002, the year that Rodriguez began working on the blueprint for his store.
Rodriguez plans to spend the next year testing what works in his first six stores and then may expand to 300 doors across the country. The designer opened his first store in Las Vegas’ Fashion Show mall in January and followed up with boutiques in San Diego, Boca Raton and Miami, Fla., Austin, Texas and Los Angeles.
For more information, call (310) 854-1113. —Andrew Asch
