Among Giants: Bebe Opens on Rodeo
After more than 29 years of selling women’s fashions and opening 227 Bebe boutiques, Manny Mashouf, founder of the Brisbane, Calif.–based Bebe Stores Inc., has an address that has given him a sense of arrival.
He celebrated the grand opening of Bebe’s Rodeo Drive store on Dec. 14. “It’s next to Dior, Louis Vuitton and all of the incredible designers. We are among the giants,” said Mashouf, dressed in a Roberto Cavalli suit.
The Bebe founder and his executives waited four years for an appropriate site to open up on Rodeo. The new store is the largest Bebe location. It is 7,600 square feet and specializes in some of Bebe’s more formal and sophisticated fashions, according to a company representative. The company maintained a Bebe store a few blocks away at Beverly Boulevard. With the opening of the Rodeo Drive location, the Beverly shop is being used to showcase the company’s Bebe Sport concept.
While Mashouf’s celebrity guests, including actress Natasha Henstridge, browsed through the spacious two-story boutique, the Bebe chief said he did not plan to expand Bebe beyond 500 stores. “You cannot keep it special then,” he said.
Rodeo Drive continues to cast its spell with luxury brands. A real estate source who requested anonymity said a Dior Homme shop would open at 315 N. Rodeo Dr. in 2006. Venerable French designer Christian Dior did not return phone calls requesting an interview. —Andrew Asch
