New Store, Surf Label for The Closet
New things are coming out of The Closet.
Billy Stade’s Orange County, Calif.–based chain is preparing to open a new store next month and launch a new label early next year.
Stade launched The Closet in 1993 in Huntington Beach, Calif., the first of three stores in the chain. The Huntington Beach store rode to prominence with the then-novel idea of selling surf, skate and snow apparel along with contemporary brands and premium denim.
Now The Closet is moving north. Stade announced May 10 that a 5,000-square-foot store will open in mid-June at 3002 Main St. in Santa Monica.
Stade also plans to expand his Costa Mesa, Calif., store by the end of the year. The Closet will take over 10,000 square feet at the Triangle Square shopping center on Newport Boulevard. Virgin Megastores formerly occupied the space.
Although The Closet will enjoy more room, the chain’s basic style won’t change much. The store’s retail mix of burgeoning Orange County brands such as RVCA, Trovata and Hause of Howe will continue to be sold alongside boutique jeans labels such as Paige Premium Denim and activewear brands such as Nike and Adidas. The expansion will encourage a deeper focus on developing different departments in the stores, Stade said.
Once The Closet’s current round of expansion is finished, there will be four boutiques in the chain. The other stores are in the Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach, Calif., and on Main Street in Huntington Beach. Stade eventually hopes to run 10 boutiques.
The retail chain earned $6 million in 2005, but its beginnings were humble. Stade started selling clothes in a 20- by 5-foot space in Huntington Beach. His friends deemed it so small that they nicknamed it The Closet. The name stuck even as his store’s square footage and revenues increased.
Stade will soon enter the design game. His men’s surf line, Smooth Co., is scheduled to debut in January.
Stade said that the new label’s look will be familiar to the contemporary denim styles popular at The Closet. Price points should range from $50 for T-shirts to $250 for fashion jackets. —Andrew Asch
