Parasuco to Open Robertson Boutique
Montreal-based denim fashion house Parasuco helped pioneer the stretch jean 30 years ago. By February 2007, the company is scheduled to open a boutique on stylish Los Angeles thoroughfare Robertson Boulevard.
The 2,800-square-foot boutique will be located at 111 S. Robertson Blvd., said Rosina Salcito, vice-president of the company. The Los Angeles Parasuco boutique is part of a rollout of five more Parasuco stores across America in 2007. Its first California store opened Sept. 28 at Westfield San Francisco Centre mall.
Salcito said that the company would keep its retail growth on a slow pace. “At the end of the day, we’re manufacturers before we are retailers,” Salcito said. “But everyone seems to run vertical businesses. There are less and less retailers to sell to.” Salcito is wife of company founder and president Sal Parasuco.
Robertson retailer Fraser Ross, who owns Kitson, feared the Parasuco boutique would limit retail choice on the fashion street. “There are too many denim stores on the street. It’s becoming denim alley. In the long run, it will it hurt the street,” he said.
Robertson stores Kitson and Lisa Kline list premium denim as one of their specialties. The street also is home to the flagship boutique of Los Angeles–based brand Paige Premium Denim. Los Angeles–based True Religion Brand Jeans is scheduled to open a store on the street by the end of 2006.
Salcito said the Parasuco boutique will not just be a denim store. It will also sell dresses, knits and wovens.
The Canadian denim company first ventured into retail 10 years ago, when it opened a Montreal flagship. It expanded its retail doors to more than 10 boutiques around Canada five years ago.
The Robertson Boulevard Parasuco store will sell the company’s three lines: its basic label, Denim Legend; Parasuco Cult, its luxury jeans line; and Mademoiselle by Parasuco, a women’s line of silk dresses and trendy outfits. The store’s retail price points should range from $150 for a pair of Denim Legend jeans to $650 for a Mademoiselle dress.
The company is privately held, and Salcito declined to state its earnings. Parasuco employs 300 people in North America. The lease for the Robertson store was signed in the first week of October. Chuck Dembo of Beverly Hills–based Dembo & Associates brokered the deal. Plans for the store’s architecture had not been finished, Salcito said.
—Andrew Asch
