Retailer Carves Own Space on La Brea
Retailers want their stores to be unique, but Lily Savitch thought that her boutique could forge an individual identity through numbers.
Savitch recently opened her selfnamed fashion boutique, her first, on a stylish secion of La Brea Avenue. Every boutique has staked out a unique identity on the street.
The Lily Savitch boutique is located at 524 1/2 N. La Brea Ave., up the street from American Rag, at 148 S. La Brea Ave., a pioneer of unique Los Angeles retail. In the past three years, other fashion boutiques with an independent fashion point of view—such as Apartment 3 at 813 N. La Brea Ave. and Sugar on La Brea at 633 N. La Brea Ave.—have also put their own stamp on the street.
But the street has not yet become a bustling shopping district. The boutiques are separated from each other by long distances, which often discourages walking from store to store, said Kelley West, co-owner of Sugar on La Brea. “We wouldn’t stay open if we had to rely on foot traffic,” she said.
Instead, every boutique must become a destination in order to survive. Savitch hopes that her 1,200-square-foot shop attracts women with its mix of basic clothing with a fashion twist. Price points range from $50 to $500, with $75 for a white tank top by Los Angeles–based label Woo to $358 for a cotton two-tone dress by French label Cacharel. Once fall rolls around, Savitch will sell garments that fetch prices up to $2,000.
Despite the distances between the boutiques, Savitch said that women will drive the extra mile for something unique. “You can wear basics,” Savitch said of many of the labels in her store. “But you don’t have to look like everybody else.”—Andrew Asch
