California Apparel News

Lisa Kline, one of Los Angeles’ most high-profile boutique owners, recently scaled back the square footage of the store where she started her influential fashion business in the 1990s. She called the move a “new look” for her women’s store, located at 138 S. Robertson Blvd. in Los Angeles. It also will help her group of self-named Lisa Kline stores survive the current tough economy, she said.

Kline cut the square footage of her store from 3,000 square feet to 1,800 square feet and debuted the smaller women’s store on June 17.

Kline helped design the new look of her store with designers Ophelia Weiss and Bobby Milstein. The renewed boutique has a more glamorous feel, with pink-white walls as well as some metal fixtures. The older, larger space relied on a rustic look featuring wood tables and racks.

The pioneering retailer said her new store means a newer merchandise mix. In the past few years, her stores focused on casual looks, including plenty of jeans and T-shirts. While Kline said she will continue to offer the vendors she has carried in the past, she plans to offer more unique looks from new designers. “People are not coming for basics,” she said. “They are buying fashion for a night on the town.”

During the past 18 months, she has also scaled back her company, which employed 85 people in 2007. Currently, it employs fewer than 20 people.

The drop in employee numbers comes from cutting stores. She closed her Beverly Hills outlet store, located at 315 S. Beverly Drive, in April. In 2008, she closed her boutique at the Malibu Country Mart in Malibu, Calif. In January, she closed her 4,000-square-foot corporate headquarters, located at 7207 Melrose Ave. in Hollywood, and also shuttered her e-commerce business.

The headquarters and e-commerce site, LisaKline.com, closed after her husband, Robert Bryson, died in an accident at their house in Malibu in January. “It was his baby,” she said of the headquarters and Web business. “I couldn’t walk into the [corporate office] anymore.” She said she has no plans to re-open her e-commerce business. LisaKline.com will host an informational site about her boutiques, and it will debut next month.

Although the catalyst for these changes was her husband’s death, Kline said she had been considering cutting the square footage of her women’s store for the past year. The retailer cited Robertson’s high rents and declining retail traffic since the economy soured in late 2008. In the summer of 2008, rent was $25 per square foot in the premier strip of Robertson Boulevard, according to Chuck Dembo, a partner in commercial real estate group Dembo & Associates. Prices on Robertson recently dropped to $10 to $12 per square foot, he said.

Along with streamlining her business and raising two children, Dylan, 5, and Colt, 3, Kline will appear as a judge in the upcoming Bravo series “Launch My Line.” It will be hosted by identical-twin fashion designers Dean and Dan Caten of fashion label DSquared2. Retail pioneer

Kline’s neighbors continue to see her retail presence as vital to Robertson Boulevard. “She saw the possibilities of Robertson before any other retailer moved in,” said Alison Muh, president and designer of accessories label and boutique Surly Girl, located at 116 N. Robertson Blvd. “And with an unprecedented number of smaller boutiques now closed, the fashion industry needs independent boutiques like Lisa Kline now more than ever to discover, nurture and distribute new lines.”

Kline’s story started in 1995, when she opened one of the first women’s contemporary boutiques in a 1,800-square-foot space at 136 S. Robertson Blvd. In 2001, Kline took over the adjacent store space at 138 S. Robertson Blvd. and expanded her boutique into a 3,000-square-foot store. Kline helped to turn Robertson into one of the most prominent fashion streets in Los Angeles, which now houses boutiques ranging from world-famous brands Chanel and D&G to high-profile independent retailer Kitson.

By the late 1990s, her boutique and the street was on the go. In 1999, she opened Lisa Kline Men. By 2006, it expanded into a 2,400-square-foot store at 143 S. Robertson Blvd. The same year, she opened a 900-square-foot Lisa Kline Kids store at 123 S. Robertson Blvd. The men’s and kids’ boutiques will continue unchanged, Kline said.

She said Robertson still holds magic for fashion consumers. “I believe in Robertson,” Kline said. “The customer is different now. I’m trying to figure out who will be the Lisa Kline girl and the Robertson girl when the economy turns around.”

Indeed, the space she vacated was turned into a storefront with the address 136 S. Robertson Blvd. However, it did not stay empty for long. It has already been leased in a deal brokered by Jay Luchs of CB Richard Ellis.

Newport Beach, Calif.–based fashion label Beach Bunny swimwear confirmed it will open a store in the former Lisa Kline space in November, where it will offer lingerie-inspired swimwear retail priced from $189 to $329.

Beach Bunny is a company that has been expanding in tough times. In February, the company opened a store in Scottsdale, Ariz. In April, the label debuted a boutique in Newport Beach. In 2010, it plans to open a boutique in Dubai.