California Apparel News

Ron Herman, one of Los Angeles’ pioneering retailers, quietly opened its first boutique devoted to men’s fashions earlier this month at the Malibu Village retail center in Malibu, Calif.

A Ron Herman representative confirmed the men’s store, called Ron Herman, took over the site of the Los Angeles–based company’s Freecity Superstore on July 10. Its address is 3866 Cross Creek Road, located across the street from the Pacific Ocean. The Freecity Superstore had been operating in the space since August 2005.

The changing of the guard means that Freecity’s playful, hippie/surfer deacute;cor—which featured a teepee, bicycles and record-album covers lining the walls—have been packed away. In its place, a sleek and spare look dominates the Ron Herman men’s store. The new store features a blue awning on the exterior and a flag bearing the letter “R” waving over the store roof.

Freecity’s colorful T-shirts, sweats and hoodies continue to be sold in the new men’s boutique. Other lines sold at the men’s boutique include Ever, Canterbury of New Zealand and Warriors of Radness.

The men’s boutique will be Ron Herman’s second store at Malibu Village. The company continues to sell women’s fashions at the veteran Ron Herman boutique that has been doing business at 3900 Cross Creek Road for more than eight years.

Ron Herman did not reply to requests for comment about the new men’s store. However, he spoke to California Apparel News on July 18 at contemporary men’s trade show ENK New York. At the show on opening day, Herman said he had recently returned from the shows in Paris and planned to shop the trade shows in Las Vegas in August, as well.

“I go to every men’s show,” Herman said. “The most important thing for me is to be out in the industry. The relationships we have are extremely important to me. That’s the top priority.”

Herman charted new retail territory in 1976, when he bought the Fred Segal compound of contemporary shops at 8100 Melrose Ave. Since then, he has built a chain of four Los Angeles–area stores, an e-commerce shop and two boutiques in Japan.

The Ron Herman men’s shop will be one of several high-profile and well-known brands at Malibu Village. On July 27, there was a sign posted in Malibu Village announcing an opening by Christmas of a boutique housing Italian fashion house Missoni. (Missoni also maintains American boutiques on Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive and in New York.) In December 2009, True Religion opened a 1,500-square-foot store at Malibu Village. Later this year, Levi’s will open a shop at the retail center. Malibu Village is 90 percent leased, according to a representative from Los Angeles–based development company Retail Holdings Group, Malibu Village’s owner.

Malibu Village is undergoing a $4 million renovation, which started June 21. Retail Holdings Group hoped to transform Malibu Village from a mall offering community-based, independent shops to a place that will be more attractive to the luxury shoppers who patronize neighboring retail centers Malibu Country Mart and Malibu Lumber Yard.

The old exteriors of the mall, which was constructed in the 1960s, will be replaced by wood storefronts that will offer a look reminiscent of the Hamptons, the New York beach getaway area, according to Retail Holdings Group principal Pouya Abdi. Renovation plans also include three grassy/green areas suitable for picnicking or lounging on the south side of the retail center, which is adjacent to a creek.

Los Angeles–based Marmol Radziner and Associates provided construction services as well as the architecture for the new look of the old mall.