The Cooper: Staking a Claim in Retail's Next Frontier
From left;The Cooper Store's Shirley Huling, graphic designer and Cooper Store shopper Altair Padilla on ukulele.
When it comes to developing boutique neighborhoods, talk to Steve Hirsh, owner of the Cooper Design Space showroom building and a few other properties in downtown L.A. He opened The Cooper Store at 721 S. Los Angeles St. in 2009, since then a handful of other fashion stores have moved onto the 700 block of South Los Angeles such as Style Gallery and the Martin Martin store.
“We think Los Angeles Street will be the next frontier of retail for the downtown community,” Hirsh said. “Stay tuned.”
Shirley Huling is one of the managers of the Cooper Store and she said she hopes to bring more of a critical mass of retail to her section of downtown by developing shops-in-shops around The Cooper Store. On Aug. 11, Huling invited a cart from California Flower Mall to sell sunflowers and bouquets around The Cooper Store during Downtown Art Walk. The Cooper Store sells samples from Cooper showrooms as well as other treasures.
