California Apparel News

When Amsterdam-based denim label G-Star opens its flagship boutique on Beverly Hills’ famed Rodeo Drive next month, it will join a growing coterie of contemporary brands, including Guess?, Bebe, Juicy Couture and BCBG Max Azria. But Rodeo’s leading merchants and real estate brokers say the iconic street will remain a stronghold of luxury.

Contemporary brands, well known in top malls, have gradually been moving onto Rodeo Drive over the last decade, and G-Star is just the latest. The Dutch brand is opening its doors at 413 N. Rodeo Drive on Dec. 6.

Even as contemporary stores take more real estate on Rodeo Drive, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Lanvin and Hermegrave;s also maintain important shops on the street, along with 60 other luxury fashion brands. But Rodeo might have to prepare to cede more space to retailers that are not prestigious fashion houses, said Bernard G. Jacobs, a stylist who frequently shops on Rodeo Drive. “I think the complexion of the street is going through a change,” Jacobs said. “It’s becoming more corporate brand conscious.”

Changing tastes and a sluggish economy may have paved a way for contemporary brands to move to Rodeo, but there are still luxury labels moving in or expanding their footprints.

Italian fashion house Valentino moved across the street in the 300 block of North Rodeo and will debut a three-level 7,500-square-foot emporium, which is scheduled to open around Christmas. David Yurman is expanding his shop. Currently renovating boutiques are Hermegrave;s and Dior. Brioni closed its boutique on the 300 block of North Rodeo and will debut a more intimate shop on the 400 block.

Historically, Rodeo has been a street with few vacancies, but currently there are about four openings on the thoroughfare, said Jay Luchs, executive vice president for real estate company CB Richard Ellis. Rodeo also remains the most pricy retail real estate in the Los Angeles area. A square foot of real estate ranges from $30 to $45 each month, Luchs said. In comparison, on thriving contemporary-fashion street Robertson Boulevard, retail real estate ranges from $12 to $17 per square foot.

High real estate prices and the market might keep Rodeo a luxe street. The city of Beverly Hills and merchant associations such as the Rodeo Drive Committee have no say on who can move onto the street. However, the city’s Architecture Commission must sign off on a boutique’s designs before it can open. This commission helps maintain the city’s standards of luxury looks, said Therese Kosterman, a public-information manager for the city of Beverly Hills.

Rodeo’s reputation as a luxury enclave helps bring millions of tourists and locals to the area each year, said James Jahant, general manager of Rodeo Drive’s Brooks Brothers emporium and president of the Rodeo Drive Committee. “When you’re on Rodeo Drive, product has to be special. Tourists from Hong Kong are looking for special items they won’t find in Hong Kong,” he said. Likewise, retailers will spend top dollar for space on a street that has proven itself over the years to be a popular tourist attraction for wealthy visitors.

But neighborhoods’ characters do change, said Leslie Le Tellier, who worked at the Theodore boutique on Rodeo Drive from 1969 to 2008. The store stayed in Beverly Hills and is now located at 336 N. Camden Drive. Le Tellier remembers a Rodeo Drive filled with independent, multi-line fashion boutiques along with a bookstore, a toy store and even a hardware store.

“It was a very neighborhood-friendly place but with stars,” Le Tellier said. She remembers Doris Day taking a daily bicycle ride around the block, as well as Dean Martin frequently strolling around Rodeo with his family.

In the 1980s, designer and branded boutiques started moving onto Rodeo, and the independents moved off. “It reminds me of an impersonal shopping mall now,” she said.

Jahant said part of the mission of the Rodeo Drive Committee is to get the public better acquainted with the street with annual block party–style events such Fashion’s Night Out and the Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance. He said the new contemporary stores will help Rodeo in the long term.

“It will appeal to a new generation of clients,” Jahant said. “It will attract a younger client who spends on things that are different.”