California Apparel News

Satine gained notoriety in the past decade for offering a luxe merchandising mix with a hip, idiosyncratic edge while doing business on Los Angeles’ West Third Street.

On June 16, Satine will open a 1,000-square-foot boutique at 1508 Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Los Angeles’ bohemian Venice neighborhood. The space formerly housed boutique Ms. Vintage, which relocated to Los Angeles’ Playa del Rey section.

Satine Owner Jeannie Lee had been looking to build a new Los Angeles–area shop in Malibu or Venice, but a Venice space opened first. She said she believes the Abbot Kinney neighborhood is right for her angle on luxury.

“We’re trying to bring luxury to Venice in an unexpected way,” Lee said. “We’re mixing the high with the low. There’s no luxe boutique with the Satine point of view.” Satine offers runway-ready dresses from Nina Ricci, little-known indie labels and puckish shorts from the Charlotte Ronson label. Lee has said the store is inspired by Los Angeles style, where “vintage meets luxe.”

Satine is one of the city’s most well-regarded independent boutiques, said Andrea Bell, an associate editor in the Los Angeles office of WGSN, a London-headquartered trend-forecasting company.

“Satine’s retail success is based on two key items: cleverly edited merchandise and really knowing the marketplace. While many boutiques in Los Angeles may offer renowned international brands alongside emerging local designs, Satine buys with a head-to-toe styling in mind,” Bell said.  “Also, in a retail era where online shopping is quick, convenient and offers more selection, Satine has managed to maintain the same seamless shopping experience—quite impressive for a bricks-and-mortar shop.”

Satine’s Venice store will have a similar blue-and-white color scheme as the West Third Street store. The exterior is a bright blue color. Venice artist Jules Muck also is scheduled to paint the Satine logo in graffiti-inspired style on the Abbot Kinney boutique’s exterior.

The Abbot Kinney neighborhood’s cachet is rising, and more fashion retailers plan to move there. Avant-garde Weltenbuerger, which has a boutique in Los Angeles’ Los Feliz neighborhood, will open an Abbot Kinney shop at 1221 Abbot Kinney Blvd. in July. New York men’s boutique Michael Bastian leased space at 1308 Abbot Kinney, and Los Angeles–headquartered women’s shop LF Stores leased space at 1312 Abbot Kinney. Both are housed in a newly constructed building, said Jay Luchs, an executive vice president with real estate company CBRE, who brokered the deal. However, he does not foresee high-profile specialty stores dominating Abbot Kinney.

“Neighborhood people do not want national names,” Luchs said. “Chain stores do not want to show up where they are not welcome.”
Abbot Kinney is one of the few Los Angeles neighborhoods that enjoys a bustling pedestrian street traffic, which typically gives a big boost to boutique business.  A lot of tourists travel through the street, which makes the thoroughfare more lucrative. According to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., tourists spent $15.2 billion in Los Angeles County in 2011.

The street has changed much in the past 10 years, said Barbara Phillips, one of the street’s retail pioneers and owner of the Minnie T’s boutique, which opened on Abbot Kinney in 2002.  In a February 2012 interview, she said that street was better known for T-shirts, a hippie lifestyle and neighborhood-like businesses when she first moved in, a decade ago. In the past few years, price resistance has dissipated, and many men and women would not think twice of paying more than $500 for a jacket on Abbot Kinney—despite the street’s bohemian past.—Andrew Asch