California Apparel News

Boutiques for online clothier Bonobos, fashion line Gant Rugger and Undefeated, a streetwear emporium, will open at the District La Brea compound in the next few months. The new shops could bring more retail attention to Los Angeles’ La Brea Avenue, which for years has been the address for vacant storefronts and some of the city’s most popular destination retail.

The new shops will move into the sprawling 80,000-square-foot District La Brea development of retail and restaurants, located on La Brea between First and Second streets and across the street from high-marquee retailer American Rag CIE, said Brandt Leitze, project manager for District La Brea, which is owned by real estate company Madison Marquette Inc.

American Rag CIE, one of Los Angeles’ most popular fashion emporiums, has done business on the 100 block of South La Brea for more than 30 years. High-end vintage shop The Way We Wore and women’s contemporary shop Bleu also attract shoppers to La Brea, one of Los Angeles’ major thoroughfares, which can resemble a highway during peak traffic hours.

Before The Great Recession, La Brea was home to a number of independent fashion boutiques. More than five shuttered in a quick succession between 2007 and 2008, and until recently few of these shops have been replaced by new fashion boutiques.

However, Michelle Dalton Tyree, a former La Brea boutique owner, believes the street could change its reputation as a place for destination retail. She is among those who believe that La Brea will eventually meet its potential of being one of Los Angeles’ streets for fashion design and restaurants such as Melrose Avenue, Robertson Boulevard, West Third Street and Abbot Kinney Boulevard.

“We were too early to the party,” Dalton Tyree said of her stint as a La Brea boutique owner. “We’re seeing an honest second coming of La Brea.” She ran a designer boutique called Iconology at 353 S. La Brea Ave. from 2005 to 2007. It was part of a wave of fashion shops that opened on La Brea before The Great Recession, then closed shortly before or during the harsh economic period. Iconology was replaced by a boutique called My Ulrika, which sells vintage fashions, home furnishings and jewelry.

The boutique closings were blamed on national problems, such as a shaky economy, and problems specific to La Brea, including a lack of parking. Also, La Brea was just beginning to forge its identity as a contiguous fashion street. Many consumers were just beginning to discover the place’s retail beyond a handful of high-marquee destinations, Dalton Tyree said. Not least, there was not enough diversity of business on the block.

“The stores that were there were not enough of a draw,” she said. “You need a mix of large and small businesses.”

She believes the major thoroughfare needed bigger anchors to make people get out of their cars and stay. Mood Fabrics, a prominent fashion textile emporium, opened at 645 S. La Brea Ave. in 2013, and Dalton Tyree said it has become an anchor. There also needed to be more restaurants and design shops on the street.

Brigham Yen, a real estate broker with The Agency, said La Brea is going through a renaissance but it remains hobbled by its great size. “I think the scale of La Brea being still so spread out will make it hard for it to become a truly thriving retail street akin to Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena or Melrose Avenue, which are much more densely packed with back-to-back retailers. There could be pockets of activity that will form such as the area of La Brea around Santa Monica Boulevard,” he wrote in an email. “It will likely still remain a street with destination retailers for the foreseeable future until the city of LA can figure out how to move pedestrians up and down this long thoroughfare with an attractive transit system that supports and encourages pedestrian activity.”

Michael Rielly, executive vice president of Townsend & Associates, a real estate consulting and development firm, said that commercial space ranges from $4 to $8 per square foot on La Brea. He said that it would be a primary choice for stores focused on

“destination-cool.” He said, “La Brea is still developing toward being able to court larger brands.”

District La Brea has attracted more fashion retailers to the thoroughfare since it opened in 2011 after renovating an 80,000-square-foot site of the former Continental Graphics building, which once housed a printing complex. Currently, popular shops such as A+R, Kelly Cole, Steven Alan, Shelter Half and Garrett Leight Optical are District La Brea tenants.

Leitze said the place is currently 87 percent full with boutiques; restaurants such as Sugarfish, which opened in January; and creative offices. Leitze said there is more to come.

“Our goal is to curate regional and national designers and restaurants and incorporate creative companies to build a creative destination for the people of this neighborhood,” Leitze said. “It is fashion forward. It is unique and will be true to La Brea’s landscape and surroundings.” District La Brea offers more parking: There are two parking lots. A garage on Second Street offers 128 spaces, and a surface lot on First Street has 44 spaces.

The upcoming Bonobos and Gant shops will be located by the intersection of La Brea and First. Bonobos’ Guideshop is scheduled to open early May, and it will be the first Southern California location for the e-retailer’s unique boutiques. Shoppers will view clothes on display at the Guideshop and order them, but they will not be able to take clothes home after purchasing them. Rather, the clothes will be delivered from a Bonobos fulfillment center shortly after the order is made. Bonobos runs eight other Guideshops, with one located in San Francisco.

Gant Rugger, which opened a boutique on Los Angeles’ Abbot Kinney Boulevard in 2012, is scheduled to open a District La Brea shop later this month. Undefeated is scheduled to move across the street in June. It is currently located at 112 S. La Brea Ave.