California Apparel News

COS, a division of H&M, recently signed a lease for a 13,000-square-foot store in Beverly Hills, Calif., said Jay Luchs, the broker who handled the deal. It will be among one of COS’s first stores in the United States.

On the brand’s website, COS describes itself as “high-end design at affordable prices.” It will move into 357 N. Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, in a space that formerly housed a Banana Republic. A London-based representative for COS, which stands for Collection of Style, did not respond by publication time to emails requesting comment on the new store. Media reports said that COS also is scheduled to open a New York City store and a Tokyo store. COS opened in London in 2007 and runs a fleet of stores with locations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

COS’ upcoming Beverly Drive neighbors will include French vertical retailer Iro, Intermix, Scoop, Alice + Olivia and Planet Blue. “It’s our answer to Soho,” Luchs said of Beverly Drive. “We used to say that it’s Melrose and Robertson, but now it’s Beverly Drive.” Luchs is an executive vice president of real estate company NewmarkGrubb
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The Rebecca Minkoff brand recently signed a lease for a 4,500-square-foot space at 8335 Melrose Ave., which is at the corner of Melrose and Kings Road in Los Angeles. The building formerly housed the Ed Hardy General Store. Minkoff also will open a San Francisco shop at 2124 Fillmore St. Both locations are expected to open by 2015, according to a Rebecca Minkoff statement. The New York–headquartered company also is scheduled to open a boutique in its hometown, too, Uri Minkoff, Rebecca Minkoff’s chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.

“We are thrilled to announce our three store openings in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. This is the first step in our big U.S. expansion. We are particularly interested in starting in those markets to continue our ongoing conversation with our millennial customer in a retail setting,” he said.

Rebecca Minkoff has run a shop on the grounds of the former Confederacy boutique in Los Angeles’ Los Feliz section since 2011.

The entire Rebecca Minkoff collection will be available at her new retail stores, including handbags, ready-to-wear, denim, shoes, jewelry, small leather goods and accessories.

The Old Pasadena district in Pasadena, Calif., is in a retail uproar. There are 14 new tenants on the district’s main drag, West Colorado Boulevard, said Pat S. Hurst, president of Hurst Harrigan Associates, real estate consultants and brokers who handled many of the deals in Old Pasadena.

Old Pasadena was the subject of redevelopment efforts in the early 1990s, and many of the leases that were signed have expired and had no options to renew, Hurst said. “We have been pushing the reset button with Old Pasadena for the past two or three years,” she said of a new wave of stores moving into town. “It’s a new Old Pasadena.”

Opening for business in June included shops for vertical retailer Vince, which opened at 29 W. Colorado in June. Splendid opened at 113 W. Colorado. Amsterdam-headquartered brand Scotch & Soda opened at 105 W. Colorado, and Athleta opened at 46 W. Colorado in a space that once housed an American Apparel location.

Lululemon Athletica is scheduled to move to a 3,200-square-foot space at 103 W. Colorado from an 1,800-square-foot space at 110 W. Colorado Blvd. A Jonathan Adler store recently signed a lease to move into another 3,200-square-foot space. This one will be located at 107 W. Colorado.

Moving into a space formerly occupied by a Juicy Couture shop will be a Nike shop, which will reportedly be introducing a new concept, similar to one opened in New York City’s Soho district. Nike declined to comment on this new store. Hurst forecasts there will be more turnover in retail real estate in the streets adjacent to West Colorado. “We have the opportunity to reposition more than 100,000 square feet of retail in those two blocks in the not too distant future,” she said.