Window at Theodore Beverly Hills.
Theodore Beverly Hills Posts Store Closing Signs
It might be time to say farewell to pioneering boutique Theodore in Beverly Hills, which has sold contemporary and designer fashion in the wealthy city of Beverly Hills since the late 1960s.
Big signs bearing the messages “Store Closing Sale!” and “Lost Our Lease” were posted in the windows of the Theodore boutique located at 336 N. Camden Dr., a few blocks from Rodeo Drive where the store started business in 1969. It moved to Camden Drive in 2008.
Leslie Le Tellier, menswear buyer and jewelry buyer for Theodore Beverly Hills, declined to comment on the future of Theodore Beverly Hills or why Store Closing signs were hung in the boutique’s windows.
At the height of its business, Theodore ran a fleet of 12 boutiques. It still runs boutiques at high profile locations such as The Grove, Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood and Palm Desert, a wealthy enclave near Palm Springs, Calif. The boutique’s website, theodorebh.com, still lists a Malibu, Calif. store located at 23733 Malibu Rd. as being in business. But neighboring businesses told California Apparel News that the location was shuttered.
Beverly Hills is well known as a town with high commercial rents, but Chuck Dembo, partner in the retail real estate firm Dembo Realty, said that Camden Drive was a relative bargain. He estimated that it was $6 per square foot per month on that street. “There’s not a lot of vacant space around,” Dembo said of the street. “People seem to be doing business there.”
Thedore offers designers such as Alexander McQueen, Ann Demeulemeester and James Perse, according to its website.
