California Apparel News

The retail world is kicking into high gear when it comes to opening new locations on the Westside of Los Angeles.

Everlane, based in San Francisco and previously an online-only venture, is planning to open its first Los Angeles store in L.A’s Venice neighborhood. The 3,300-square-foot future outpost will be located on the corner of Abbot Kinney and Westminster Avenue at 1101 Abbot Kinney Blvd.

ASB Real Estate Investments made the announcement on Dec. 3, but neither Everlane nor ASB returned requests for information about when the store would open.

This is the third location for Everlane, which has shops in San Francisco and New York City. Previously, the label’s distribution of its basics was restricted to its direct-to-consumer channel, www.everlane.com, and it seemed as if Everlane would never take the bricks-and-mortar route.That was reinforced in a 2012 interview with the New York Times T magazine in which Everlane founder Michael Preysman said his company would never open a permanent location. But that changed. Everlane is one of a handful of formerly online-only retailers, including Amazon and Warby Parker, that have embraced physical locations.

Also opening a new store is boutique retailer Elyse Walker, who in January will open the second location of her new retail concept called Towne by elysewalker at The Glen Centre, which serves Los Angeles’ exclusive Bel-Air neighborhood. It will open months after the Towne concept was introduced in September at Palisades Village in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

Towne is devoted to basics and high-end casual looks. “It’s what we wear every day!” Walker said. “Our goal is to capture one lifestyle: ‘laid-back luxury.’ We want to present a carefully curated selection of those essential key pieces.”

The new concept also is something of a departure for Walker. For 19 years, Walker focused on designer styles at her self-named Elysewalker boutiques in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood and in Newport Beach, Calif. Brands offered at the new Towne boutique will include Moncler, Bottega Venetta and Isabel Marant.

Moving farther west, Burton Snowboards in September opened an emporium in downtown Santa Monica, Calif.

After more than a decade on Melrose Avenue, the emporium for Burton Snowboards and Channel Island Surfboards opened in a more-than-5,700-square-foot space a couple of blocks from the popular Third Street Promenade retail district. The space formerly housed a flagship for action-sports purveyor Active Ride.

Burton decided to move after its lease on the Melrose Avenue space expired, according to a company statement.

Plus, more of the brand’s consumers lived closer to the beach. The store will offer Burton-brand snowboards and apparel, as well as Channel Islands surfboards and apparel. Channel Islands is a division of the Vermont-headquartered Burton.