Aritzia plants a parking lot pop-up; Shinola opens SoCal door No. 4 in downtown L.A.
Vancouver, Canada-based retailer Aritzia, which plans to open a 10,000-square-foot flagship at Westfield Century City in the spring, is giving potential customers a tiny taste of what to expect via a pop-up showroom at 8100 Melrose Ave.
If the address sounds familiar, it should. It happens to be home to the ivy-covered retail complex generations of chic shoppers have come to know as the Fred Segal Center (now officially called “the Center”). Aritizia has taken up residence in the 400-square-foot stand-alone jewel box of a building near the Crescent Heights entrance to the parking lot. The space showcases a curated assortment of Aritzia’s in-house brands including Wilfred and Babaton (women’s skirts and separates), Auxiliary (leather handbags) and Golden by Tna (outerwear including slope-appropriate goose-down-filled parkas). Also on hand are pieces from the Wilfred label’s denim collaboration with L.A.-based Citizens of Humanity.
Although the pop-up provides a temporary opportunity (company representatives haven’t given a definitive “pop-down” date, but it’ll be open at least through the end of 2016) to familiarize yourself with Aritzia’s merchandise mix, it’s all for display only, with style advisors on hand to jot down the details of any must-haves on a “wish list” that’ll help jumpstart the online ordering process. As added incentive, orders to California addresses include free expedited shipping through Sunday.
Aritzia Melrose, 8100 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles
Detroit-based watch, bicycle and accessories label Shinola officially opened the doors of its fourth L.A.-area store on Dec. 1, a 2,100-square-foot space in the downtown Arts District.
Like the Grove, Abbot Kinney and Silver Lake locations, the new space will showcase the brand’s ever-growing assortment of timepieces, leather goods (think wallets, backpacks, messenger bags and leather-bound journals), jewelry and the soon-to-launch line of U.S.-built turntables. But unlike those boutiques — or any of Shinola’s other 15 stores nationwide — it’ll also offer temporary sustenance and permanent inking.
The former comes by way of the Smile’s di Alba, a new farmers-market-driven Italian focacceria with a menu by chef Nina Clemente that will serve salads and open-faced focaccia daily in a 1,100-square-foot on-site eatery. It marks the first West Coast outpost for the Smile, which has a quartet of New York City eateries.
The latter comes by way of another New York institution, Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s Saved Tattoo, whose owner Scott Campbell (husband of actress Lake Bell) has decamped to the West Coast and will open an 800-square-foot space in the back of the Shinola boutique later this month that will offer by-appointment-only skin ink daily.
Shinola, 825 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles
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