Elizabeth
and James, the women’s contemporary lifestyle label founded by Ashley and
Mary-Kate Olsen in 2007, has picked the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles as
the home of its first brick-and-mortar boutique, which officially opened its
doors on July 22.

The
1,200-square-foot flagship, located next to Crate & Barrel (in the space
formerly occupied by Johnny Was), showcases the brand’s ready-to-wear
accessories and fragrance collections against a minimalist backdrop of
white-painted brick walls and light-colored wood fixtures, a retail environment
created by Montalba Architects, the same Santa Monica-based firm that helped
team Olsen create the look and feel of the Row’s first retail space, which
opened on Melrose Place in 2014 (the Row is the sister’s more upscale designer
label, which debuted in 2006) and, more recently, the Raquel Allegra boutique
on Third Street.

In
addition to the label’s range of laid-back Cali-girl-appropriate sleeveless
dresses, ruffled tops and twill trousers — already stocked locally at
boutiques like Ron Herman and American Rag and department stores such as
Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue – the new store offers a handful of exclusive
pieces that can’t be bought anywhere else including key chains, cashmere
scarves and a crocodile-embossed leather tote (the Eloise, $495).

But
that’s not all that makes the new boutique unique: it also stocks a
designer-curated collection of home decor items (twine-wrapped soaps, sage
smudge sticks, handmade Japanese paper), books (“Alexander Girard: A Designer’s
Universe” and John Witzig’s “A Golden Age: Surfing´s Revolutionary 1960´s and
´70´s,” were among the titles stacked neatly on the center table on opening
day) and other items plucked from flea markets or discovered online at Etsy or
EBay. There’s also a deep bench of one-off apparel (think Levi’s trucker
jackets and an assortment of floral kimonos) sourced from vintage boutique
Spanish Moss. (According to a store representative, some 20% to 30% of the
store’s ready-to-wear offerings will be an ever-changing selection of vintage
pieces.)