A COMEBACK STORY: Eyewear conglomerate Luxottica Group SpA is to open Ray-Ban’s first permanent Los Angeles store at The Grove.
The store’s opening in the spring is timed with the start of festival season, beginning with the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The 646-square-foot space is sandwiched between Ebar Café at Nordstrom and Swarovski.
The eyewear brand appears to have hit it off with The Grove, which is where the company set up a shop to test the center in its dedicated pop-up space last year.
Rocco Basilico, Luxottica general manager of retail for North America, said in a statement that the store is “an important benchmark in Ray-Ban’s continued North American expansion.”
Executives from the company were not available for interviews to further discuss the upcoming store opening or if more doors are potentially in the works.
The Grove door, which the company is calling a special concept store, includes an assortment that is a mix of both new styles under the label, as well as classic frames. A digital multimedia table is set up to help customers with the frame selection process.
Ray-Ban parent Luxottica’s portfolio also includes brands such as Oakley, Oliver Peoples and Vogue Eyewear. The company also holds the license for Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Chanel and Coach, among others, with a fleet of some 9,000 stores under brands such as LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sunglass Hut. Luxottica confirmed last year a 46 billion euro merger with eyeglass lensmaker Essilor and is now awaiting antitrust approvals.
In December, the company said the chief executive officer of its products and operations, Massimo Vian, would exit as it consolidates responsibilities ahead of the merger, which will create a 16 billion euro entity named EssilorLuxottica.
By Kari Hamanaka