‘There’s the right home for any brand’: Why retail keeps turning to Los Angeles

New York, the City of Dreams, has traditionally been the springboard for retail’s biggest dreamers as well. Experimental store concepts line the city’s most popular shopping streets, and up-and-comers flock to the city to put their businesses to the test.

While New York is still paramount for retailers opening for the first time, the City of Angels — with its various neighborhoods and shopping streets — is on the rise as a destination for direct-to-consumer brands.

So, what is it about Los Angeles?

‘An amalgamation of small towns:’ What makes Los Angeles stand out

A list of tenants on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, one of Los Angeles’ most popular shopping streets, yields a massively long catalog of brands — both retail staples and relative newcomers alike. Its current tenants include Away, Allbirds, Warby Parker, Buck Mason, Vuori, Mejuri, ThirdLove, Everlane, Faherty, Scotch & Soda, Beautycounter, Ray-Ban, Birkenstock, Birdies and Marine Layer.

But Abbot Kinney is hardly the only place in LA where up-and-coming brands can be found. Melrose, The Grove shopping center, Larchmont Village and other areas all teem with activity — and they all have a different appeal to brands and shoppers.

A long stretch of Melrose Avenue and Melrose Place are popular choices for brands

The Grove, a shopping center in Los Angeles made to look like a small town, is actively seeking out those brands. Richard Lynch, director of property management at Grove developer Caruso, said via email that the property emphasizes bringing in “only in LA” retailers, including brands opening their first brick-and-mortar presence.

“We are naturally attracted to brands that share our customer-obsessed mission and we take great pride in introducing first to Los Angeles and even first ever locations for brands,” Lynch said. “We are home to the first and only flagship for celeb-loved Athletic Propulsion Labs’ (APL) flagship and more recently, introduced the first dedicated Asos in-store experience at The Grove.”

The shopping center also has an outdoor space dedicated to pop-ups for more creative store concepts or to allow brands to test physical retail without committing to a full store. Recent pop-ups have included Skims, Kylie Cosmetics and Lady Gaga’s Haus Laboratories.

It’s a strategy Caruso pursues across its portfolio. The company’s Palisades Village property opened with the first physical store for several digitally native brands, including Tamara Mellon, Jennifer Meyer and The Little Market. The first Amazon Style clothing store also launched at The Americana at Brand, another Caruso property.

In short, brands opening in Los Angeles have a slew of options for where to break ground. And each shopping area holds unique elements they can capitalize on.

The Grove

The Grove also has its own feel. The area is an outdoor shopping center that looks like a small town.

“The Grove was designed to evoke a small-town past, complete with crowned roadbeds, raised sidewalks, a double-decker trolley, central fountain and a ‘town green,’” Caruso’s Lynch said. “The streetscape architecture is nostalgic and echoes the styles prevalent in Los Angeles during the 1930s and 1940s. It’s all very intentional – we wanted it to feel nostalgic, and for our guests to be transported to a different time.”

The shopping center aims to provide “an experience beyond just retail and restaurants,” Lynch said. That might mean riding the trolley, watching the fountain show or coordinating other experiences with the center’s concierge team. Lynch noted The Grove sets up activities like VIP shopping at its retailers and picnics.

“The Grove is a little bit different because the Grove is a mall. It’s an outdoor mall — it doesn’t really feel like one — but it’s an outdoor shopping center,” Gurman said, noting there are a number of flagship stores at the center. “It’s a very enjoyable experience. There’s onsite parking, you can spend the day there and it just breezes by.”

According to Lynch, there are also financial benefits to the experiential approach. Lynch says Caruso’s customers visit its properties three times more often, stay twice as long and spend twice as much as its competitors, though Lynch did not specify who those competitors were or how much revenue The Grove makes.

“We have long been the first choice for digitally native brands entering the brick-and-mortar space,” Lynch said. “Face-to-face interaction, the social aspect of shopping and the physical presence of retail goods fulfill a basic human need and experiential retail is what we do best. The Grove is simply a natural fit for DTC brands seeking a hybrid approach to better serve their audiences and we love introducing new concepts to our community.”

While The Grove is not as organic of a shopping area as perhaps Abbot Kinney is — the entire center is meticulously manufactured — the mall has grown to become a part of the Los Angeles community over time, according to Golden.

“Nevertheless, it stands in contrast to the other retail outlets around LA including other malls like Century City, and certainly the neighborhood corridors like Abbot Kinney and Melrose,” Golden said.