Situation Normal's Urban Stake
Gregory Johnsen opened the Situation Normal boutique in 2003 to introduce new and hard-to-find streetwear brands. He also may have given himself a job as one of the people revitalizing downtown Los Angeles.
Situation Normal does business in downtown’s Bank District, nearby new neighborhoods of art galleries, loft apartments and small cafes. Many downtown watchers hope boutiques such as Situation Normal will attract new pioneers to the city. These urban pioneers are sophisticated and relatively well off, and Johnsen figured they needed streetwear to complement their lifestyles, which could be as comfortably spent sipping wine at a hip new cafe as eating a burrito from one of Los Angeles’ ubiquitous lunch trucks.
“We’re rooted here,” Johnsen said. “And we’ll have the edge when this town changes.” Until then, he relies on Japanese tourists, destination shoppers from the city’s Echo Park and Los Feliz districts, as well as downtown loft dwellers to buy his mix of the latest in sneakers and streetwear. Sixty percent of his business is bricks and mortar, and 40 percent is from Internet sales.
While many in his customer base can be described as urban pioneers, their tastes are not entirely exotic for a denim-obsessed city. His top-selling item is a pair of jeans by New York–based Prps, which retails for $240.
Johnsen said his clients like the heavy treatment of the jeans, which gives them a rough, underground look. “There are good elements on this denim,” Johnsen said of Prps’ details. “But they’re not over the top.” —Andrew Asch
