Barneys Co-op to Open at The Grove
Barneys Co-op will open at The Grove shopping center in mid-March 2007, said Todd Russell, senior vice president of retail leasing and marketing for Caruso Affiliated, owner of the Los Angeles–based shopping center. The new store will give more weight to The Grove’s focus on casual luxury.
“We are not trying to become Rodeo Drive,” Russell said of the designer shopping street in Beverly Hills. “We can offer all different price points at The Grove. For now, we’re more focused on casual luxury.”
In the recent past, casual luxury has been represented at Caruso’s properties by retailers such as M. Fredric and Theodore, which specialize in premium denim. The Grove’s Barneys Co-op will be a two-story, 9,200- square-foot store that retails premium denim such as Chip & Pepper, Habitual and Citizens of Humanity. Clothing, shoes and accessories include lines from Marc by Marc Jacobs and Splendid.
Barneys Co-op will move into a space in The Grove’s Bow Street section that is currently occupied by Amadeus Aveda Spa and Tracy Allen Jewelers. Those businesses will move to another section of the shopping center, which reportedly is visited by more than 18 million people annually.
Barneys’ Los Angeles customers should get double the pleasure when Barneys Co-op opens for business in The Grove. The Barneys New York department store less than one mile away in Beverly Hills does a thriving designer-focused business.
Michael Celestino, Barneys executive vice president for stores, said the Co-op and the department store would complement each other.
“We have three Co-op stores in New York City along with the flagship store on Madison Avenue. It has done nothing but grow the brand,” Celestino said. “There’s been no cannibalization. We could have another store in Los Angeles if we found the right space.”
Celestino plans to build four Barneys Coops each year. Others are scheduled to be built in Austin, Texas; Troy, Mich.; and White Plains, N.Y. A Barneys Co-op opened at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif., in 2005. Celestino said he hoped to build more Barneys Co-ops in California.
Coincidentally, Caruso Affiliated’s Russell was formerly a leasing executive for South Coast Plaza. He helped shape the deal that brought Barneys Co-op to that luxury shopping center. Russell said that bringing Barneys Co-op to The Grove was one of his goals when he joined Caruso in 2005. —Andrew Asch
