Tokidoki to Open Melrose Boutique
Rolling: Los Angeles-based tokidoki will open a Melrose Avenue boutique where it will sell fashion with whimsical graphics such as its collaboration with Marvel Comics, pictured above.
Business is getting serious for tokidoki, a whimsically named Los Angeles streetwear brand based around the cartoon characters of Simone Legno.
tokidoki will open its third branded boutique in mid-November. The new store’s address will be 7965 ½ Melrose Avenue, which is located in the heart of the high-profile retail district of Melrose Heights. The neighbors for tokidoki’s 750-square-foot Melrose boutique will be the pioneering Fred Segal compound of fashion stores as well as other popular branded streetwear boutiques such as Kid Robot and Bathing Ape.
tokidoki has operated a boutique in the fashion city of Milan since 2007. But it embarked on something of an American rollout in March, when it opened a 250-square-foot capsule store in New York City’s Soho neighborhood, according to tokidoki founder and chief executive Ivan Arnold.
Despite a poor economy, Arnold deemed the Soho store a success and thought more stores would boost the image of his brand. “There could be no better billboard than a store, especially in the Melrose Heights area,” Arnold said. Current rates for commercial real estate in Melrose Heights are $6 per square foot according to Chuck Dembo of Beverly Hills, Calif.-based commercial real estate company Dembo Associates.
Arnold is considering opening a Hawaii store in 2010. At Pool Trade Show, his label debuted collaboration line tokidoki X Marvel, which features the tokidoki cartoon treatment of Marvel Comics superheroes such as Spiderman and Hulk.
