Jill Roberts to Open Store in Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Manhattan Beach is one of Los Angeles County’s most affluent towns, a fact not lost on Jill Roberts. The retailer is opening her third self-named Southern California boutique—this one in the small, seaside enclave—in early November.
The Jill Roberts boutique is scheduled to open at Manhattan Beach’s Metlox retail center, where it will be the mall’s fifth apparel boutique. Metlox, on the site of the former Metlox Pottery company, hosts restaurants, spas and offices and is located a few blocks away from the Manhattan Beach Pier. Metlox’s other clothing boutiques are American Apparel, True Religion, Beehive and Fresh Produce Sportswear.
Jill Roberts found space in Metlox after her friends, the owners of furniture and interiors store Waterleaf, expanded into Metlox’s former Color Me Mine space. They did not want to take over the entire space and recommended to Metlox management that the Jill Roberts boutique move into the remaining 800 square feet of the Color Me Mine space.
Roberts has been running her boutique business since 1996, and she felt opening a store in Manhattan Beach was a safe risk because the town is so affluent. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the median household income in Manhattan Beach is $126,650, compared with $54,375 in Los Angeles County overall.
Roberts’ target demographic, active moms in their 30s and 40s, reportedly makes up a significant part of the population in the seaside town. The merchandise mix at Jill Roberts will feature brands such as Rag & Bone, Alexander Wang, Clover Canyon, Antik Batik, Mother Jeans, Current/Elliot and 10 Crosby, as well as Seaton, which features French terry loungewear, sweatshirts and beach-inspired tunics. The store’s retail price points range from $50 for T-shirts to $1,500 for leather goods such as boots. Core retail price points for jeans start at $200.
Roberts and her extended family maintain a home in Manhattan Beach, but she did not want people to think that she’d go completely native there. “I’m not making it a beach store,” she said. Instead, the merchandise mix will be similar to her other Southern California locations (her Santa Monica store at 920 Montana Ave. and her Beverly Hills store at 363 N. Beverly Drive). She closed a Melrose Avenue boutique devoted to Seaton, luxury beach-clothing brand, in 2010 when the store’s lease ran out.
Roberts owns the company, but her main concern is her stores’ merchandising. “In this business you’ve got to stay creative if you want to move ahead. The hunt is still fun for me,” she said. “How I pick certain brands and interpret them in the store with everything else gives the store a unique identity. That is why people come back.”—Andrew Asch
