Suzi B Expands, Debuts Stores
Designer Suzanne Bjontegard, also known as Suzi B, has expanded her denim line and added full-fledged retail operations in the form of three San Diego-area mall stores to her mini-empire of jewelry, clothing and gift accessories in the last two months.
She bowed her denim jeans, jackets and skirts at the Rediscover L.A. fashion show presented by Los Angeles-based retail consulting firm Directives West last month.
Recent publicity hasn’t hurt the designer’s cause either. Debra Messing, star of NBC’s “Will and Grace,” wore a pair of Bjontegard’s Glam Jeans on the show’s season premiere.
On the market for the past five months, the embellished Levi’s Vintage 501 jeans retail for $240 to $310 and feature whimsical words on crystal pouches along the thighs and ankles. Bjontegard is adding two jackets and two above-the-knee skirts to the line.
Unlike the low-rise bottoms that are the current rage, Bjontegard said her jeans offer a looser fit. “We were at first blasted with comments about how these weren’t low-riders, but now sales are really taking off,” she added.
Bjontegard’s retail venture is the rollout of her new PowdeRoom stores, small boutiques carrying her jewelry along with bathroom-themed items ranging from Nick & Nora pajamas to private-label makeup to bath and body products by Primal Elements and Upper Canada. Customers can custom-order her jeans at the stores in Grossmont Center in La Mesa, Plaza Bonita in National City and the University Towne Center in La Jolla.
With store sales expected to reach $350–$500 a square foot, according to the designer’s husband, Erik Bjontegard, the couple plans to open two more stores closer to the Los Angeles area and in London in 2002. —Nola Sarkisian-Miller
