Influential Tracey Ross Boutique to Close

High-profile Los Angeles boutique owner Tracey Ross closed her influential Tracey Ross boutique, another casualty of the weak economy, on New Year’s Eve, said a boutique spokesperson.

“The store has been here a long time, the economy is bad and she is taking a new direction,” said the store representative, who declined to give her name.

Ross, who had been working in her boutique during the holiday season, was unavailable for comment.

Ross helped pioneer landmark Los Angeles fashion street Robertson Boulevard when she debuted her boutique in 1990. In 1996, she moved her business to West Hollywood, Calif.’s exclusive Sunset Plaza shopping district, where she maintained a boutique at 8595 Sunset Blvd. The store had been synonymous with a sleek, sexy Los Angeles look. Ross was often quoted in glossy fashion magazines as a guru for women’s contemporary style.

Los Angeles’ fashion and retail world will be poorer without Ross’ landmark store, said Diane Merrick, another influential retailer and a former employer of Ross.

“Tracey Ross was one of the most interesting women I have worked with,” Merrick said. “Tracey always had a look, and everybody wanted to look like her. I learned so much from her style and personality.” Ross was a buyer and manager for the Diane Merrick store from 1984 to 1989, according to Merrick.

The boutique, which carried a wide variety of labels from Anna Sui to Juicy Couture, leaves a Sunset Plaza that has been hit hard by the weak economy. More than three storefronts, not including Ross’, were vacant on Christmas Eve. Sunset Plaza’s popular D&G store closed at the end of November. D&G, a line of the Dolce & Gabbana fashion house, opened a new flagship on Los Angeles’ Robertson Boulevard on Dec. 15. Sunset Plaza owner and manager Montgomery Management Co. had no comment on Ross’ departure.

The high-fashion boutiques on the street were offering huge discounts on Christmas Eve, with steep discounts of 50 percent to 70 percent off.

Duduzile Mkhize, who is another one of Sunset Plaza’s retailers, said business on the street had been tough—similar to other parts of the retail market. “The fall season did not take off; then the stock market crashed,” said Mkhize, the manager of On Sunset. “You look around, and people are not spending.” —Andrew Asch