The age of the luxury big box is touching down on Beverly Hills.
With the Beverly Hills Planning Department saying “yes” last week to plans for Louis Vuitton’s over 105,000-square-foot flagship, the decision paves the way for a new kind of shopping experience far from the specialty retail experience of the Giorgio Beverly Hills Fred Hayman opened on Rodeo Drive in 1961.
That is, the mega experiences being proposed by brands such as Louis Vuitton goes far beyond simply buying a bag.
Louis Vuitton’s concept, expected to be completed in 2029, is comprised of two parts.
The Rodeo Drive portion of the Frank Gehry-designed space is 45,433 square feet of retail across four levels. It will include dedicated space for VIP shoppers, in addition to serving as a venue for invite-only events and product launches, according to planning documents.
The Beverly Drive segment includes 24,294 square feet of museum and exhibition space, nearly 6,300 square feet for a gift shop, a 5,567-square-foot café and 150-seat fine dining restaurant with rooftop and enclosed seating. Over 12,000 square feet will be used for operations and staff.
The flagship “will take visitors into a full Louis Vuitton lifestyle experience” and will serve as a showcase for the brand’s “diverse universes of products and one-of-a-kind client experiences,” the company said in a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times.
With heightened competition at retail, the new mega space aims to take shopping to the next level and redefines what experiential means in the luxury sphere.
Getting Experiential Right
There’s big business at stake when it comes to getting a flagship like that of Beverly Hills right.
In the first half of the year, Louis Vuitton parent LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton revenue was down 3 percent, excluding the impact of exchange rates, to $46.7 billion.
Its profit fell 15 percent to $10.6 billion, with the greatest decline being in its wines and spirits division.
The conglomerate’s spin on the first-half performance was to say in a statement at the time of the financial results in late July that the business “showed good resilience” amid a “disrupted geopolitical and economic environment.”
The only division to see revenue growth in the first half of the year was LVMH’s selective retailing segment. This includes Sephora, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, DFS and Samaritaine. That division’s revenue grew 2 percent to $10.1 billion. Meanwhile, its profit rose 12 percent to $1 billion.
The Long Game
The recent financials aren’t a concern, especially with LVMH pumping more than $900 million into Beverly Hills real estate.
Not only do the measured moves underscore a certain degree of patience, but also a strong desire to ensure the LVMH universe has a strong presence on the famed shopping street.
The firm has slowly gobbled up store parcels across Rodeo and Beverly drives reshaping a real estate landscape that was once predominantly owned by local families. Ownership is now changing and so too will Rodeo Drive’s upscale shopping experience in the coming years.
Among LVMH’s known acquisitions are:
- 357 N. Beverly Drive for $43 million
- 360 N. Rodeo Drive for $200 million (site of the new Tiffany flagship)
- 449-453 North Beverly Drive for $30 million
- 465 N. Rodeo Drive for $80 million (former Paley Center for Media)
- 468 N. Rodeo Drive for $245 million (former Brooks Brothers store)
- 456 N. Rodeo Drive for $110 million
- 443 N. Rodeo Drive for $122 million (former Bijan store)
- 319-323 N. Rodeo Drive for $85 million (for new Dior flagship)
Be First to Comment