& Other Stories took its final bow on the West Coast, closing its North Beverly Drive store in Beverly Hills to make space for sister brand H&M.
The two fast-fashion retail concepts are trading spaces at 370 N. Beverly Drive, with & Other Stories officially closed this past week. Market sources told Vernon Proper H&M is expected to perform significantly better in that space, pulling in more foot traffic to the already popular shopping strip as one estimated the potential of triple the sales for its parent.
The expected H&M opening comes amid a flurry of activity for Beverly Drive in what’s increasingly being referred to as the new Rodeo Drive of Beverly Hills.
North Beverly Drive is home to L.A. boutique retailer Kitson, Favorite Daughter, Erewhon, L’Agence, Alice + Olivia and Reformation among other retailers and brands.
Chanel is set to open its beauty concept in what is currently occupied by Club Monaco, at the corner of Beverly Drive and Brighton Way, Vernon Proper first reported in May. Club Monaco won’t be leaving the area for good, with plans to move into the space across the street that’s occupied by sister brand Intermix.
Club Monaco and Intermix are owned by Beverly Hills private equity firm Regent LP.
& Other Stories’ West Coast Exit
With & Other Stories’ closure, the higher-end and higher-priced retail concept exits California after less than a decade on the West Coast.
For Stockholm-based parent H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB, the closure is part of a right-sizing of its store fleet. The company reported last week & Other Stories closed one store in its fiscal first quarter ended Feb. 28 to bring the fleet count to 69 locations, which is down two doors from a year ago. The business was in 25 markets as of the end of the February quarter.
& Other Stories launched in 2013. It was positioned as a curated purveyor of ready-to-wear, shoes, accessories and beauty products. The retail concept expanded to the West Coast with the opening of a store in Fall 2016 at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. That was followed up in 2017 with the Beverly Hills store and Americana at Brand in Glendale. The company also opened an atelier in 2017 to design collections for the West Coast market, located in West Hollywood on Melrose Avenue.
The Costa Mesa and Glendale locations closed earlier this year.
& Other Stories is its parent’s third-largest business by door count, but it’s still significantly smaller than H&M’s over 3,700 stores and Cos’s 239 locations.
The group’s namesake chain is itself shuttering underperforming doors, with 35 H&Ms closed in the February quarter.
About one third of the group’s leases will be renegotiated or closed annually. Meanwhile, in the current calendar year 80 stores across the brands are set to open in growth markets, such as El Salvador and Paraguay for H&M and South Korea for Cos.
Companywide sales in the February quarter rose 3 percent from a year earlier to $5.8 billion, based on current exchange rates.
Net profit was $80.3 million, which is down from $169.2 million and partially driven by an increase in promotional activity.
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