Elyse Walker Opening Flagship Location in Calabasas
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Los Angeles-based fashion retailer Elyse Walker is adding another shingle — at The Commons in Calabasas, Calif.
Construction is set to begin in December on the new 2,343-square-foot boutique, her third after the Pacific Palisades original opened in 1999 and the Newport Beach Lido Marina Village location opened in 2016.
The retailer had initially planned to use the space at the Rick Caruso-owned Commons for her contemporary Towne concept. But in recent months, she saw a void in the Los Angeles suburb made famous by the Kardashians for the more high-end offering of her main line store, which sells Alaïa, Givenchy, Dior, Gucci, Stella McCartney, Saint Laurent and more.
“As we get to know the Calabasas client and landscape, we realize that there is a great opportunity to offer a more elevated assortment and sophisticated styling,” said Walker, whose neighbors in the outdoor shopping center include Drybar, Lululemon and Sephora.
In 2020, Calabasas beat Beverly Hills for the title of the richest city in the U.S. According to Bloomberg, the community of roughly 24,300 has an average annual income of $194,000 — more than double the national average — surpassing Beverly Hills by $4,000. In addition to the Kardashian clan, Will Smith and Jada Pickett Smith, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Drake and pandemic partier Jake Paul have all called the private enclave home.
One of Walker’s engines for growth has been her stylist-led Memo program, which brings the concept of the Hollywood stylist to customers in store and at home through personalized shopping. At her Palisades flagship, 50 percent of customers shop through in-house stylists who have sales of $1 million-plus annually, she told WWD in 2019, and overall, sales through the program account for 40 percent of the company’s total.
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