The Row Melrose Place
After a decade designing their ultra-luxe line The Row, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are opening up shop on Melrose Place, rubbing shoulders with fashion heavy-hitters such as Chloé, Isabel Marant and Marni. The shop, which was previously home to Sally Hershberger and John Frieda, was stripped down to its bones to create an open, breezy space that’s quintessentially L.A. and house the Row’s entire collection of ready-to-wear and accessories.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
“We’ve always wanted our own store; it’s always been part of the plan,” Mary-Kate told WWD. “It was a toss-up between New York and L.A., and when this space became available, we jumped on it. It used to be a hair salon and my sister and I used to come here, so we were very aware of the space.”
The store, located at 8440 Melrose Place is a “hidden gem,” according to the Olsen sisters, and for once, the term really rings true. The Row isn’t visible from the street, save for a single display window and a subtle steel sign. To reach the shop, you’ll have to pass through a set of double doors and make your way through a courtyard before you can reach the goods. Formerly owned by Neil Diamond when this sleepy branch of Melrose was home to production offices for the entertainment industry, Mary-Kate and Ashley enlisted the help of David Montalba and Courtney Applebaum to transform the space into the Row’s very first retail outlet.
Split into two galleries, one of the first thing that shoppers will notice is the pool in the courtyard — this is L.A., after all. Each gallery is home to furniture sourced from JF Chen, Galerie Half, Blackman Cruz and the Thomas Hayes Gallery. And as a bonus, if anything strikes your fancy, you can purchase the tables, chairs and lamps that dot the store. But the clothes are the real draw and they’re housed in the galleries, which are set up to resemble a dining room and a living room (there’s a third called the library, too, for evening pieces and Manolo Blahnik pumps).
“Ultimately, for us, it was about setting it up like a home and just having the apparel be a part of the space,” said Ashley.
The Row’s Melrose Place boutique
One gallery is home to the line’s accessories, including their luxe cult-favorite backpack, and the other gallery has ready-to-wear hanging on movable racks. There is also Sidney Garber jewelry on offer as well as a selection of sunglasses and scarves. Tabletop items pulled from the sisters’ own collection are also on offer, and the pair say that they’ll continue to bring in items from their own homes to integrate into the store’s offerings.
Previously, the Row was only available at department stores and specialty boutiques (spanning 188 locations in 37 countries), so the Melrose Place store is the first time that the entire collection has been available in one space. Exclusives include a palm-tree beaded coat and light-as-air cashmere scarves. The sisters plan on introducing special capsule collections at the store, too. The first is scheduled to arrive in two weeks.
Eventually, the pair could consider the possibility of opening a store for their contemporary label, Elizabeth and James. The twins also promised that the Row would be introducing E-commerce soon, expanding into shoes next season and eventually include menswear before expanding into a full-fledged lifestyle line. And if that lifestyle is anything like the cool, clean store that they’ve established in L.A., it’s sure to follow the wave of success that Mary-Kate and Ashley have been riding so far.
Images courtesy WWD
