When one store closes, another one opens. Restoration Hardware opened a 24,000-square-foot two-story store in the La Cienega Design Quarter of Los Angeles the same day it closed its Santa Monica location. The new store inhabits the space where Williams-Sonoma Home was located before it closed to become an online-only retailer.
The new store will offer a wider selection of furniture and household accessories, along with a tea “atelier” by Bellocq, a 'biblioteque' newsstand of international design publications, a flower shop, and European-style courtyard with olive trees and a fountain.
Around the corner, modern home furnishings retailer Blu Dot has opened its second retail store in the country, a 3,500-square-foot showroom on Melrose Avenue. The Minneapolis-based company's flagship store opened in New York’s Soho neighborhood in November 2008.
"Riffing off the quirky nature of our catalogs, the LA store is embellished with an ever-changing array of curious objects and compatible accessories to enhance that Real Good Blu Dot flavor," said a company representative.
Blu Dot’s work has been showcased at museums such as the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Barclay Butera Interiors moved to LCDQ in January this year, but celebrated an expansion of the showroom last week. Designer Barclay Butera maintains two other showrooms in the area on North La Brea Avenue and in Newport Beach.