Major renovations on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, resumed a few months ago, despite delays due to the pandemic. Major luxury brands have invested huge sums of money to buy stores on the avenue, including French luxury brands Chanel (Chanel) and Louis Vuitton (Louis Vuitton).
Rodeo Drive is the most expensive commercial street in the world, with shops renting between $40,000 and $80,000 a month on average, and it's hard to come by.
Aria Baracci, founder of bridal clothing brand Baracci, said: "The monthly rent of the store is rising and will approach $70,000. The new strategy is to buy the store." The Baracci store is located on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, where singer Beyonce ( Beyoncé) has purchased the brand's wedding dress. Jaeger-LeCoultre, the luxury watch brand owned by
Swiss luxury giant Richemont , opened its new store at 430 North Rodeo Drive just a few weeks ago. The facade decoration of the store is inspired by the brand's Reverso series of watches, showing an Art Deco style, while the interior decoration of the store is all made of organic materials and natural colors. The decoration style "between traditional and modern" is reminiscent of The tranquility and beauty of the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland, where the brand was founded.
The French luxury jewelry brand Cartier (Cartier), also owned by Richemont Group, temporarily relocated its main store at 370 North Rodeo Avenue to the previous store of American fashion brand Guess at 411 North Rodeo Avenue in order to renovate its main store. Guess has now relocated to number 320 not far away.
The French luxury brand Chanel (Chanel) store project at the intersection of Brighton Street (Brighton Way) has been slow, but it has basically been confirmed that it will open by the end of this year. Chanel bought two three-story buildings on the Avenue for $152 million in 2015, equivalent to $13,217 per square foot, a record price per square foot for a retail store in California, and cemented Rodeo Drive's reputation as the world's largest retailer. Status as one of the high-end shopping spots.
Chanel demolished the two buildings and rebuilt them into a single-family three-story building, including a penthouse for private launches, private and media meetings, and as a space for the brand's digital business. The rebuilt store will be one of the brand's largest in the world.
The number of new Chanel stores in the U.S. has doubled in recent months. Following the opening of a new store in Miami last December, Chanel opened new stores in Las Vegas and Aspen in April.
LVMH Group (LVMH) continues to strengthen its construction on Rodeo Drive. The main store of the group's flagship brand Louis Vuitton is located at 295 North Rodeo Avenue, and another new two-story store is about to be completed and opened on July 14.
Planning began last year for a temporary Louis Vuitton store at the intersection of Rodeo Drive and South Santa Monica Boulevard, where it used to be the store of American menswear brand Brooks Brother. The pop-up store is animated by Louis Vuitton's creative director of menswear, Virgil Abloh's ingenious "Zoom with Friends" vision.
The new store project of Dior, another French luxury brand under the LVMH group, is also in progress. LVMH recently purchased two adjacent stores of the Dior menswear boutique at 319 North Rodeo Drive and merged them into a three-story building that includes a restaurant with a terrace, a parking lot field and several terraces.
Not far from the new LV store is the Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel, which LVMH acquired from the Harkham family for $200 million in December 2021. The price per hotel room is as high as $2.3 million. It was one of the highest hotel deals ever recorded in California.
LVMH will also open its new Cheval Blanc hotel here, with 115 rooms, several shops, a private club, a spa and gourmet restaurants. The hotel, designed by renowned architect Peter Marino, plans to add several floors to the original. Peter Marino has been designing store buildings for the LVMH group for a long time, especially for Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi (Fendi) under the group.
A few hundred meters away, the rival Aman Hotel Group will also land in Los Angeles for the first time in 2026. The Aman Beverly Hills project will include a 44-room hotel as well as a series of exclusive residences and a private club. The project site was originally the parking lot of the estate of Hugh Hefner , the founder of Playboy magazine , and the project has not yet started.