Missoni closes Rodeo Drive store
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Less than a year after the Missoni family received the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award during a star-studded event, the Rodeo Drive boutique has closed.
The doors were shut and the merchandise removed on Thursday. The news also comes less than a year after the Missoni for Target collection sparked lines and crashed the website of the big box retailer on Sept. 13. At the time, experts estimated that the collaboration with Target could have been worth as much as $100 million in advertising for the Italian luxury brand known for its zigzag knitwear.
The person who answered the phone at the Rodeo Drive boutique said the closure happened ‘for a variety of reasons,’ and that the Malibu store would remain open.
When the Missonis were in town from Italy last October to accept the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award, they were upbeat about the brand’s future in the U.S. in the wake of the success at Target.
‘We can’t waste too much time,’ Margherita Missoni told me at the time. ‘We have a lot of options because everyone is interested, but it has to be something that touches different categories.... The fact that you can put a zigzag on anything was part of the success at Target. People who wouldn’t wear a top would have a glass or a blanket.’
The 7,500-square-foot Missoni boutique at the corner of Rodeo and Little Santa Monica Boulevard, designed by Kinmouth-Monfreda in collaboration with Enrico Como and SPaCe Architects, with its distinctive aluminum ribbon exterior, opened in February 2010. The brand’s remaining U.S. stores are on Cross Creek Road in Malibu and on Madison Avenue in New York.
-- Booth Moore
UPDATED 06/11/2012 at 10:49 a.m. An earlier version of this post stated that the MIssoni store on Rodeo drive was designed by architect David Chippenfield. It was designed by Kinmouth-Monfreda in collaboration with Enrico Como and SPaCe Architects.
RELATED:
Missoni for Target sparks lines, website crash
Sitting down with three generations of Missonis
Missoni family, Iman receive Walk of Style Awards
