Leap is officially live in Los Angeles. This month marks our first store in LA as we launch Birdies on the Platform. We see a tremendous amount of potential in the LA market, with amazing retail corridors and brands eager to grow their businesses here. By the end of this year, LA will be the second largest market on the Leap platform. From Abbot Kinney (new home of Birdies powered by Leap) to Melrose Place, Century City, and Fashion Island, we’re reinventing retail in LA in a big way. Let’s dive deeper into Birdies as a brand, and LA as a retail market and launchpad for growth.
Birdies, known for their stylish, comfortable women’s footwear, has landed in Venice, CA on Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Building on the success of their San Francisco flagship, they looked to Leap to scale their retail in the new, highly-attractive market of LA. Birdies has a passionate following, and they wanted the first LA store to be a place where fans and fans-to-be can discover and celebrate the brand.
Leveraging our platform, in less than two months we were able to find and sign a new location, design the Birdies store, and maximize the impact of their launch with a huge grand opening surrounded by press previews, influencer gifting, live music, and a shaved ice cart. Customers lined up to try on the most comfortable, stylish shoe on the block.
“The new LA store, along with the recent unveiling of our new logo, serve as exciting, key milestones for our brand.”
– Bianca Gates, Birdies CEO & Co-founder
LA is a natural fit for modern brands to continue their expansion: It’s the second largest retail market in the country, and more often than not the perfect location for modern, growing brands. We leveraged our platform data combined with Birdies’ in-house data to determine that Abbot Kinney and LA was the best location to maximize success. With amazing brands as their neighbors including Everlane, Lululemon, Cuyana, and Marine Layer, Birdies fits right into the local market.
LA as a whole and Venice in particular is a great home for brands like these to launch and expand. It’s a high-traffic tourist destination, an affluent region with discerning customers shopping for a wide range of different styles and lifestyles. Entering into this market means immediate growth, as awareness of new brands spreads quickly via word of mouth, and LA shoppers normally have high lifetime values. All this adds up to less risk and more upside for brands looking to open their next store in Los Angeles.
With more than five new stores across the LA region over the next ninety days, here’s a look into the prime retail corridors where we’re driving brand expansion.
Located in Venice and south of Santa Monica, Abbot Kinney is the main thoroughfare in Venice connecting directly to Venice Beach, apparel retail and great restaurant options result in qualified foot traffic and immediate brand-building buzz. This has been an active location for newer brands expanding their presence on the West Coast.
South of the Sunset Strip, Melrose Place is a fashionable, upscale neighborhood in between West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. With a number of new and high-end stores and restaurants, including Balmain, Isabel Marant, The Row, Mejuri, and Alfred’s Coffee, it’s truly a spot to see and be seen.
At the center of a dense shopping district next door to Fox Studios, the Westfield Century City mall is a modern outdoor shopping complex with upscale retailers and a high amount of productive foot traffic. The mall exhibits a range of modern, high-end, and mainstay brands, from Warby Parker to Rolex and Levi’s. It is a lifestyle center with an Eataly, luxury Equinox, and fantastic local restaurants.
Located in Orange County, of the greater LA metropolitan area in Newport Beach, Fashion Island is a popular outdoor mall featuring big name brands, grocery stores, restaurants, and a cinema.
We’re excited to see Los Angeles grow as a retail nexus for the Leap Platform, and to create winning store clusters across one of the world’s busiest retail markets.
Want to launch your brand in LA, talk to us here.
Stay tuned for more brands launching in LA soon.
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