Two New York fashion designers have opened a Los Angeles store that will showcase and sell apparel created by designers in the newly formed International Designers Collective.
Designers Ahneva Ahneva and Greta Wallace will head the collective, which is made up of a group of African American designers of clothing, jewelry, handbags and accessories.
“There are many collectives in New York, but I think Los Angeles also needs something like this,” said Wallace, whose collection is called Simply Greta. She is also the co-founder of a Harlem boutique called the Brownstone.
Wallace will be traveling bicoastally to lead the Los Angeles location, which will be on West 43rd Place near the intersection with Crenshaw Boulevard.
Ahneva will be spending most of her time in Africa in search of new design talent to add to the collective.
Starting out, the collective will sell brands such as Simply Greta’s Lovely Linens, Jewelry by Crystal Pyramid, Cultural Couture by Ahneva Ahneva, Threads by Khalil, Hats by L.I.P.S., and Glam Handbags by Marie Elanne.
Most of the designers already have their own boutiques. They plan to add aspiring designers to the collective.
“Financially, African American designers are having trouble paying higher rents,” Wallace said. “That’s why we are branding our names together. We encourage people to buy black and keep it in our community.”
This will be the first store opened by the International Designers Collective, but there are plans in the works for another location in Oakland.
The collective will include apprenticeship services in areas such as fashion merchandising, patternmaking, and stitching for young African Americans in Los Angeles, so that they can break into the industry.
Big Grocer
At $60 million, the Whole Foods Market that opened in Pasadena last week is one of the most expensive grocery stores in the world.
Located at 465 S. Arroyo Parkway, the 77,000-square-foot store is one of 22 stores in Los Angeles County, and it is the second in Pasadena city limits.
The store was built on two levels with escalators and “cart-veyors.” The two-story design was done to maintain some of the historical structure on the building site that used to house the city’s bus line.
The lot itself is about 51,000 square feet.
The building was developed in a joint venture between Los Angeles-based Ekstrand Enterprises and Austin, Tex.-based Torreon Capital. The contractor was Pasadena-based C.W. Driver.
It includes 300 underground parking spots, and ups and extras that include Internet access, sit-down dining venues, a wine and Spanish tapas lounge, and an extensive seafood bar, a fresh jam and jelly center and even a massage room.
“I think its proximity to the west side of Pasadena made it extremely interesting and advantageous for Whole Foods because of the demographics of the area,” said Gordon Ekstrand, one of the developers on the project. “Whole Foods goes into areas with high percentages of college graduates and a high income demographic. They also have a store to the west in Glendale and to the east. They were able to interpret where the buyers were coming from.”
Whole Foods wasn’t the only healthy food grocery chain with store openings in Southern California last week. Tesco opened six of its new Fresh & Easy Markets in Southern California including one in Glassell Park.
Corporate Restructuring
Ihop Corp. announced several changes to its corporate structure last week in anticipation of the close of its acquisition of Applebee’s International Inc. for $2.1 billion at the end of the month, including the streamlining of Applebee’s leadership team to 10 members from the current 21.
Eight executives currently serving with Applebee’s, including Chief Executive Dave Goebel and Chief Financial Officer Steve Lumpkin, will leave at the close of the transaction. Applebee’s will be turned into an entirely franchised business by Ihop.
Ihop has hired an executive search firm to fill some open positions in the Applebee’s team.
The deal, which stirred up some contention among Applebee’s shareholders over the price, which some felt was too low, is expected to close on Nov. 29.
Analysts predict that there is more change ahead for Applebee’s.
“The structure of Applebee’s will change. The company expenses will be trimmed; there will be a consolidation in the supply chain,” said Michael Gallo, an analyst with CL King & Associates.
Staff reporter Sarah Filus can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 235, or at
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