Urban Outfitter
Elisa Bruley has been adorning celebrities and trendsetters
for a decade, often giving local designers their first break.
By DEBORAH BELGUM
Staff Reporter
For almost 10 years, Elisa Bruley has been running a Pasadena boutique in a space so small it looks like a large walk-in closet. But from this 800-square-foot shop tucked away inside a small airy shopping complex, Elisa B. sells $1.1 million worth of clothing and accessories per year.
That adds up to $1,375 in sales per square foot, well beyond the average store’s sales.
“That’s good, really good,” said Richard Giss, a retail analyst at Deloitte & Touche, who noted most stores average between $400 to $1,000 per square foot, depending on their size and merchandise.
Not bad for a former actress who knew nothing about retail until she decided to turn her shopaholic habit into a career.
Bruley, an energetic woman whose brow is swept with brunette bangs, said she veered away from her show business career in 1989 after she and a friend flew to New York and spent most of their time perusing small specialty stores that dot SoHo and Greenwich Village.
“We had no money to buy anything, but I loved the experience of going to these stores instead of a mall or a department store,” Bruley recalled. “I thought wouldn’t it be neat to bring the energy of these stores I saw in New York to fill a niche in Pasadena.”
Close to home
Bruley also felt that women like her were tired of driving to the Westside to uncover some unique and trendy fashions.
It was two years later when she acted on her dream. First she enrolled in a three-hour extension center class called “How to Open Your Own Store.” There was only one other student in the class, and after the instructor kept stressing the difficulties of opening a store, the other student didn’t return after the break.
“But the guy teaching the class was great,” Bruley noted. “He said it was very difficult to be in retail especially at that time, 1991, when we were in a recession. But at that point I had made up my mind.”
Bruley was so impressed with Tom Brennan, the teacher, that she hired him to help her develop a business plan.
Her next step was to raise enough capital to launch her business. That’s where she hit a snag.
Bruley believed being a woman and part Latino would help her find a loan earmarked for minorities or women. She was wrong. With no collateral, no one would give the business novice more than a polite refusal. So she ended up using her mother’s home in Harbor City as collateral to help secure a $125,000 loan.
With money in hand, Bruley searched for a location and settled on One Colorado, a collection of historic buildings on Colorado Boulevard that is occupied by an Il Fornaio restaurant, an Origins store and several other shops. She felt this place had enough foot traffic to support a small clothing store. She and Brennan negotiated a five-year lease with a five-year option.
The formula? Carry merchandise made by young local designers not carried by other stores.
The 44-year-old Bruley spends much of her time at the California Mart in downtown Los Angeles, the boxy structure that houses thousands of showrooms containing clothing and accessory lines.
Celebrity customers
Bruley’s search for designer items is what has helped her develop a loyal clientele that includes Bridget Fonda, Elizabeth Shue, Salma Hayak and Cuba Gooding Jr. Recently Jennifer Love Hewitt strolled in with her boyfriend, Joey Lawrence, to buy a blue cashmere sweater.
“I love her store,” said Ann Stemmer, a regular. “She has a real knack for taking chances and getting new designers into the store so we all don’t look the same. That is important to me.”
She carries merchandise by Development, a relatively new line designed by newcomer Philip Lim, Wasabi, a jewelry line designed by Los Angeles resident Jill Pearson, Seven Jeans, Katayone Adeli, Juicy and Lulu Guinness.
With such little space to occupy, Bruley stacks items in every nook and niche possible. This was after a consultant told her she was being too stingy with her inventory and needed to beef up her selection.
But at this point, Bruley feels that any more growth requires opening a second store somewhere in Pasadena. She hasn’t decided where that will be.
PROFILE:
Elisa B.
Year Founded: 1993
Core Business: Clothing and accessories boutique.
Revenues in 1997: $606,000
Revenues in 2001: $1.1 million
Employees in 1997: 8
Employees in 2001: 8
Goal: To open another store on a bigger and broader scale.
Driving Force: Having fun, contemporary merchandise in a comfortable environment.
