In recent months, there have been a number of new retail store openings in Santa Monica, including AI-powered gym Fred Fitness and the latest location of Din Tai Fung, a restaurant chain specializing in Xiao long bao or soup dumplings.

Now add Google Store to the list of new retailers coming to the seaside city.

The new Google Store is the first in Southern California and the second on the West Coast.

Andrew Thomas, the chief executive of Downtown Santa Monica Inc., the private nonprofit that works with the city to promote the neighborhood, called the coming of the Google Store “a big deal.”

He said he was thrilled that they’re here and he was not surprised that Google chose the Third Street Promenade to locate its store.

“In downtown Santa Monica we have long attracted differently created retail and flagship locations,” Thomas said. “We love tech. We love innovation. It’s a great marriage for Google and Third Street Promenade in downtown Santa Monica.”

The store at 1460 Third Street Promenade officially opened on March 7 and features Google products such as Android and Pixel phones, laptops, earbuds, tablets and Fitbit devices. It will also offer on-site device repair and support, trade-ins and programs and educational workshops.

So far, Google has opened stores in five major cities – two in New York and one each in Boston, Chicago and Mountain View – and gotten great feedback, the company said.

“We’re continually exploring different ways to reach our customers, which is why we chose to open a store on the Third Street Promenade,” the company added in a statement. “We’ll continue to open stores in a variety of locations, always taking customer feedback into account.”

It will open stores in Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C. later this year.

Downtown Santa Monica resurgence

Thomas said the city is seeing a resurgence of activity in the downtown area.

The city had 26 new businesses open last year and has many more in the pipeline, he said.

“And it’s, again, really great to welcome Google and have them join,” he added.

Google first announced the Santa Monica store in late September. Since then, Thomas said, the company has worked hard to get it open quickly.

“That’s credit to the Festival Cos., which is the owner of the property, and doing the work that was required to make that space usable for Google and their vision,” Thomas remarked.

Attempts to reach a representative of Google were not successful.

But, Thomas continued, he likes to think that businesses choose to locate in Santa Monica for its young demographic in and around downtown.

“We have a really solid customer base here,” Thomas said, “one that I think comes to expect innovation in places like Google and Apple and quite a number of new businesses that have opened recently and that fall in the same sort of theme of innovation and technology.”

Those would include Fred Fitness, the AI powered gym, and Holey Moley Golf Club USA, a miniature golf and karaoke center.

“It’s been really, really great to see this next generation of uses come to downtown,” Thomas said.