Everything But Water Takes Plunge in California

The retailer’s set to open a store at Westfield Century City followed by Malibu in a bid to grow a larger presence in California. 

By Kari Hamanaka on April 3, 2017 via WWD

Everything But Water’s been making a splash in California and the broader West Coast of late.

The upscale swim and resort retailer will open a store at Westfield Century CityThursday, when the mall operator is set to take the wraps off the first phase of a makeover set to total roughly $1 billion. Century City, for Everything But Water, will be followed by a store in Malibu, and comes on the heels of more recent openings at University Village in Seattle, Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek and last year’s opening on South Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills.

The multibrand retailer carries pieces from lines such as Zimmermann, Trina Turk, Stone Fox, Stella McCartney, Lucky Brand, Nanette Lepore, Norma Kamali, L*Space, Eberjey and Jen’s Pirate Booty.

“We have historically been very underpenetrated in California,” said Everything But Water cofounder and creative director Sabra Krock. “What we’ve found recently is that there just has been quite a few interesting developments that have been supported by very large investments and we just found these new centers to be very attractive. With these new centers, we’ve been really excited about these opportunities that they may afford.”

Malibu is slated to open in June, making it the 11th door to open in California. That will be followed by openings in Massachusetts and Florida. A few other store openings are also in the pipeline, though Krock declined to state specific locations, saying the company doesn’t disclose deals that far in advance.

The company’s planned activity in California should be aided by capsules it developed with three local designers due out this month. The first, a collection using fabrics made from recycled bottles, done with Vitamin A, is set to launch on Earth Day. A capsule with Marysia follows on April 26 and the third with L*Space rolls out at the end of the month.

A remodel of the company’s South Coast Plaza store is planned with the door to take on a new design concept the retailer began rolling out roughly a year ago. South Coast Plaza’s remodel is expected to be completed in November.

The new format draws inspiration from the company’s boutique locations with a more open and airy design Krock described as having a fashion-oriented presentation.

Krock declined to discuss financials or say whether the company is projecting growth for the year.

The company will have 95 stores total once Century City opens. Store openings on an annual basis have also remained consistent with the company opening between five and seven, Krock said, and remodeling others each year.

“We really have a very smart expansion strategy,” she said. “We’re not opening a million stores at any one time. We always choose very thoughtfully and carefully.”

Its real estate portfolio is a mix between traditional shopping centers and main street locations.

“We look to have a very balanced portfolio, so we really have a good mix of street-front locations, lifestyle centers [and] indoor malls,” Krock said. “It really depends on the attractiveness of the particular center or area. We look very carefully at who the particular customer is who will be shopping that area. We have a very lifestyle-oriented business and a customer whose generally more affluent or travel minded.”