The Row to Open First Store on Melrose Place

After almost a decade in business, The Row, founded by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, is finally opening its first store.
On Tuesday, the brand's flagship shop, a 3,800-square-foot space located at 8440 Melrose Place in Los Angeles, will officially open. The retail space, which the Olsen twins refer to as a hidden gem, was previously a hair salon and is barely visible from the street.
"We've always wanted our own store; it's always been part of the plan. It was a toss-up between New York and L.A., and when this space became available, we jumped on it. It used to be a hair salon, and my sister and I used to come here, so we were very aware of the space," Mary-Kate told WWD.
"We had been coming here since we were, like, 10 years old. We are from here, and The Row started here, so it was all very appropriate," Ashley added.
To create the mid-century modern space and ensure that it represented Los Angeles, Mary-Kate and Ashley worked with designers David Montalba and Courtney Applebaum, as well as local furniture and antiques vendors including JF Chen, Galerie Half, Blackman Cruz and Thomas Hayes Gallery.
Prior to the opening of this store, The Row has only been sold through wholesalers, so this new space provides Mary-Kate and Ashley with a new way to present their brand to customers.
"We have all 170 pieces in our collection represented here. A lot of stores obviously don't buy the whole collection, maybe 20 percent, so this is really the place where we can present it like a showroom," Mary-Kate said.
The opening of this flagship shop is just the beginning for The Row. According to WWD, the brand plans to get into e-commerce "sooner rather than later," and it also plans to dabble in footwear and menswear eventually.
"We've always been one T-shirt at a time, one hire at a time. We still run our business that way. We take on what the company can handle when it can handle it. This is not a fast-fashion brand, and I think it's important to allow [it] time to exist and grow the way it grows naturally," Ashley said.