Here’s some news courtesy of La Jolla Group CEO Toby Bost: O’Neill will open its first flagship store at a lifestyle center in Anaheim in June.
The company deliberately picked a location away from the beach and its core retailers, Toby said. The store will give O’Neill the opportunity to showcase the breadth of its brands and learn how customers react to its product without the filter of another retailer.
More flagships are planned in triple AAA locations.
The company is not interested in opening 50 or 60, but a handful, Bost said.
La Jolla does plan to open about 25 outlet stores in the next years. The first off-price store, called The Riders Outlet, opened in November in Lake Elsinore. The outlets give the company a way to sell slow moving merchandise at a profit and makes room on retail customers’ shelves for fresh product.
Next up, selling direct online, which the La Jolla Group hopes to accomplish by the end of the year. The company’s Metal Mulisha brand is already selling directly to consumers on the Web.
Here’s Toby (above) talking about why La Jolla is going online below. He’s pictured with Metal Mulisha founder Brian Deegan.
