Stacia Opens Santa Monica Store - Retail Store and Industry News - WWD.com

Stacia Opens Santa Monica Store - Retail Store and Industry News - WWD.com

LA Times Image: Stacia Store Opening

As seen in this morning's Los Angeles Times Image Section:

OPENING

Stacia: Innovative knitwear company Stacia — which specializes in über-lightweight, multi-colored fabrics — has debuted a beachy new bungalow boutique just off tony shopping row Montana Avenue. To celebrate, the brand is knocking 40% off its spring and summer merchandise.

808 11th St., Santa Monica. (310) 393-7100. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

http://www.shopstacia.com

Montana Avenue Artwalk Tonight!

Stop by Stacia at 808 11th St. for the Montana Avenue Artwalk tonight from 5 to 9pm. Featured artist at the Stacia boutique, Ria Ray. Most merchants on the street will be displaying local artists' work in their shops and offering an open house till 9pm tonight. Come sip some refreshing raspberry wine spritzer at Stacia and take in the gorgeous, inspirational art from my friend, Ria Ray. See you tonight!

Stacia Signage

The sign is up! Woohoo! It's been a long process, but my Stacia boutique sign is finally up and it looks great. Stop by today for my store opening. Store hours today are 10 to 6 and tomorrow 11 to 5. Enjoy 40% off the Spring/Summer collection plus take an additional 20% off if you mention the "405 Closure" special.

Stacia
808 11th St. at Montana Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90403
Ph: 310.393.7100

Final Countdown

Tomorrow is D-Day! A whirlwind day of sprucin' up the boutique's interior. Finally all the handymen, electricians, and woodworkers are gone so I can start putting some inventory out on the floor (and lay down my new, pristine blue Flor rug!) Every thing is pretty much done.

Only two glitches - a Quickbooks nightmare and the Sign installation has been delayed until tomorrow at 7 am - Yikes!! Talk about cutting it close. The sign company ran out of my beautiful Aruba Sunbrella awning fabric and just got more in today, which delayed installation for another day. Luckily they can come tomorrow A.M. to install (which takes about 2 hours) - just under my opening time of 10 am.

Instead of spending most of my day pricing, doing visual display, and inventory, I wasted about 2 hours on the phone with some tech guy in India to try and solve my Quickbooks 2011 problem (trying to get two computers set up and synced to run my bookeeping, but no luck...) Oh well, I'm doomed to do double entry for my bookeeping with two computers running QB and two users (boring tech stuff, I know.)

The good news is we got some ink today! Thank you California Apparel News, Andrew Asch, for the lovely write-up on our store opening tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Stacia Debuts Santa Monica Boutique - Fashion Retailing News | California Apparel News | LA Fashion

Stacia Debuts Santa Monica Boutique - Fashion Retailing News | California Apparel News | LA Fashion

Count Down to Store Opening!

My days are numbered and I'm slowly approaching D-day, that is, the Stacia store opening! Running around like crazy to get everything done, but slowly but surely it's coming together.

Finally the curtains were installed to separate my design studio from the retail front - a crisp white canvas curtain plus a breezy sheer overlay so I can see you, but you can't see my lovely inventory shelves and messy design studio. I already feel like Oz behind the wall of curtains, secretly creating new designs for my customers for next season! And my good 'ol wrought iron dressing room rod has made it's way all the way from Brooklyn from Stacia New York's Smith Street days and is now hanging in my Santa Monica bungalow shop.

The two biggest hurdles have been the SIGN (and dealing with the City of Santa Monica for the permit!) and the cash wrap counter. I'm not doing anything too crazy on the sign, just a basic awning in my trademark blue with the Stacia logo, but going through all the levels of bureaucracy down at City Hall has been a thorn in my side for weeks now. Who knew everybody and his brother downtown would want a piece of my sign action - $385 here, $265 there, $91 here, $397 there...from the City Planning Division to the Building Safety dept. to the Records Management - over 50% of my sign cost going to the lovely city of Santa Monica (your welcome!)

The second hurdle has been the cash wrap counter. Was hoping to find a clean white counter somewhere in the market, ready-made, but nothing quite fit the bill. I dreaded the thought of custom-making a cabinet as I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars and break the bank. But luckily I found a great woodworker, John Summerville (doesn't his name sound like a woodworker's name?!) through my handyman and was able to get something custom built, yet affordable. I'm so happy with the results. Just needs a few coats of white paint and I'm in business!

Two days to go...just bought a new iMac today for the retail store (cha-ching), in the process of upgrading software (ugh!), and finally getting some inventory on the floor. The store has been strewn with rags, paint cans, nails, and dust for weeks, so hoping to clean up and get some of my sweaters priced and on the sales floor by Saturday. 40% off Spring/Summer and the new Fall line coming in July 21st! Still need to lay down the new sky blue Flor rug too...

The good news is I have two great shopgirls for Stacia on Montana Avenue. Val and Jess will be your go-to-gals for anything Stacia in the new shop. They'll be like your very own personal shopper/stylist who's only job is to assist you with your Stacia experience. The bungalow-inspired shop should feel like your favorite beach hang-out, where you can peruse some beachy knits, sip some cucumber-laced water, relax in my garden and take in the ocean breezes. Hope to see you this Saturday, July 16th for our store opening. Store hours are Tuesday thru Saturday 10 to 6, Sundays 11 to 5, and closed on Mondays.

The Stacia Shop
808 11th Street at Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90403
Phone 310.393.7100.