Wednesday, May 21, 2008    Text size: 

"Our lease was up, and the store was kind of puttering along. It was okay but not great," Babeland cofounder Rachel Venning told XBIZ. "As a company, we like to hit them out of the park, and that store was never going to be an out-of-the-park location. We like to invest in stuff that is going to succeed at a high level"

Babeland will still be represented in Los Angeles in a partnership with Pull My Daisy, a clothing boutique in the Sunset Junction area.

"They have a similar demographic," Venning said. "It's an apparel store, but it's oriented to a smart, fun, creative clientele. It's a very bohemian area. I'm very excited about working with them."

There are plans to offer the same customer service and educational programs that are available in Babeland stores at Pull My Daisy, with events scheduled for this week.

The Babeland-Pull My Daisy partnership could be the start of a new direction for Babeland.

"The opportunity with Pull My Daisy is giving us a chance to explore partnering with other stores in a way that we can roll Babeland forward," Venning said. "In addition to having Babeland stores, we can have a partnership with other stores that have the same demographic. They have the same demographic, but a very different product, so we can go in there and it augments both businesses, because we can share operating expenses."

Babeland is opening a store in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 3 "and we're looking at other locations around the country," Venning said. "We're putting our energy into places where we can meet our own aggressive standards of excellence."

Pull My Daisy is located at 3908 W. Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles.

For more information, visit the Babeland website.