Supreme is opening its second retail location in Los Angeles at a primo location.
The streetwear brand is set to take over the famed former Tower Records location on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, a few blocks from retail spots Fred Segal, Kith and H. Lorenzo, and legendary music haunts The Whiskey a Go Go, The Rainbow and the Roxy.
The location will mark the brand’s fifth in the U.S., third in California, second in L.A. and one of the first under the new VF Corp. ownership.
Tower Records was an international retail franchise that operated from 1960 to 2006 when it filed for bankruptcy and liquidation. After the store closed, efforts to designate it as a historic landmark failed; it was painted white; turned into a short-lived multibrand clothing store; leased by Gibson guitars, which then backed out, and the property languished.
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Not everyone in the West Hollywood community is happy about having Supreme as the new tenant, with residents fearing traffic snarls, sidewalk crowding and worse from the streetwear brand’s limited-edition drops. Last year an employee of sneaker emporium Shoe Palace on Melrose Avenue was fatally shot after intervening in a dispute over a raffle for a pair of shoes.
The West Hollywood Heights Residents Association held a Zoom meeting on Jan. 27 to register concerns.
West Rubenstein, senior vice president of Supreme, defended his brand on the call, according to local news reports.
“A lot of very unfortunate incidents in Hollywood as of late have been conflated with how Supreme operates. We pride ourselves on running safe, clean shops, not just in L.A. but New York, the country and around he world,” he said.
Construction of the store at the 8,660-square-foot building is slated to begin soon with a planned opening in August.
Supreme opened its first L.A. location in 2004 on Fairfax Avenue, helping to establish it as the city’s streetwear row that now includes stores such as The Hundreds, Flight Club and FourTwoFour, among others. With fans often camped out overnight along the sidewalks waiting for new releases, the area is also a magnet for celebrity-fronted brands and launches; Tyler, the Creator opened his Golf Wang store on the strip.
L.A. will be the third city to be home to multiple Supreme locations. New York City has stores in Manhattan on Bowery and in Brooklyn in Williamsburg, which features an indoor skate bowl like the Fairfax store. In Tokyo, the brand has six stores. Supreme also has locations in London and Paris, while Milan and Berlin stores opened in 2021.
VF Corp. acquired Supreme for $2.1 billion in December 2020 and affirmed that the company would have a hands-off approach with the brand.
Since the acquisition, the brand also has rolled out collaborations with Tiffany & Co., Emilio Pucci and Missoni.
Booth Moore contributed to this report.