Fred Segal closes all its stores

The iconic Los Angeles brand is closing its stores. Three years after the death of its iconic founder Fred Segal, Jeff Lotman, who acquired the brand in 2018 via his corporate brand licensing agency Global Icons, has just announced the closure of all its boutiques and e-shop.

It all began in 1961 when Fred Segal opened his first store in Los Angeles on Santa Monica Boulevard, dedicated to jeans and then called Pants America. The brand moved to Melrose Avenue four years later, moving from a 390-square-foot space to 20,000 square feet, and the name was changed to that of its founder: Fred Segal.
 
Covered in ivy a few years later, the Melrose Avenue boutique became one of West Hollywood’s most iconic stores, appearing in films such as Clueless and Beverly Hills 90210. It was finally sold in 2016 and found a new location on Sunset Boulevard, also featuring a coffee-shop. 

A pioneer of the shop-in-shop concept, which presents several brands in a single space, Fred Segal helped propel the new generation of designers of the time, that pleased to celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Diana Ross and later Angelina Jolie. Around him gathered brand representatives of the SoCal spirit, including Juicy Couture and Earl Jeans, and enthusiasts of well-priced denim shorts, hoodies and tank tops, sometimes mixing with luxury brands.

Although the brand opened other stores in the early 2000s, it was finally the media company Sandow that acquired the licensing rights in 2012. In 2019, Sandow was finally acquired by Global Icons, which was planning new store openings. A total of 9 were rolled out in California in Los Angeles, Malibu, Studio City, Las Vegas, most recently in Marin County north of San Francisco and in Santa Monica last November. The brand had also ventured abroad with the opening of its first store in Tokyo, Japan in 2013, and in Taiwan and Korea with a first store opening in 2021 in partnership with Hanwha Group. 
 
Jeff Lotman’s ambition to develop the brand in Europe and open 20 stores worldwide was dropped in the end. The drastic drop in sales, combined with the effects of Covid, were the last straw. 

Still open in Culver City, the Fred Segal Home Furnishings boutique. The Fred Segal trademark is still owned by the Segal family, who hope to open new stores in the future.