LOS ANGELES — Former Bebe Stores Inc. president John Parros, with a retail pedigree that includes executive positions at Saks, Filene’s and Macy’s, didn’t want to open a mere boutique. His eye was on bigger things.
After 25 years in the industry, Parros opened Sophea Parros in Old Town Pasadena, Calif., in 2003, and is opening his second store today. But he doesn’t want to stop there. Several more locations are in the works, and Parros eventually wants to expand the concept — named for his mother — to about 100 doors.
“I’ve [practically] run a store in every great street location around the country somewhere in my career,” Parros said in an interview. “I did it and built other people’s companies for 25 years, and I finally felt I wanted to work only so many more years and I wanted to build my own company and business, not everyone else’s.”
The new 3,000-square-foot boutique in the Thousand Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., is — like the 4,300-square-foot flagship in Pasadena — a contemporary multibrand store with a range of prices, from $30 T-shirts to $1,200 dresses.
Parros carries about 100 lines, including almost every hot specialty denim line from True Religion to Antik and 575. There are pieces from Rozae Nichols, Catherine Malandrino, Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent, casual basics such as Lacoste, Plenty and Ella Moss, evening dresses by Sue Wong and Jewelry from Erickson Beamon. The store also has a healthy shoe collection, featuring everyone from Michael Kors and Kate Spade to Giuseppe Zanotti and Calleen Cordero.
“When I finally decided to do this, I had worked on the concept for years, and when I studied the demographic, I thought it would work,” Parros said. “I think the customer base and market place in the system can support 75 to 100 locations.”
There are at least four to five in the pipeline right now, Parros said. “We have the desire to maximize the strength in L.A. and are looking to open a store in Orange County as well.”
Parros has his eye on the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles, the popular Fairfax District lifestyle center owned by Rick Caruso, who also owns the Thousand Oaks center.
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“We’ve talked about the Grove and I think he’d be a great addition when the space opens up,” Caruso said. “I was impressed with lines he carries and the depth of product.”
The new Thousand Oaks center is intended to feel like a neighborhood. And at a mere 50,000 square feet with only four restaurants, eight stores, a lake and four acres of park, it is Caruso’s smallest mall project.
The quaint vibe appeals to Parros, whose first store is in a 100-year-old brick building nestled in a courtyard. Parros himself cuts a laid-back image as he walks around his store in an untucked Zegna button down, white jeans and sandals he bought in Capri. He does everything from change light bulbs to help customers.
The stores have been designed and built by Parros, who selected the company’s signature turquoise-and-olive stripes that cover awnings, dressing-room curtains, rugs, bags and boxes, the antique white wood tables and chairs, and just about everything else.
Parros said the stores could eventually do $1,000 a square foot in sales. The original store is doing less than that, but climbing, he said.
“When I was at Bebe, we did over $600 a square foot,” he said. “So I believe with our concept that sales will definitely be over $600 to $700 a square foot and we should easily be able to achieve $1,000.”
Parros is funding the expansion through private investment, primarily from his family.
After 25 years in retail, how much more does he think he has in him?
“I’d like to work another 10 years, so somewhere around there is my time line,” Parros said. “But I don’t really think I’ll be fulfilled by then.”