The Iconic eyewear brand [Ray-Ban](https://www.ray-ban.com/usa), opened up their latest US Location off of Abbot Kinney in Venice. Choosing the area for its community of fashionable creatives, art, and cuisine scene. The brand further spliced their DNA into the neighborhood with a capsule collection with neighboring Cha Cha Matcha which features the brands iconic Wayfarer lenses in the tea brands signature tone.
Designed with a black and caged interior which opens the space up, the frames of sunnies and optic pieces are placed into compartmentalized groupings for the dynamic ranges that include over 600 different styles. An open patio and lush greenery the space encourages the Venice hangout spirit that is associated with the neighborhoods clientele. Touring the space we spoke to Rocco Basilico, Ray-Ban North America’s General Manager about the importance of the bohemian spirit that comes with the beach.
**What was the thinking behind this decoration with the design and the cage?**
Ray-Ban has a very street, an urban outlook. The other time we basically had an outdoor party and all the plants we play around on blending in with the Venice community. Also, giving to our customers the possibility to hang in the store apart from the shopping experience and I think it’s also this is very Venice. I mean if you see a lot of retail space as the same and gives to the customer the same opportunity, so we wanted to do something again, customize completely different from what is our normal design for a normal Ray-Ban store because also the building is quite unique. It’s actually a building from 1914, which is quite amazing to me because in LA everything is quite brand new.
**Oh there’s pockets of like really classic.**
In Venice for sure it’s a little more older
**I’m actually really amazed though cause I didn’t know there were so many different shapes of Ray-Ban. I’ve only seen the standard Wayfarer and Aviator**
Our store in New York we showcase more than a thousand two hundred different skews. Here we have probably 600.
**Where do you see your collaborations, do you want it to feel like you’re going more into art stuff or other designer collaborations?**
We want to keep doing this platform at the Ray-Ban studio, which has been basically a platform based on house music. We collaborate with The Martinez Brothers on Honey Dijon. Again, there was like a good example of like things that are not driving volumes, but are important to be like cool and still relevant for all these kind of influencer. We are going to keep working on new collaborations with the artist, so we keep going the studio platform because I think it worked really well for us. It’s very you know cause it’s musically oriented You think Ray-Ban as like a rock and roll soul, but actually the music industry that is growing is deep house, so we really want us to shift early from the rock and roll to do something again. I like to be unexpected.
**How did you get involved with Cha Cha Matcha?**
We basically decided to work with them because they were right in front of us. We have like (everything that’s relevant?) in the moment and it’s a cool new brand. Having them was fun for us to partner with something that’s different from fashion - but with food and beverages. I think that’s quite unique and we wanted to do something with them, specifically at this location because it’s in front of us, and they are going to do the food and beverage tomorrow at the party.
**You’re in good hands - they did the Virgil collaboration.**
Yes, they are rocking.
**Why do you think LA is important now?**
LA is becoming more relevant in our days for all of the investments in the tech and fashion industry. It’s really happening now and I think it’s one of the hottest cities and megacities in the world and I think it’s gonna gain way more attraction because for example, even this street you can see that the retail environment is quite inevitable. You can see the stores that are like hipster, the hipster kind of look, but also they can blend in with stores that are more like big corporation and then you have probably one of the best restaurant scenes in LA, with Gjelina it’s one of my favorite restaurants it’s such a good retail mix I think, so that’s why I think people, even people from Santa Monica, they love to shop here. They come down here to shop.
**Is there anything else you want to mention or for us to know about?**
For us, it’s really important the choice of the location. We not only look at the block but we look at the building. I remember when I started to expand the Ray-Ban retail footprint in the U.S. we had one store in Soho and now we have almost 20 stores here in the U.S. but we grow quite slow for the potential of our company because we want to be really specific - instead of quantity, quality. The retail portion is important, but we only open stores when we feel that it is right.
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Ray-Ban Abbot Kinney | 1420 Abbot Kinney Boulevard
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