Burberry Signs Lease for Rodeo Drive

Burberry Group plc (London) has signed a lease for a flagship store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif. When the store is completed, some time in late 2014, the fashion brand will close its nearby location on Wilshire Boulevard.

According to a report in Women’s Wear Daily, the store will follow the “Burberry World Live” concept spearheaded by chief creative officer Christopher Bailey that opened last year on London’s Regent Street. That 44,000-square-foot flagship featured hundreds of speakers and screens in an integrate digital experience.

WWD says the Rodeo Drive store will feature in-store technology that can transmit Burberry’s live events around the globe; client service applications that enable real-time access to customer profiles and product information; and smart personalization, in which engraved nameplates on custom-made coats and bags unlock videos showing the production process, allowing these customers to view and order from a collection before it hits the stores.

Burberry is pursuing a retail strategy that ceo Angela Ahrendts has called “Londons around the world,” high-profile stores in cities with strong local and tourist luxury shopping traffic. In addition to the Regent Street flagship in London last year, Burberry has also recently opened flagship stores in Chicago, Taipei, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.