Storecasting: Malibu Lumber Yard Brings J.Crew, Tons of Other Retail to the Beach

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The Malibu Lumber Yard, a long-planned cornucopia of non-lumber-related retail operations, is finally getting off the ground. The shopping center was set to open last summer, but delays kept pushing the launch date back until now. Sort of amazingly, this is Malibu's first mall, and the tenants don't seem terribly concerned about opening in such a stormy retail climate. Quoth Kitson owner Fraser Ross: "It's like being in the Hamptons or St. Moritz. People don't care about spending a lot of money on a bottle of wine at these places."

In addition to getting a Kitson, the development will house Maxfields, James Perse, Tory Burch, Alice + Olivia, and Planet Blue Kids. It's also going to devote 10% of the space to local retailers. And this Tuesday marks the opening of the center's J.Crew, which is no quotidian cardigan shack but the nation's only J.Crew-at-the-Beach. The shop carries limited-edition surfboards and, per the LAT, "the crème de la crème of J.Crew's women's collections." While the Times reports that the store will open next Tuesday, and CAN says that today was the official opening date for the mall, a clerk there told us it's going to be another few weeks before anything in out there is fully open.
· Malibu shopping center opening postponed -- again [LA Now]
· Luxury Center Debuts in Malibu [California Apparel News
· J.Crew-at-the-Beach opens in Malibu [LAT]