Giant Loehmann's Brings the Brand Power

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

It wasn't quite the same caliber of nuttiness as the recent H&M opening in France, but we were a little shocked by the opening weekend spectacle of Loehmann's. Tons of people, checkout lines 50 deep?this was a hotly anticipated store, for sure.

When the Racked LA crew drove down on Saturday to check it out, almost immediately, all of us lamented that this store probably wouldn't have any of the awesome Loehmann's clearance racks where a little digging might get you a treasure like a $100 Phillip Lim dress (true story). We were right, but we didn't stay sad for long.

It's 40,000 square feet of shiny discount goodness. The label-lovers will be pleased: we saw plenty of Prada, Miu Miu, Donna Karan, Chloe?there was a Chanel rack that had almost been picked clean. These aren't the up-to-the-minute current collections: we cooed over the frothy, sheer Prada fairy pieces, which we know are from Spring 2008. Ditto for the mid-priced labels like Marc by Marc Jacobs, See by Chloe, and Diane Von Furstenberg. But we were impressed by how much Marc by Marc Jacobs they had: about eight full racks. Same story in shoes and sunglasses: not from any recent season, but lots of very pretty merchandise.

What did really surprise us was the selection of younger brands, or lines that make you do a double-take when you see them at Loehmann's. They had a couple of racks of American Apparel. They also stocked Fluxus, Young Fabulous & Broke, Alternative Apparel, Superdry, and Seneca Rising.

We did not totally ignore the guys' section; it's just we were so distracted by all the shiny things. Brands all over the map: Costume National, Dolce & Gabbana, Quiksilver, Ben Sherman, and probably thousands of others.

Overall, it's pretty good stuff. Worth a trip, even to visit just the Loehmann's. But considering it's right next door to a Nordstrom Rack, and across the street from South Coast Plaza?hell, book a room and make it a weekend trip.
· Loehmann's [Official Site]