Santa Monica Place Welcomes Kenneth Cole Store

Kenneth Cole Productions (New York) has opened a 3000-square-foot store at the new remodeled Santa Monica Place. The store, located on the first level, features Kenneth Cole New York’s full assortment and replaces a smaller accessories-only boutique.

“The mall very much wanted us to come back,” Jill Granoff, ceo of Kenneth Cole, told Women’s Wear Daily. “Because of our track record in L.A. … it seemed like a natural fit.”

Store design features include an in-store shop setting separated by short dividers to distinguish footwear, handbags and small leather goods, and apparel, white walls, a collage of photos showing the brand through the years, and video installations at the cash wrap and men’s and women’s areas.

The company opened 15 units last year, but Granoff says the focus in 2010 is to make stores the appropriate size, roughly 3500 square feet, reports WWD.