Stealing a page from the secret underground downtown speakeasies, the new Comme des Garçons guerilla store is the kind of place a person knows about only if he cares to know. There’s no sign and its address isn’t splashed across every single fashion glossy because it’s not supposed to be easy to find. But anyone who stumbles through the store’s doors will walk out with something no one else has.

Co-owners Brett Westfall and Tak Kato mixed current and vintage Comme des Garçons’ pieces with limited edition items available only at the downtown location. Westfall describes the store selection as seasonless. “There are big coats and long sleeve shirts next to summer dresses,” he says. “There’s something for everyone.”
Westfall, a California native, approached Comme des Garçons last year about opening the first guerilla store in the United States at the Downtown Los Angeles location.

“Paris, New York — they are all set in their ways,” Westfall says. “But Downtown LA is different. It’s an empty canvas that you can mold any way you want. The creative vibe is everywhere.”

The creativity doesn’t just extend to the clothing selection either. The store space inside the 100-year-old former bank building is a mix of old and new and took more than seven months to transform. Kato laid more than 6,500 tiles along the walls of the 30-foot high space and then hand-distressed dozens of them to give the walls an aged look that the Comme des Garçons execs loved. “They loved the history, the atmosphere and they understood what Downtown LA was becoming,” Kato explains. The design’s end results match the raw space and make the clothing stand out.

According to Westfall, the shopping crowd has been diverse, drawing customers from Palos Verdes and Beverly Hills, in addition to local loft dwellers. “[The] reaction has been great. People have come in, done some shopping and just hung out here.”

The guerrilla store concept, in which stores open in non-descript places for a short period of time and offer limited edition items, is popular around the world and Westfall hopes the concept continues here in LA. “Everyone is opening stores on the Westside,” he says. “There needs to be a new movement in retail with downtown taking the lead.”

The store has big plans in the coming months for different events to unveil some limited edition offerings, including jewelry by Sonia Boyajian and clothing by Westfall that he says reflects the California culture. Anyone who wants to get on the list should come down to the store or give them a call. In true guerrilla style, it’s not as simple as simply putting names on an e-mail list.

125 W. Fourth Street, Suite 106, Los Angeles 213.626.6606 | www.guerilla-store.com