In January 2018, Gucci Garden opened in Florence, Italy, with a boutique, exhibition space and restaurant — or Osteria — headed by three-Michelin-star chef Massimo Bottura.
More experiences are coming to Rodeo Drive.
Gucci is set to open a restaurant on the famed shopping thoroughfare in spring 2020, WWD has learned. It will be the second restaurant opened by the Kering-owned luxury giant and the first outside of Italy.
In January 2018, Gucci Garden opened in Florence with a boutique, exhibition space and restaurant — or Osteria — headed by three-Michelin-star chef Massimo Bottura, a longtime friend of Gucci’s president and chief executive officer Marco Bizzarri.
Sources say LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Dior is also plotting a restaurant on Rodeo Drive.
The two openings would up the experience level on Beverly Hills’ retail row, which from June 28 to Nov. 10. hosted the 22,000 square-foot Louis Vuitton X pop-up and Instagram hot spot, showcasing the luxury French house’s 160-year history of collaborations with artists from Sol LeWitt to Jeff Koons to L.A.’s Alex Israel.
The restaurants would also key into a broader trend in the luxury industry, which has had fashion brands including Ralph Lauren (The Polo Bar), Prada (Pasticceria Marchesi), Tiffany & Co. (The Blue Box Cafe), Burberry (Thomas’s) and more luring experience-seeking Millennials with in-store eateries, stand-alone pastry shops and more.
LVMH has been ramping up activity in the hospitality sector, eyeing three recently purchased properties on and around Rodeo Drive for the opening of a Cheval Blanc hotel, according to sources.
In March 2018, LVMH bought a 6,200-square-foot empty retail space at 456 North Rodeo Drive for $110 million. Then, in September, the luxury powerhouse headed by billionaire Bernard Arnault purchased 468 North Rodeo Drive, the massive 22,250-square-foot, multistory building at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard that was previously occupied by Brooks Brothers, for $245 million from the trust of the family of Margaret J. Anderson, who built the pink stucco Beverly Hills Hotel. In November, LVMH scooped up the 26,523-square-foot Paley Center for Media museum behind the store, at 465 North Beverly Drive, from New York private real estate investment firm Jenel Management for $80 million. Together, the three contiguous parcels create more than 50,000 square feet of real estate on which to build, with frontage on Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Boulevard and Beverly Drive that could be connected into one hotel property.