Journelle To Open 5th Store, This One In LA

Triumph-controlled Journelle is taking another small step towards its promise to expand across the land. The upscale lingerie retailer is about to open a new “flagship store” in the recently revamped Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles.

This will be the Journelle’s fifth location, currently with three in New York and one in Chicago. (One of the Manhattan locations, this one at 3 East 17th Street, actually closed in August but will reopen at 14 East 17th Street later in the fall).

Journelle was founded in Manhattan in 2007 by Claire Chambers, who eventually sold a “majority stake” to Triumph (the giant Switzerland-based lingerie producer and retailer) at the end of 2012. When it announced that deal, a company press release boasted Triumph’s involvement would “drive the successful expansion of the Journelle business model across the U.S.” Chambers added, “We have found a strong partner with whom we can set about to grow both our online and brick and mortar business.” Yet the retailer’s only significant expansion in the five years since has been the opening of the Chicago store at the end of 2015. Around the same time Chambers resigned as CEO.

In recently placed notices on Indeed and LinkedIn, Journelle announced it was looking for employees “for its brand new West Coast Flagship Store in Westfield Century City.” Among other qualifications, the store said it was looking for “Stylish and polished candidates who represent what it means to value Journelle’s culture of “Everyday Lovely.””

Among the other retailers already open or coming to the mall are Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Apple, Banana Republic, Cole Haan, Everything But Water, H&M, Kate Spade, Macy’s, Madewell, Nordstrom, Seafolly, Tiffany & Co. and many others. Although the shopping center had previously announced the coming of Journelle, the store did not, as we went to press, appear in the mall’s directory. — NM