PASADENA -- Carroll & Co., a retail institution in Beverly Hills for more than 50 years, has opened a Carroll Sport store in Pasadena, about 20 miles northeast of its home base.
The retailer has operated a branch store in Pasadena at The Commons for the past three years. The new unit is housed in the same center, a rustic, brick-face shopping hub and office complex in the heart of the city.
The new 1,300-square-foot Sport store is described as 'dedicated to fashions for the California lifestyle.' As such, it is a sharp contrast to both its nearby sister store in the Commons and Carroll's flagship unit in Beverly Hills. Yet while the new venture is more hang-around than button-down, the upscale focus is the same.
'In this area there are a lot of customers who are interested in upscale, high-quality clothing,' explained the president, John Carroll, who took the reins of the company after his father, Richard, the founder, died in March at age 80. 'It was really a matter of applying the same concepts to a different type of merchandise.'
The labels offered in the Sport store include Nat Nast, Burma Bibas, Reyn Spooner, Tori Richard cords, jeans from Ermenegildo Zegna and Bills Khakis.
Almost all of the merchandise is branded, a departure from the private-label concept found at Carroll's two other stores. Notable exceptions include private-label polo shirts prominently positioned on a table just inside the door. Also, the Carroll name is found on a 'porkpie' hat that, the label says, 'is made from natural coconut fibers.'
The decor is reminiscent of a pro shop at a posh golf course and strives for a tropical feel with cream-colored walls and a rattan ceiling fan swirling lazily overhead.
