Marimekko to open new retail stores in major US cities

In a stock exchange release in February 2012, Marimekko reported that it was aiming to open one to three company-owned stores in the United States this year. The number of openings has now been confirmed as three.

The first of the new stores will be opened today in Boston, the second in the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto will follow in September-October, and the third, on the corner of Canon Drive and Brighton Way in Beverly Hills (L.A.), will open toward the end of the year. In terms of size, the stores are as follows: Boston 3200, Palo Alto 2400 and Beverly Hills 5000 square feet.

The Boston store being opened today is in the very heart of the city, in a charming stone building from the 1880s, at 140 Newbury Street. The store follows the same concept as the flagship store opened in New York City last year, and its range encompasses all the product lines.

Marimekko’s President and CEO Mika Ihamuotila: “On the basis of the good experience gained in New York, we decided early this year to invest more than before in expanding our network of company-owned stores in the United States. As a unique design brand, the locations of our new stores are strategically very important to us. The forthcoming “Marimekko house” in Beverly Hills is of great significance for us, as we wish to build a recognition profile among people of influence in the entertainment and movie industry.

“The Palo Alto store is in the heart of Silicon Valley, within reach of perhaps the world’s most interesting technology companies and private equity investors as well as Stanford University. We want to reach out to this target group in a totally new way for several different reasons. The two-story store in Boston is located in an area popular with students and faculty of some of the United States’ leading universities, such as Harvard and MIT.

“The success of our store in nearby Cambridge has also encouraged us to make this new opening. I believe that succeeding in these three influential environments could give us the wherewithal to raise our profile considerably and to increase the attractiveness of our brand in the United States.”

Marimekko is also expanding its distribution in Canada. The company has signed an agreement with the modern furniture brand EQ3, which will open a Marimekko shop in its new flagship store in Toronto at the beginning of September. The aim of the partnership is to open a total of 10 Marimekko shop-in-shops by the end of 2014. The shops will each have an area of roughly 320 square feet and their ranges will include household products from furnishing fabrics to tableware.

“I am very delighted with the partnership with EQ3, a prestigious modern furniture brand. We are working determinedly to expand our distribution network in Canada as elsewhere, and this is a good step forward in an attractive market,” Ihamuotila notes.

Marimekko