Iconic L.A. Brand Fred Segal Closes Last Two Stores

Fred Segal, a staple of Los Angeles style since the '60s, closed the doors to its two remaining locations in West Hollywood and Malibu on Tuesday — citing difficulties bouncing back from COVID.

The brand’s storefronts were once hot spots for celebrity sightings, with stars like Nicole Kidman and Paris Hilton frequenting its L.A. locations in the early aughts. West Hollywood's Mauro Cafe was once a see-and-be-seen lunch destination, and the very first scene of Entourage , a quintessential look at mid-2000s Hollywood, is set in front of a Fred Segal store.

However, since the brand’s sale in 2019 to Global Icons and COVID-19’s devastation of the retail industry, it struggled to stay afloat. A new Santa Monica store on Montana Avenue lasted less than a year.

“Everything just fell apart and then I sort of had to become a retailer, which is not what I planned to do,” owner Jeff Lotman told the L.A. Times about his acquisition of the brand. “I knew nothing about retail.”

According to Lotman, he had planned to expand the brand nationally with 20 new shops, but was unable to realize this dream when the pandemic forced him to focus on daily operations of the stores. He also cites the chain’s lack of self-branded products; while Fred Segal had its own brand, much of the product sold was from other independent boutiques and retailers.

Before its downfall, Fred Segal boasted nine locations in California and several international outposts. The brand started in 1961 when Fred Segal moved his denim store, Pants America, to Melrose and eponymously renamed it. From then, the empire expanded — carrying over 200 high-end retailers catering to the Hollywood "cool girl."

In 2017, Fred Segal opened a flagship store in Malibu, with plans to expand internationally — beyond its Switzerland, Taipei and Malaysia locations — after Global Media’s acquisition. Segal himself, who no longer owned the brand, died in 2021 at the age of 87.

“Hopefully someone may pick it back up and get it to go,” Lotman said. “It is truly one of the great fashion brands out there.”

The Fred Segal website is currently down and the online store has closed, but the brand’s home furnishings store will remain open. The Segal family attorney, Larry Russ, told the L.A. Times they planned on looking for an operator to revive the brand and open new stores.