Spreading luxury: Karla Kehres opens Boutique Classique on the Peninsula
Classique owner Karla Kehres. Photo by Kathalina Rodriguez
Karla Kehres was having lunch with a friend when the idea arose to open a luxury consignment store, and although she had never set foot inside such a business, within three weeks she had opened Boutique Classique at the Promenade on the Peninsula.
Kehres was perfectly suited to turn notion into reality in no time flat. For more than 20 years she had helped build multimillion-dollar retail and wholesale businesses, and had served as a general manager for the Chanel fragrance, skincare and fashion powerhouse in the Asian Pacific, using her expertise in merchandising, operations and brand development.
“If you would have asked me 10 years ago [about opening a consignment store], while I was sitting above the Chanel boutique in Paris, I would have never imagined,” said the Rancho Palos Verdes native. “But do you know what? I’m really proud of this because it’s my own. This is the first time that I’ve had my own retail brick and mortar. I have set up retail all around the world for other companies and now it’s ours, and I don’t treat it any differently, I’ve always treated it like it was mine.”
The store carries lightly-used luxury handbags with a spectacular range of sought-after brands, some lesser known brands, and shoes, jewelry and accessories.
The fashion-loving Kehres had developed a wide-ranging collection of high-end merchandise over the years, many of the items Chanel. With her own inventory, and that of colleagues and friends with high-end merchandise untouched in their closets, she had plenty to open the store with, just before Christmas of last year.
And she really likes the consignment model. She finds satisfaction in selling things at a lower price, helping others sell their merchandise, and passing it forward.
She also loves meeting the varied customers who come to Boutique Classique.
She knows where every item came from, who it belonged to, and the back-story behind everything in her store. The customer could point to a Hermes handbag, and right off the bat Kehres would giggle and tell how the bag was brought in by a young girl who bought it while she was traveling through Italy with her ex-boyfriend, and now doesn’t like it anymore.
“Everything has a story,” Kehres said.
The store is studded with items she acquired during her 11-year Chanel career, including a Chanel 5 Perfume painting by Andy Warhol that hangs on a wall, photo books of her and her Chanel colleagues, and a bookshelf photo of Kehres posing inside the iconic Coco Chanel’s apartment.
In addition there is the Gucci collection that she acquired in college, and some of her broaches from the ‘90s.
Kehres especially appreciated what she calls the “Icon Wall,” which shows off the most desirable brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, and of course Chanel — “all of the brands that we aspire to have.”
She enjoys watching walk-in customers touch and admire the gently used luxury goods as they fall in lust with the store.
She realizes that people often wish they could find the bag of their dreams for a price that they can afford, and her store brings those bags out of women’s closets and onto the shelves.
Boutique Classique items are guaranteed to be authentic, and Kehres’ industry connections speed the authentication process.
Her husband and store cofounder, Dr. Patrick Kehres, a former senior executive at Citibank, N.A, and Bank of America, oversees the financial aspects of the business while she minds the fashion aspects.
She does the merchandising, authenticating, customer relations, picking up and shipping the merchandise, and he does everything that she doesn’t do. They handle what they are more experienced with and enjoy doing.
“It’s fun, I’m the front end of it, and Pat loves to do the back end of it,” Kehres said.
Patrick and Karla both attended Palos Verdes High School, where they were high school sweethearts, and now their children attend the school.
Family is important to Karla and Patrick, who make it a point to go home and have dinner with their kids each night.
The Kehreses lived in Asia for 20 years, and although they loved their life, they did not lose the awareness that their home on the hill was thousands of miles away. They moved back in 2004, and both Karla and Patrick became teachers at Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.
He taught entrepreneurship and helped several students open up their own consignment shops, putting together ideas and business plans and running the fiscal aspects.
After teaching, the Kehreses weren’t ready to retire. Opening up Boutique Classique “just fit, and was meant to be.”