WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KNX) — West Hollywood residents and business owners living and working near the former Tower Records store on Sunset Boulevard have expressed concerns about the building’s next tenant — a retail location for the popular Supreme streetwear brand.
Supreme is a popular brand for merchandise resales, and can fetch resellers significant profits. Thus customers are often reported queueing up outside the brand’s Fairfax Avenue storefront up to several days before new product releases.
These shopping frenzies have resulted in increased foot traffic in the area, and even scuffles between customers and locals.
According to WeHoville.com, actress Julie Newmar, who lives in the vicinity of the Fairfax store, claimed a business owner on the street was assaulted by five shoppers.
“His [five-foot-two] cashier quit in tears when a [six-foot-four] guy in a logo hoodie yelled at her for not giving him a drink while his buddies stole cans of soda out of the fridge,” she alleged. “Fist fights had been happening outside his store. Altercations went on all day long.”
In August, a 26-year-old worker at Shoe Palace, not far from Superme’s Fairfax location, was shot dead during a contentious customer raffle event.
West Hollywood locals are worried that similar disturbances might come to the Sunset Strip with a second L.A.-area Supreme store.
“Camping and altercations would be a negative side to having a chain like this, especially with a lot of residential space,” said Brianna Jordahl, who works close by, at a meeting of the West Hollywood Heights Residents Association on Thursday to discuss the opening.
Supreme’s senior vice president West Rubinstein attended the meeting. He assured residents and business owners that, contrary to what has been reported, the brand doesn’t promote flash mob sales.
“We don’t allow people to camp in our space overnight,” he said. “We have a pretty developed system of allowing people to make appointments.”
Construction on the new store is set to begin next month and is projected to take at least seven months to complete.
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