Diane Merrick and Thrive Decor are calling it quits with a gigantic closing sale at their Beverly Blvd. locations…starting today.
After 45 years in business, Diane Merrick is closing, along with nearby business Thrive Decor, owned by Merrick’s best pal and neighbor, Randy Esada, the Windsor Square interior designer.
“I’ve had a great run,” said Merrick, the 80 year-old Los Angeles fashion icon with an A-list of clients. She started her career with one of the first stores on Melrose Avenue, along with Fred Segal. “I’ve dressed generations of Hollywood families and I’ve loved every minute of it! I love my customers.”
Merrick’s beautifully curated space offers everything; the leather bags, t-shirts, antique brass chandeliers, Steuben glass, crystal, china, cashmere. There’s no other store in town like this one, explained Merrick and all of it, including her display furnishings is going on sale starting today at 40% off.
Joining Merrick in making store closing history is her best pal and neighbor, Randy Esada of Thrive Decor. Esada, a Windsor Square resident who’s also an interior designer and part-time television personality, opened his first showroom in Larchmont and later moved to the Heinsbergen decorating building on Beverly Blvd., to be closer to Merrick.
Thrive Decor is tightly packed with antiques Esada has acquired over the years from estate sales and through his interior design work. He hopes to sell it all before he closes the shop door at the end of June. As items sell, he will replenish the shop with items from his warehouse, so serious shoppers should plan to check the store frequently.
“The face of retail is changing,” says Esada. “Today, most business originates from internet sales, so elaborate, expensive showrooms are no longer necessary and simply don’t make fiscal sense.”
“In the short-term, consumers can benefit from huge discounts on millions of dollars in inventory,” said Esada, citing the recent closing of Kitson as an example of the shrinking retail sector. “In the long-term, lost is the experience of coming into shops like ours and ultimately, John Q Public will be missing out!”
The entrepreneurial Merrick and Esada are also busy planning their next adventures.
“Together or separately, we have to have somewhere to go everyday,” said Merrick. Let’s hope they stay in the neighborhood!
