EXCLUSIVE: Handbag Label Cuyana to Open Malibu Store

Cuyana is continuing its retail expansion.

The San Francisco-based handbag label is opening its latest store on Friday in Malibu, located at 3835 Cross Creek Road. This is the brand’s fourth store in California, and sixth in the U.S.

While Cuyana is primarily a digital brand, cofounder Karla Gallardo said brick-and-mortar has become a crucial part of the business to give customers an in-person touch point.

“We’re looking to meet our customer where she is and provide her with very complete shopping experiences, so that she can make very intentional purchases,” she said. “For us, just selling product or pushing product for the sake of growing the brand isn’t success. Success for us is that the Cuyana woman purchases a product, loves it and wears it almost every day.” 

Cuyana chose the location based on data showing a large customer base in Malibu, she said. Cuyana’s emphasis on wellness (the brand philosophy is fewer and better) and offering of high-quality, fashion-forward accessories aligned with the area, too. 

The store is set up in a way that’s optimal for handbag shopping, spotlighting each style pillar so customers can see different sizes and colors and determine what best suits their needs. There are also multiple mirrors, surfaces and props — one in the shape of a 13-inch MacBook — for customers to test the look and feel of the bags. 

“The design of most stores allows customers to shop for apparel. There are racks, fitting rooms and big mirrors to try products on….It’s hard to take a bag to a fitting room. You need to actually see how it feels when you put it on. You need to understand how much you can fit in that bag and how you’re going to wear it, so the experience of shopping for a bag is different than that of the traditional retail store,” Gallardo said. 

The brand plans to continue expanding its retail fleet, which also enhances its digital performance, she said: “Our customer understands quality. When you walk into a store, you can smell the leather. It’s this one moment she needs to understand the brand, so then she can become a digital customer because she gets what the brand is about and then she trusts what she sees online.”