South Coast Plaza has opened more than 20 new storefronts so far in 2025, featuring exclusive newcomers such as Dior Beauty and Eleventy Milano, as well as relocated favorites like See’s Candies and Crate & Barrel.
Luxury brands often choose the high-end shopping center, which generates about $2.5 billion in 12-month taxable sales, to be an entry point into Orange County and California overall.
The new Dior Beauty flagship was the first of its kind to open on the West Coast in April and marked the beauty and fashion brand’s largest retail footprint.
AMI Paris, founded by designer Alexandre Mattiussi, also took to South Coast Plaza to open its first OC boutique.
Earlier debuts included ERES, a French fashion label, owned by the Chanel Group and one of the first freestanding Guerlain cosmetic boutiques on the West Coast. Topologie’s customizable bags are also new to South Coast Plaza.
At least eight more brands are expected to open before the end of 2025.
More celebrity-backed retailers are popping up at the mall with the upcoming opening of Skims, the shapewear brand founded by reality TV star Kim Kardashian.
The West Coast’s first Manolo Blahnik boutique will arrive at the Costa Mesa shopping center in November. The store will be the luxury shoemaker’s fourth flagship in the U.S., joining two locations in New York City and one in Miami.
Zara’s first standalone store dedicated to menswear, dubbed Zara Man, will debut at the center on this week Oct. 30. Barcelona-based fashion house Mango is slated to open this month.
South Coast Plaza said that one of its most anticipated brand debuts will be Fueguia 1833 Patagonia, an Argentinian fragrance house that is opening its West Coast flagship during the holiday season. Its two other U.S. boutiques are in New York.
Menswear label Stone Island will also arrive in OC this year, along with Italian chocolatier and gelato shop Venchi.
Luxury athleisure brand Alo will open its second OC store at South Coast Plaza this fall, following its regional debut at Fashion Island in 2022.
Renovations and Relocations
Longtime tenants are also welcome to renovate or move around the center as South Coast makes room for newer brands.
See’s Candies moved to the Din Tai Fung wing on the first floor. The South Coast outpost originally opened in 1971.
Australia-based Camilla updated its former boutique with the company’s newest retail design in September. Roger Vivier created a sneaker and bag exclusive to the Orange County store to go along with the newly designed space earlier this month.
Swiss watchmaker Piaget also decided to revamp its store this year. The brand is among the largest collections of timepieces and jewelry stores in a U.S. shopping center, according to South Coast Plaza.
Max Mara moved and reopened in a new location on level one of the center. Crate & Barrel most recently reopened after completing months-long renovations to its current space.
The two-story home decor and houseware retailer first opened at South Coast Plaza in 1999. Crate & Barrel President Alicia Waters said she was “super involved in every aspect” of the project.
“It’s always been a top priority mall for us,” Waters told the Business Journal. “This is one of our top stores in the fleet. So, we knew we wanted to give this particular store a special experience.”
The Costa Mesa store is the first to have a private consultation room for design services and has the first dedicated Crate & Kids storefront.
Waters added that Orange County customers are very trend-observant, noting that brand and designer collaborations do very well in the market.
“They’re very aware of pop culture and what’s going on, and they want to be part of it.”
