RH Builds its Largest U.S. Gallery at Fashion Island – Orange County Business Journal

Orange County’s first RH design gallery, and the luxury retailer’s largest location in the U.S. at 97,000 square feet, is opening in the coming weeks at Fashion Island.

RH, formerly Restoration Hardware, is moving out of its previous store at the center and into a four-story building on the south end of the mall facing the coastline.

The store, called RH Newport Beach, The Gallery at Fashion Island, is the company’s more elevated retail model built to offer a larger assortment of its luxury home furnishings, lighting and décor across multiple showrooms with outdoor balconies, ocean views and a touch of hospitality.

“RH Newport Beach represents a transformative addition to our luxury lifestyle retail experience and perfectly aligns with our commitment to elevate by design,” Ken Gillett, president of Irvine Co. Retail Properties, told the Business Journal.

It “has the potential to become our second $100M plus gallery,” Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Friedman said in a shareholder letter from September.

The store is RH’s 37th gallery location. The design guidelines typically span between 55,000 to 70,000 square feet; RH New York comes in at 90,000. Last month, it announced the opening of the 60,000-square-foot RH Raleigh, the Gallery at North Hills in North Carolina.

“Our plan to open immersive design galleries in every major market will unlock the value of our vast assortment, generating revenues of $5 to $6 billion in North America and $20 to $25 billion globally,” according to RH’s website.

The publicly traded company, which has an almost $7 billion market cap, reported sales of $3 billion in fiscal 2023 (NYSE: RH).

Newport Beach includes RH’s largest in-house interior design offices with a private presentation room and design libraries and houses the first showroom, 3,000 square feet, dedicated to its water fixtures collection Waterworks.

With the new multi-level gallery also comes RH’s hospitality concept, marking its first dining location in Southern California following other spots in Palo Alto, San Francisco and Napa Valley.

The glass-encased, 260-seat rooftop restaurant is called the RH Ocean Grill with two wine bars flanking its grand staircase entrance.

“RH Newport Beach reflects our vision to create architecturally inspiring and immersive spaces that blur the lines between residential and retail, indoors and outdoors, home and hospitality,” Friedman said upon announcing the project back in 2021.

The company hosted a private unveiling event in late November inviting not only members of the local business community but a few notable faces as well.

Guess Who’s Coming to RH

To go along with this local real estate investment, RH made a donation to the Hoag Hospital Foundation and invited President Caroline Pereira and Hoag CEO Robert Braithwaite to mark the occasion with an exclusive store preview on Nov. 21.

The organization declined to disclose the donated amount, which will go towards the hospital’s Irvine campus expansion.

Dozens of VIP guests stood in line to gain access to the store during the sneak peek event as construction crews were still installing light fixtures and unwrapping plastic covers from outdoor furniture.

Once inside, celebrities and local executives explored the four-level gallery, including Hollywood actresses Jessica Alba and Sydney Sweeney and Roger’s Gardens owner Gavin Herbert Jr. Athletes such as Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees and former Philadelphia Eagles player Joe Panos were among 1,500 attendees.

Spotted on the host committee along with Pereira were Lisa Bhathal Merage, Gorjana Reidel of Gorjana jewelry and Quiksilver founder Bob McKnight among others.

Fashion Island Wraps Up 2024

The RH gallery is Fashion Island’s largest store addition this year and is among almost 30 new or relocated brands at the Newport Beach mall in 2024.

The Irvine Co.-owned center has 144 stores and restaurants across 1.5 million leasable square feet as of November. It ranks as OC’s second largest shopping center with taxable sales of $820 million for 12 months ended June 2024.

Below is a list of all-new stores at Fashion Island this year. A few retailers on the way to OC for the first time include L’Agence, On and Rubin&Chapelle.

• Mendocino Farms
• Ocean 48
• Sweetgreen
• American Vintage
• Arc’teryx
• Barry’s
• Brunello Cucinelli Mens at GARYS
• LSPACE
• Melin
• Open Market OC
• Ora Sempre
• Orlebar Brown
• Rag & bone
• RH Newport Beach
• Studs
• CHICJOC