Tech titan Google opened only its sixth brick and mortar store on the Promenade on Friday morning.
Residents and tourists may have noticed the blue-colored banner on the northwest corner of Third Street and Broadway wrapped around the iconic Keller Building for a few months now, with a cryptic “coming soon” notice offering the only clue as to when it might actually open. Then, only a few weeks ago, the boarding disappeared and another, extremely subtle notice appeared stuck to the front door indicating that the store would open on March 7, at 10 a.m.
Despite the minimalist marketing, crowds gathered and the first enthusiastic shoppers were rewarded with tote bags and other freebies.
This is one of only six Google stores in the country and the first in Southern California. There are two in New York City, in Chelsea and Williamsburg, plus one in Mountain View, naturally and another in Boston. Number seven is slated to open soon in Austin.
In a similar architectural approach adopted by other Silicon Valley giants for their own brick and mortar stores, Google’s retail outlets often utilize creatively-designed spaces, often in iconic, historic buildings.
The building itself was built around 1893 and is a rare example in Los Angeles County of its type of architecture, known as "Richardsonian Romanesque Revival." It was constructed by a gentleman named Henry Keller, son of Mathew Keller, a prominent local businessman who invested in banking, oil and real estate. He also owned a vineyard and was a member of city council and insisted that he be called by his adopted name "Don Mateo" that reflected his naturalized Mexican citizenship
Google has only taken the ground floor, as both the first and second are still available for rent, according to loop.net. The ground floor space is approximately 7,100 sq ft and to put that into perspective, the ground floor space inside Apple’s Promenade store is 8,084 sq ft.
Much like Apple’s brick and mortar formula, which has more or less become a template for other tech titan’s physical outlets, the Google store will feature a help desk to assist with hardware and software difficulties, together with a wide variety of products and exclusive branded merchandise for sale, including phones, smartwatches and home accessories. It will also incorporate an event space for programs and educational workshops plus on-site experts for support such as Pixel phone repairs.
“We've always coveted LA as a destination for our stores and Santa Monica was always on the map as one place we wanted to be, more specifically the Third Street Promenade has always been a legacy retail quarter that we wanted to be part of,” Mike Camacho, Google Global Head of Stores told the Daily Press, adding, “The opportunity was there. With a great location and a historic building, the timing was right. We've opened a few stores now, and so it was just a matter of getting here.”
Along with all the usual features, the store also offers a small seating area outside, or what’s referred to by city placemakers as a “linger node.” In addition to the obvious function of providing somewhere to jump on the local Wi-Fi and finish that screenplay, it purposely acts as a device to cause people passing by to pause and engage. Consequently, every store in the immediate vicinity benefits.
“We know that there have been challenges in Santa Monica, but we feel like we can be part of something, a rebirth, if you will, of the promenade, and we're excited with where we are,” Camacho said.
“We're excited about our neighboring retail tenants, but more importantly, we're really excited about the community. They've really embraced us in these first few weeks … Our team that works in the store is from this community in and around Santa Monica, so I feel like whenever we open a store, we try really hard to be part of the community that we're in to reflect it,” Camacho said.
Google is the first business to take up occupancy in the Keller Building since Festival Real Estate, a California-based property management company, purchased the structure at 1460 Third Street in 2021 and began a multi-million-dollar restoration. When completed, the first and second floors will also each offer approximately 7,100 sq ft of space for either retail or office rental. Apparently, there’s even the opportunity for a rooftop bar and dining venue with ocean views.
