Elyse Walker on Rebuilding After the Palisades Fire, Resilience, and the State of Fashion Retail

0:01Hi, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Let's Get Dressed. It's your host, Liv Perez. I hope you guys all had an amazing 4th of July weekend. The sunburns aren't too bad. You got to eat, hang out with friends and family, all the things. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to today's episode. We're back in the office. We're back at work. Few things that hurt more than that Monday after a long weekend, but we're in this together, guys. Today's guest is someone who I have admired for years. She is a legend in the fashion community, the LA community, and most importantly, the Palisades community, and is a major force in the fashion world.

0:35Elise Walker has built one of the fashion industry's most influential retail businesses, known not just for its curation, but for its sense of community. In today's conversation, we cover a lot. It's definitely a longer episode than usual. We chat about how she built her business and shaped LA's fashion landscape, from what it takes to be a buyer, understand your audience, and open a multi-brand store. We also dive deep into what it was like losing her store in the Palisades fire, and what rebuilding looks like now. She's recently announced that she'll be reopening in 2026 alongside Rick Caruso.

1:10So we chat about the realities of rebuilding, being a leader during really hard times, the challenges of retail today, the future of fashion, and of course, now more than ever, why it is so important to support local businesses. As you guys know, this episode means so much to me. As so many of you know, my family also lost her family home during the Palisades fire. So it was amazing to get to sit down with Elise and hear about how she is leading the charge and reinstilling so much hope into our communities over there. I'm really excited for you guys to hear it. Let's go get dressed with Elise Walker.

1:47Hi, Elise. Good morning. Good morning. Bright and early. Bright and early. That's the best way. It's the best way, but I also, I appreciate having you here bright and early because I just know you have a stack day. So does everyone. Yeah. Yes. We have a stack day today when they were like, she will be there at 8 a.m. I was like, great. I will be up at six. I'll be ready. And I will have her out the door for what I know is probably her like 930 meeting. And I hate being late. Like I have late anxiety. OK. And so I knew if it was eight o 'clock, I could get here on time. Yeah. You showed up at 759.

2:18Yes. I looked at my phone and I was late. I was I considered that late. That's Elise Walker, ladies and gentlemen. Totally. Well, thank you for being here. You walked in the door and I adore your outfit. Obviously, it is so good. Walk me through what you're wearing for the pod today. Well, one of the things I love about what we do is we build on wardrobes and hopefully we'd work at building relationships over decades. So I am actually wearing things that are quite old. This is an old, old Victoria Beckham blazer. Love. And this is an old. When I say old, like north of five, this could be five to eight years old.

2:58And then this is Airdem, but it's still the best shirt I own. When in doubt, I always take this out. I always get excited when someone says that to me because it means that they've made good investments in their closet. And it also means that, yes, we want to get the newest things, but we want things that maybe will be there in five years too. And your ring stack is unbelievable. Is that a, that's a Spinelli? I need to give a shout out to Shiley Rose Arise, who just sent me this. And I know we'll be talking about the 90272. She gave me this necklace with the Palisade zip code. And on the back, it says next chapter.

3:36So she just gave me this necklace. Beautiful. Yeah. I love it. But I, this is my girlfriend's and it's called Wildbox. And she just started this brand. Rosanna is my friend. And we have it, I think, in about two or three stores. Beautiful. And then this one's pretty cool because it's a collaboration between Horse and Booze and Spinelli Kilcallen. So people are always like, wait, is that a Spinelli? Is that a Horse and Booze? What is it? And it's actually a collaboration between the two designers. And this one is, I think I could have used a manicure for today. But anyway. It's okay. We can just close.

4:16This one is Silva and C, also one of my absolute favorite designers. And then the end is another one from Wildbox and then Soralina. Oh, beautiful. These are Jenna Blake. And then these are Wildbox again. What are these incredible eyewear? What is this like amazing sunglass you have on? This is a duo. So people think that I love wearing glasses and it's part of my look, but I actually hate wearing glasses because I've been wearing them since I'm four years old, but I have an eye sensitivity. Okay. So people think it's part of my look like, oh, she's wearing the sunglasses to fashion week and it's not.

4:53It means I'm having a bad eye day. I think it's part of your look because when we spoke a few weeks ago and now you both times, I think you had these on and I was like, oh, she is fabulous. To show you my eyeglass collection. But someone told me I have this thing called uveitis and And someone told me it's the same thing that Bono has. Oh, you're in good company. That's fine. It's really fine. If he can do it and be Bono, you can do it. Exactly. Amazing. Jeans. Ammo. I can't wear these fast enough as soon as they come out of the wash. They're on my body. One thing is I like to be comfortable. Even black tie.

5:30I feel like if I'm in something that's too tight, too short, itchy is the worst. I don't have a good time. So I'm almost always comfortable. I'm the same way. Yeah. I have friends who like wear the corset, wear the thing and are like, nope, I don't need to be comfortable. For me, getting dressed every day has to be about. Be comfortable, yeah. I have to be able to move and feel like it's a second skin for me. Exactly. Well, I'm really thrilled to have you on the show today because you are someone who, as myself being born and raised in LA, you are a fashion icon here. I remember growing up and Elise Walker was the place to and still is the place to go.

6:08My mom used to take me shopping there all the time when I was younger. Oh, thank you. That's nice to hear. Yeah, we are. Wasn't planned. We'll get into that. We're dyed in the wool, LA Elise Walker people. You've been doing this for so long. Your first store opened in 1999. My first Elise Walker store opened in 1999. Wow. It was a tiny little 800 square foot store, one block from my kid's school. But the first store I actually ever opened was 1987 on Madison Avenue. I opened a Capretto shoe store, which is still my family's shoe business. And my corporate name to this day for Elise Walker is Capretto.

6:52So most people behind the scenes, like brands, know us as Capretto. DBA, doing business as Elise Walker. I like that you kept it in the family business. I did. And I lost my mom. So anytime I see Capretto, which is all the time, any bill, if you bill me, it says Capretto, I think of my mom. That's beautiful. What was the original vision for the store? And also, can you walk us through what shopping in LA was like at that time? Well, I love, I moved from New York and I grew up still in the shoe business. My family's still in the shoe business. My father is still making shoes. So I grew up with wholesale and retail.

7:35And when I opened in the Palisade, well, when I moved to LA, I was totally inspired by fashion because where I grew up was a bit more conservative. And I used to run to Banana Republic and buy a suit. I don't know, I wore a suit in my twenties. People say I'm actually more free spirited and easier and younger now. I was very serious when I was younger. And so I would go to Banana Republic and Ann Taylor and shop like the sail racks. But my fashion that I bought, I would like run into the city and go to Reminiscence and Antique Boutique and Charavari when it was 70 % off for sure, because it was definitely out of my price range.

8:20But I started collecting pieces very, very, very young. When I came to LA, there was Ron Herman, there was Madison, Planet Blue, and I never saw stores with so much energy. and women were grabbing three dot t-shirt and Frankie B and all this, all these things that I never really, and I'm not saying they weren't on the East coast, but I certainly had never noticed them before. So there was a whole sort of different fashion sense out here. I mean, LA is the capital of denim of the world. So there was this denim t-shirt, like extravaganza frenzy. and I never had experienced it. And it kind of sparked my love for extra love for fashion, where I started thinking, hey, I've been in the shoe business.

9:16My family's in the shoe business. Maybe I'm interested in clothing as well. Jewelry, handbags and shoes I was always interested in. And clothing was not anything that was on my radar for work. And I was really inspired by these LA stores that did an amazing job of mixing brands, which is what we do. My kids were little, I would drop them off at school and then I would run around and visit these stores and I was very inspired. I think about all of the multi-brand stores that I paid attention to when I was younger, East Coast and West Coast, like the Kitsons of the world, even Madison, Blue and Cream on the East Like none of them are intermix intermix all of them back in the day.

10:02I mean, Stephanie really, she set that trend. Walmart owns scoop. Now you can still buy scoop at Walmart, but what was your original retail vision that you think made you stand out from all of these other stores that haven't been able to thrive and sustain as long as you have? Well, we, first of all, when we opened in the Palisades, the question was how come there's not a lot of great retail in this wonderful town, amazing community that wants to support their locals. And people are fashionable, right? It's a, you know, they're getting dressed, they're going to luncheons, they're on boards, they have jobs.

10:42How come there's no, there aren't too many stores? So I saw like a hole and a need in Palisades. I think people ask me all the time, What made you do that? That was brave. And I don't think it was brave. I think because I had such a fresh, clean canvas and I had no fear, no expectations because I had nothing to lose. I just moved. I didn't know anyone. I think I saw it so clearly. I think had I lived there my whole life, I might have said, oh, fashion will never do well in the Palisades because in general, it wasn't a super fashionable community. The people were, but it wasn't known for retail fashion, right?

11:27So for me, it seemed so obvious, but just because I think I came in with like fresh eyes, do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. You weren't, you weren't already, it wasn't normal to you. And I also, I didn't feel doubt or insecurity because I really had nothing to lose. That is a gift my parents gave my brother and I is never really having a fear to fail. And I think that failure is what holds back a lot of people, all careers, even relationships. I think fail, like who wakes up in the morning and says, oh, I can't wait to fail today. Nobody. But if you don't take that risk, you can't have a success, I always say, or a hit or a home run or anything.

12:12You're going to, I mean, was your first podcast ever like a perfect one? No. No, this podcast has had numerous names and numerous rebrands. No, no, no. It's taken us a long time to find our market fit. Right. And then just when you figure it out, it will shift and change. And you'll have to figure. Yeah. So that was something my parents did very well is gave my brother and I confidence to fail. How did you get to know your customer through that? Obviously, you lived in the area, but what helped you really understand who they were and what they wanted, and even now to this day? Well, I also forgot to mention Fred Siegel.

12:51Fred Siegel. Yeah. Of course. How could we forget to mention Fred Siegel? Yeah, what were we thinking? Must be early in the morning. It's early, guys. Yeah. I don't know. I just drove carpool. I was room mom, and people were fashionable. And Palisadians, they dress, you know, LA people have this kind of cool style sense. but traffic is so bad in LA and it has only gotten worse. I was thinking, how can one pickup carpool possibly have a career, make dinner and get dressed? There was really no stores nearby. It was a commitment. If you wanted to go to Barney's, oh my God, we didn't even mention Barney's.

13:30We're really slow. We're really slow today. All right. We're waking up. 10 minutes to go. Refresh. Barney's, Fred Siegel, Kitson, Blue and Cream. Exactly. So it would be, it's still a commitment when you are a West side girl, because you're an East side girl. It's a commitment to go to the East side. My mom and sister live on the West side. So I totally understand your struggle. Like getting to getting together is not just like, Hey, do you want to grab coffee today? It's like, Hey, do you want to meet at this time at this hour? It's a strategy in Brentwood. It's a strategy and a compromise. Yes.

14:03It's 50, 50. Right. So I'm sitting here doing driving carpool, picking up my kids, trying to do work-life balance, make dinner. And I was just like, no, it's a hard commitment to get to many of these stores. So I just saw a need in the Palisades. Like who wants to leave the Palisades? It's the most beautiful community nestled up in the mountains of Los Angeles. What brands, and also guys, if you hear it, we've got a garbage truck outside that's just really enjoying our block today. So if you hear it, sorry, you've been in the business for over 20 years. Like what designers have been most exciting to you and to your customers and who's most exciting to you right now?

14:45Oh, wow. That's a big one. Okay. Well, we carry at any given time over 200 brands. Now that includes jewelry and, you know, we even have some books and there's probably 20 jewelry designers. There's probably 20 denim designers. We have contemporary, advanced contemporary designer, and of course, shoes and handbags, which is my favorite. There's so many ways to go here. Okay, let me think. Well, there's certain brands that I feel like I grew up with, like Lila from Mother came to me and said, I'm starting a denim brand called Mother. And we're like, Mother, what kind of name is Mother? Who's going to buy Mother jeans?

15:26Well, everyone. So I feel like that those were kind of relation that was one of the many relationships that I grew up with and grew up side by side with. And then I remember, you know, I remember being in the car where we found out we got Saint Laurent, which used to be Yves Saint Laurent. And one of my girlfriends was the president at the time, Liz Radler. And we were buying shoes and handbags because we had a we We had very strong support early on with shoes and handbags from Capretto shoes. People were like, how do you have these brands in the Palisades? It was from my family's business. And I want all of a sudden, as we were growing, I wanted to add Yves Saint Laurent because that's what it was at the time, ready to wear.

16:12And it was not an easy open. That's one thing that people don't know. You just don't say, I want a brand and you get it. sometimes we have to like court designers for years. Like Celine took me a decade. Wow. A decade to get. It takes time. It takes time. So anyway, Liz called me one day and she said, I have two things to tell you. One is I'm moving on. I'm going to Alexander McQueen. And the second thing I'm going to tell you is I opened you for Saint Laurent ready to wear. Wow. Yeah. And what'd you do in that moment? I mean, we've been with them ever since. You know, so anyway, from LA-based brands to Paris and Milan and all those brands, I mean, we've also had a super long career with John Vito.

17:02And there's many times where we will say, we love your new collection, but last year's boot was still the best. Can you remake it for us, possibly in new colors? And they almost always say yes. Wow. We do that a lot because if something's good, it's good. Yeah. Right. So even right now, we're working on a wedge with Paloma Barcelo. That's the perfect summer wedge. And when you wear it, it feels like you're walking on marshmallows. We're like, can you please remake that for us next year? We don't spend a ton of time, I think, as much as maybe other brands do on exclusivity. Not that we shouldn't.

17:42But if we like something, we get behind it and we usually buy into it in a big way. This is an interesting conversation because buying to me is a fascinating business that I think a lot of people who want to be in fashion maybe have an idea of buying that it actually isn't. buying to me is this very delicate balance of math, knowing your customer, and then also knowing what's in the market. Can you shed a light a little bit about what that process is when you're working with brands and making sure that one, you're not buying too much stock of something, but you're also meeting your customer where they're at?

18:14Well, I've been buying or I've been exposed to buying honestly since the 80s because I used to go with my mom to the shoe market. And at that time we would make books and cut out pictures and tape them in and say, here's our low heels. Here's our mid heels. Oh, we're missing this. So I've been doing it my whole life. My brain works very mathematically. So I tend to see things in kind of, I call it like a matrix. People who work with me, they're like, it takes time until they get my rhythm on how I see things. And I don't want them to see them my way. I want them to see it their way because I don't want one perspective in buying.

18:56So I see things kind of as multiples very often or storytelling. I think buying for a store is no different than interior design, right? You want your couch and your pillows and you want the colors to work, but maybe you want to challenge this fabric to that, but then you don't want a headache. So we sit here, we scrutinize our buy possibly too much. You can say, well, that's never too much, but we really literally comb through to the piece. And the other thing you have to do, which is also the fear of not making a mistake is you're not going to buy it perfectly. Sometimes you're going to take a risk and it's not going to work.

19:43And sometimes you're going to buy something that you think's a slam dunk and it doesn't work. If you have strong relationships in industry, sometimes a brand will help you. Sometimes they'll take a style back. Sometimes they'll let you swap into a style that's working, but it's like a constant, constant, constant thing. And then wide leg jeans might be in and you might swing too far and you're like, no, women still like a straight leg. It's flattering. And I mean, it's daily. It's a daily thing that we do. But I think that hopefully, I think I give my team the confidence to also go out and say, go for it.

20:24Like if last year you bought this brand and the dresses didn't sell, most, most companies would say, don't buy dresses from them anymore. We're saying, be cautious if you buy dresses, they didn't work. But if you leave the showroom and you're like, I don't care. I'm obsessed. They had three dresses I know we need. We'll say go for it. How does merchandising play a role in that? Merchandising is fascinating to me how something is shown on a floor and if that has ever made something sell better. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, first of all, if you give something a mannequin, more people are going to notice it.

21:02Also, when we're buying, sometimes we'll see like the most incredible piece, like maybe a jersey top from Christopher Esber. When we photograph it for our website, you can see that it's off the shoulder and this and that, but on a hanger, it's Jersey. It's just kind of hanging there. And you have, we have to take that into consideration as well, but that's not going to be an easy sell inside the store, you know? So what's the solve? Well, sometimes we go for it and sometimes we don't. Right. Or we make sure we shoot it really well online or we give our team digital assets. But I mean, by the way, there's so many more layers today with digital than there was.

21:43It used to be you just bought it, you put it on the floor and whatever happened, happened. But you know what's interesting in chatting with you so far? It seems like a lot of these decisions are made. Yes, I know you were saying there's a lot of mathematics going on in your head, but it also seems like you're trusting your gut and your taste and you have impeccable taste. So I could understand how in these merchandising decisions, in these buying decisions, a lot of your choices come from your own genuine love of fashion and what you think will attract other people too. I think I've been on the sales floor long enough to hear what clients love.

22:17I always say this, like you don't see this in a sales report, but women over 50 very often like to cover their arms, things like that. There's no like sales report that says that you have to be on the sales floor. It's still my favorite place to be. I always say in the dressing room, I try to get my team on the sales floor in the stores as much as possible. It's hard because buying market now is constant. Monthly, New York, LA, Paris, Milan. So many different weeks now. The Australian market's so strong. Copenhagen. You could literally be at a fashion week every week if you wanted to. I want to get into the state of retail a little bit, but I think before we do, I want to talk about your Palisades location and what that experience has been like.

23:05Obviously, Elise Walker in the Palisades is a landmark to so many here. It was lost in the Palisades fire. I would love to hear from you what that experience was like, what that day was like for you. And we'll get into more of it from there. Well, remember, for us, it's not just a store. It was a home. It was certainly my retail home. And I spent more hours and so did my team probably there than anywhere, right? I also have people who built their entire careers there who started as teenagers and either stayed on like Molly has been there for 18 years or Sable who came and then wound up launching Sablin from there.

23:51And so it was a launching pad for many, many people. But it was also where I raised my kids. And it's also where all my friends, most of my friends live. But we woke up and I was in Northern California that day and I got a call from our president, Summer Hall, that in her life, and she is a Calabasas native, she said she has never, ever felt wins like this, ever. So we were already on high alert at eight o 'clock in the morning, calling stores, just saying off the chart wins today. We have to be on the lookout. Absolutely not knowing what was going to happen. so when the fire started you know eight nine nine ten o 'clock in the morning we were we got our team out of and we have two businesses in the palisades we have elise walker and then we have town by elise walker which is our casual men's and women's concept in the caruso center and we got both teams out within an hour, not ever thinking the fires are going to come into town.

25:01We're just thinking, get people home, get them off the road. When the fire department comes in, it's 25 less cars to worry about. That's it. And also we all know that in LA, when there is a fire, it's, you know, PCH can shut down, 405 can shut down, sunset can take four hours to get from the Palisades to the four or five. Let's just get everyone home safe. Some people have to pick up kids, you know, just get out of there. So we were in hindsight, very, very proud to be that aggressive again, having no clue of what was about to happen, but knowing we could see the fire from our store. I mean, when you can see a fire, you know, yeah.

25:45So, but as the day progressed and you were just sitting, you know, watching TV and it was, it was really unfathomable, you know? And I, I raised my kids. We lived in the highlands and that is a fire zone. Like we grew up, we, we knew we were in the fire zone and we had areas to get out if we needed to. If I lived in town, I would have never, ever have had those plans. You just wouldn't picture the Palisades town of a fire coming through. and as the day progressed we're watching and we're watching I was very lucky I'm very close with my family and my cousins Stacy and Jonathan happened to have been in from New York and I had them over for dinner and my family so I was watching this whole thing unfold with like my family around me and I remember one of my most vivid memories is watching a newscaster on Temescal Canyon and the embers, like millions of embers are blowing at over a hundred miles an hour.

26:54We know now, and I'm thinking, how does one, how do you stop that? I don't know. Of course, still not thinking what was going to happen was even happening at that time. So we, everyone was kind of quiet and we're just watching and glued to the TV. And finally at 11 o 'clock, our stores were still standing. I am. We went to sleep and we said we have to stop watching TV. First of all, I normally get into bed at 8 p.m. Love that. That's why I like to go to dinner at 530. Don't tell anyone. I do the same thing. I love it. It's the best. And so so 11 o 'clock is really a second all nighter for me. And at 1103, my phone rings and my son's like, turn on Fox 11.

27:43and it was the strangest thing. It was my friend, Alex Michelson in the Palisades, standing in front of my store. The entire thing was ablaze and it was just standing like 10 minutes ago. And he said, this is Elise Walker. She's been a pillar in this community and a personal friend. And I thanked him later because I didn't realize at the time, but it really helped. One, I had my family all day with me and all night till the last second. And it really helped that there was like this, that someone I knew was kind of like laying this to rest. It was because I know him and I know his voice and he acknowledged, you know, the contribution we always tried to give and work on in the community.

28:37But still in the morning when we woke up and we saw all the decimated, the homes, I really honestly thought that was a terrible AI joke. I did not think that was the bluffs could be gone. I mean, and I really, I think it's unbelievable how many people got out and there were a few casualties. He's one of my friends, lost someone very important and close to her. I'm so sorry. But still most people, as we know, were able to get out safely. And I hope all the animals got out as well. I hope so too. I know. I was sitting right there. And my mom, who lost her house, was actually here with me. We were having breakfast.

29:21And she got the fire alert. And from Palisades to her house is so far. Right. And I remember she, you know, growing up in Malibu, we have very similar experience to you, which is that we're used to fires. They would come down the mountainside all the time. We would see them and we've evacuated more times than I can count. And I remember she had a very strange feeling. She was like, I need to leave. And she went home and we lost our house too. But just seeing the way that the embers blew that day was mind blowing. How did she get out? Did she go north? She went north, up and around, dropped down through Zoomeraz, which was still open.

30:01You know, she rushed out of here at 11 and I think was home by two. But she was, our house was the last house to burn on PCH. So she had a good amount of time, thank God, to go and evacuate and get as much as she could. But I don't, I like you, you know, we are on the strip of beach. I don't think anybody ever thought that those areas were going to burn the way they did. I know. That's amazing. How did you begin to process that both professionally, obviously you have an entire business to run, but also personally? Well, first of all, the first store I ever opened, the shoe store I told you about in 1987, two weeks later, the stock market crashed.

30:42So I say that just because that's things just happen that are out of your control, right? We spend so much time building and protecting and planning, but sometimes things just come your way. Sometimes they're great things, right? Like great. I always call them happy accidents. This of course was not one of them, but there's been many times in my career where things have just happened like nine 11 COVID. I mean, all these things that affects everyone and global like global stock market crash too so this was just I would say I I was so happy everyone was safe like I mean I was almost queasy like what could have absolutely been and people asked about merchandise we never thought about the merchandise I mean that was like never even on the radar we also didn't think the place was going to burn down but even if it did we wouldn't have made people stay to put things away.

31:45I was so weirdly grateful that, you know, my kids weren't there and that we got everyone out. I don't know why we were so aggressive. Must have been like your mom. Like there was an instinct get out. I'm not quite sure why. She very much. I've never seen her like that. And again, like I've seen her evacuate our homes my entire life. There was something about her that day that it was like a haunted feeling. It was almost like she was like, I need to leave right now. This is not sitting right with me. And I remember looking at her and I still feel like mild guilt about it because I remember saying, do you realize how far you are from the Palisades?

32:23Do you know what on earth would have to happen to get to your house? And it did. And it did. I know. I mean, never go with your instincts. They're like 90 % right. Mom instincts. You both have it. We have tentacles. Moms have tentacles. We can feel things. And I'm grateful for both of you. So I think I went into fight or flight mode. I need to be a leader. I can't really fall apart right now. I have to say, even for me talking about it sometimes, I don't know if you, while you were speaking, I still get very emotional. Yeah, I still get very triggered by it. And I have to say, I deeply admire, you have a lot of strength talking about this.

33:11I mean, I don't have a choice. I didn't have a choice. If I fell apart, everything would. But I somehow got the strength. I was just like, okay, insurance. Well, safety first. So proud of this team. Everyone's in shock. We had three people on our team lose their homes. and then of course I had tons of friends lose their homes and then my kids lost their schools so there was so much emotion there wasn't really time for me to yeah even I really did not shed a tear for weeks it was just like safety check insurance check just to understand we had two businesses we had nine separate insurance claims we had jewelry times two stores content you rebuild build, art, and there's a thing called business interruption.

34:05We were lucky that we were heavily insured. I will never not be insured if you can be. I mean, if it was up to me, I would have never checked the boxes for fire. So it would have been like, oh, that's not going to happen. But my husband must have checked the boxes. So anyway, my thought was how do I get these people back and work one to clear their head right if we stay home we're just going to sit here and and fester and what you know worry about what could have been what you know so we quickly set up a shop we have a warehouse and office in culver city we set up like a little tiny mini store maria from our her team because we wanted we called it like an emer not an i hate to call emergency but But we called a meeting one week later and we wanted everyone from the Palisades teams to feel like they were in a store instead of a warehouse.

35:02And we made like a mini store just for them. That is wonderful. It was merchandised and we called everyone in and I just, I don't know if I don't know where this came from. Must have come from my grandparents. My grandparents are Holocaust survivors. Sometimes I think that it just like comes up and I was like, no four walls can define me and no four walls can define you. I don't know where this came from, like whatever, but I meant it. You were in fight or flight. I was in fight or flight. And I said to them, the relationships you've built internally, because some of these, some people that have become best friends for life and your relationships with your clients, those did not burn in the fire.

35:49And there's no merchandise that can't be replaced. And there's no four walls that can't be rebuilt. And everyone got out safely. So what's the most important, valuable thing in our company? It's people. I always say people, then product, or people, people, people, then product. So I said, here we are, you know, it's like tears. And I have to tell you that in the middle of this speech that, again, I have no idea where it came from, this man comes into my warehouse and no one comes to our warehouse, you know, appointments come and stuff. And he comes up the stairs to my little mini fake store and everyone stops talking.

36:31And one of our sellers is like, excuse me, I'll be right back in the middle of my brave speech, right? I'm like, what is going on? This lovely Palisade dad found his sales associate, Adelise Walker, that his wife worked with, called her and said, my wife, we lost everything. And I just bought her this bracelet. Could you quickly get me a new one? And she called the designer. Someone ran and got it, brought it to the warehouse. He comes like, we're not close to the Palisades. And she runs downstairs. He's like, I want to give her something that she had in the house and let her know everything's going to be okay.

37:20I'm so excited to hear that you're reopening with Rick Caruso. It's incredible news. He's a spectacular leader. He's confident. He is articulate. He has the most incredible team behind him. Everyone is so professional. I actually love the clarity and precision that his team works with. I'm a bit more like world things, ideas around. They're very targeted and very easy for me to understand. And Rick was, well, first of all, amazing in building out the Palisades. I tried to open my stores on Swarthmore 25 years ago. I wanted to expand. I could not get some of the landlords to even get me on the phone.

38:11I tried and tried and tried. He figured out how to bring that whole community together because that area was more than 50 % vacant for way over a decade. And that's not good for any town at all. And he just doesn't take no for an answer and he figures it out. Also, I love to be around him. I always leave his whole team saying that I could have stronger leadership and I'm lucky to be around it. I always feel like I take a little bit of something away. like, oh, I could do that better. Look how fabulous they did it. But anyway, Rick was amazing with me. First of all, we people are like, how do you feel about your partnership with him?

38:53We already partnered. I'm a I am. I'm in his Calabasas. I'm in Calabasas Commons with Elise Walker since I think about 19. And then we did town Bailey Walker. I think that was about 18, 2018. And that was Rick saying, I know you have a lease Walker. I know you're on Antioch Street, but I need a little piece of you on this side in Palisades Village. Can you open a kid's store? Can you open a home store? Can you open a men's store? Anything just, it could be a little tiny kiosk. So he really pushed me into that in a great way, made me think outside of the box. So we've been partners, but with this case, he would check in with me almost every Friday.

39:36how are you doing? How's your team? I'm like, how are you doing? One thing you don't know, because Rick is so about, you know, the people, his family lost three homes in the fire. I don't think I've ever heard him really say that publicly. If he has, it's not very often. And he was out there in Altadena. He still is. And the Palisades, you know, making a difference because he can and he's amazing. And, you know, I know there was criticism in how come his buildings didn't burn down. A lot of the town buildings didn't burn down. But if I had the resources, I would have saved my home too. So I'd love people to take more positive view when they can.

40:22But a friend of mine taught me this. She said, Natalie, she said, if you want to be mediocre, everyone can like you. Because I used to get upset if someone wasn't happy with my business or this or that. So I would say, Rick Caruso, there is nothing mediocre about you. You just keep going. You are unbelievable. So Rick checked on me and he was great because I was like in fight or flight mode. So I was just looking for a new store. What am I going to do? How quickly can we rebuild? This was a very large business for us. The numbers that that two Palisades stores did, the amount of people it fed, and the amount of units we moved in a day were pretty extraordinary.

41:07So I'm like, how can we get people back in business? How can we replace business? How long is this going to take? So we looked everywhere, only on the west side though. And there were some great options, but none of them were the Palisades. And he would check in, and one of his check-ins, he said, I know you're looking around, and I totally understand, but don't sign a 10-year lease because I'm going to need you back here. I don't think he had a plan yet. He just had a feeling. And I heard him, and I said, Rick, I can't answer anything right now. I'm in fight-or-flight mode, and I'm trying to get people employed.

41:44and again the next check-in and we were pretty close we were looking in Santa Monica we were looking in Brentwood and then I was actually in Miami we did a pop-up there which is something we've been doing crazy to keep our team going and Rick's like I have an idea but I I I had a premonition the day before he called me that we were going to move across the street to that particular store, which used to be the Amazon bookstore. Mom tentacles. The day before. Mom tentacles. So he called and said, I have a grand idea. I'm going to need your help and you are going to be our perfect partner. And I must've called my husband.

42:27I said, he's going to call me about the corner store, which I think is one of the most, I mean, the whole village is beautiful. and I was right. And when he gave us that opportunity, it's kind of like in hindsight, oh God, of course that's what was going to happen. Of course, I had to go through the imagining not being there. In hindsight, we were always going to go back there, but I had to go through the process, right? Right. So you're set to reopen 2026. Yes. Back in the Palisades. A lot of people are, I think, still on the fence about returning back to the Palisades. Can you talk a little bit about your thought process?

43:10Well, originally I would call it a third, a third, a third. One third, come hell or high water, they're staying. One third, I'm not sure. And one third, I don't want to live through fires anymore. I'm sure that happens in Malibu. That was the scariest thing that ever happened. And I'm just going to have a new chapter. I would tell you now people are coming back and there's no, I mean, there's lovely, there's tons of places to live, of course, but there's no place like the Palisades. It's a magical village. Oh, so I think everyone knows 100%, like 100%, the Palisades is coming back. It's not a matter of if it's, it's when.

43:51So hopefully our hopes are that with the strength and the backing and the confidence of the Caruso team and the strength and the confidence of my own team, that we can be a small catalyst and helping people on the retail and business side also come back. And so far, it has been a little bit contagious. Oh, the day the news broke, my husband, who's in real estate, the two of us giddy. And I think for multiple reasons, I mean, one, we're so excited to see a landmark place come back, but two, you are instilling hope in a lot of people that this is coming back. This one place that brought so many people come together is making the choice to reopen, to rebuild its community there.

44:35And, you know, the last six months have been shaky. I think a lot of people have been like, is this going to be a 10-year thing? Is the Palisades ever going to feel that way? And it's people like you that are making us feel like it's coming back. It's going to be a long time, but every year is going to be 100 % better than the year before. But we're going to help speed it up. Not us personally. All of us collaboratively are going to help speed it up. And I've had people call me crying. They may not even shop with me, but it means like, oh, we're going to be okay. And I think the city and the country are going to come out to support us.

45:11I have no doubt about that. So is it going to be easy? No, but it's going to be amazing. It's going to be possibly one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. And my team feels the same way. In the past six months, I'm sure there have been a lot of moments that have taught you about being a leader, about being in the fashion industry. Is there a moment that stands out to you now that felt the most, maybe not rewarding, but a moment where you overcame something really challenging? I think that was what was so interesting is I always told people in interviews and my team, oh, we're so much more than clothes.

45:53Oh, we're so much more in clothes. So, oh, you know, we're more than shoes and jewelry and handbags, but like you're also trying to get there. Right. And I was worried that my, we have about 25 people or 20 people on the Palisades team. I thought, you know, just because I've decided that I'm going to hold my breath because it's going to take longer. I think it's going to move much faster than any of us anticipate. I really, really do. But could I open right now in Brentwood or Santa Monica and possibly be doing more business for the next 12 to 24 months? Yes. But long-term, no. But is my team going to be able to hold their breath, roll up their sleeves with me and go for it?

46:37And I was nervous about that. I thought some people might say like, I love Elise. I love the company. I can't do that. And I would understand, right? I got letters from my team. They were more excited than I was. Back to what I was saying, forget clothes, handbags, shoes. The fact that they had that kind of drive, pride, commitment to their job and their work community, I mean, is beyond anything I ever thought in my work fashion career that the reward would be so much greater than just business. Through this conversation, I've just been thinking about your business being about this physical location where people feel like they're in community and together.

47:30But over the last 10 to 15 years, it's been such a massive shift in the fashion industry in terms of e-com. And you've been through some crazy things. COVID, the fires, e-com shopping, retail is dead. Retail is back. I never believed retail is dead. Me too. And you know what? But right now, I'm so interested because you have this moment where you're coming back next year, right? I mean, even walking through the Grove, which I live right nearby, that Zara store on the corner is, I don't know if you've seen it yet, it's like a department store. I want to see it. I've heard all about it. And to me, that's a massive investment on Zara's end into retail.

48:10And I saw Doan, the brand based here, just did a massive raise. Dillon is on fire. Massive raise. And all of that money is supposed to go just towards building out physical locations so that they can build out their community. So all of those things are big indicators to me that retail is about to be stronger than ever. What do you think about it? And how have you kept this business that the core of it is about this physical location? Well, retail for us was never dead. In 2020, we did not have our own website yet. I had had a partnership with the Revolve group and I had left that digital partnership.

48:48So we were without digital through COVID. Unbelievable. Which was not easy. How? I mean, it was not by choice. Like we weren't ready to launch EliseWalker.com. We were in development. Were you selling through Instagram? We were just delivering. We had tables outside with drive-by pickups. But that's a testament, I have to say, like one of the things that I've always thought about Elise Walker and, you know, anyone in LA that talks about it is like, oh, like those sales girls are my friends. Like they are, they, if they find the right things for me and we're texting, like it's more than just a store.

49:27I see them on the floor. Like someone will pick something up and they'll be like, not for you. Right. Right. So I will say people rally for us. I think, you know, we do good community work. We try to make an impact in every community we're in. Are we perfect? No. Could we do better? No. But that's what keeps me going every morning. Like we can do better. But I think that people respect us, that we just don't come in and try to like, you know, like we want to do good deeds in a community. We want to sell. Of course, we want to grow our business, but we also want to do it in a way that's good for all.

50:07I think we are socially conscious. company. And we've had philanthropy in the heart of our company from the day we launched. But really since 2004, we started an event, Jennifer Garner and I, for Cedars-Sinai Women's Cancer Research Institute, totally out in my store in the Palisades, homemade. And we raised$11.7 million over 10 years from every designer, every client. Like it wasn't like a big PR campaign. And there was no social media. So you couldn't get raise awareness through that. It was all word of mouth. But through COVID, people were still supporting us, which again, we only had brick and mortar.

50:50The second we opened in 2021, 21 was our most profitable year of our history of our company. Unbelievable. And that was the year post post COVID, still in COVID, but stores were opening that people were saying, every article, Brick and Mortar is dead. And so we're sitting here in meetings like, I don't know what they're talking about. It's okay. Go back in the dressing room. Give them the headlines. No, and we have a thing called UPT, Units Per Transaction, or UPT had never been higher. Wow. To me, I count UPT over dollars. I always say to my team, don't count the dollars. Like, dollars will follow.

51:34So count repeat business, count UPT, count how many people are new, how many people are staying with you. Just build your business within here. Don't look at dollars because dollars will help not make you a great seller. It sounds like so much of your business is reliant, I mean, clearly on this incredible community for people who - People. There isn't any business that isn't reliant on people. But for people listening right now who maybe have brands or maybe they want to start brands, What's your best tip for really garnering like amazing, thoughtful community who cares about you back? I just say authenticity.

52:11I've made a few humongous mistakes in business and all three times in hindsight, I was not being authentic. I was I was maybe being a follower when we launched Elise Walker dot com finally in 2022. So we're kind of newbies to the digital world and our digital is only 10 percent of our business. and we're kind of okay with that. We just sort of ignored the brick and mortar's dead. And I think it's in the, I don't think, I know it's in the ethos of our company, which means that the sellers and stylists and managers and everyone on our sales floor has to feel that too. I mean, we have to make a living, we have to make an income, But if you can also leave work proud of not just your success, maybe in the business you're in, but with your personal relationships that you're in.

53:06So we've tried really hard, but it wasn't a strategy. It wasn't like get in the dressing room, get to know your client. I think it was authentic and organic. So back to what you're saying, I, for me, authenticity almost always serves me well. strategy, following what everyone else is doing has not served me well. My biggest hurdles have been when I jumped on the bandwagon. How can we support Elise Walker before opening? You've got a year to go. Well, that's the best question anyone's asked me. I know you've got a year to go. So how can we support you, but also support Palisades, Altadena, and beyond?

53:43Yes. So in terms of Altadena, it's something that my team and I are talking about. And we do want to find a way that maybe we can take our learnings, our expertise, our things that we're not good at that we figured out. And we do want to find a way to be supportive of commerce and Altadena. So that's something actually going on behind the scenes. We haven't decided exactly what it is yet, but we are 100 % working on it because we want to be cheerleaders and helpers and role models if we have the opportunity to be. The most important thing, and this might sound so fundamental, like, huh, is really to go to our other stores, go in our stores in Tribeca and New York.

54:26We're in Southampton this summer. We're in Napa. We're in St. Helena, our Newport Beach store and our Calabasas store. If you can go and support those stores because you can't get to the Palisades stores, it truly makes a difference. It doesn't just help us financially, right? We have a huge hole, gaping hole right now. Yes. Thank you. we want you to shop with us. It's so good for our team to want to know that you made the schlep all the way to Calabasas. Shop online at EliseWalker.com and or reach out to a stylist that maybe you knew, maybe you worked with. Even reach out if you're not going to shop.

55:10Hey, Heather, how are you doing? How are the kids? I know this is how's team morale? How are you? I cannot tell you what a difference that will be. You know, this was, I say, their work home too. But my team is doing FaceTime appointments. All our team has, you know, their own Instagram handles. If you follow Elise Walker Personal, which is mine, I'm constantly tagging Sydney and Shane and Annie. If you follow them, one, you'll see what's new in the stores. But you can just DM them. They can FaceTime you. They can ship you on Memo. we do half our business's memo meaning i need new work clothes i need new mommy clothes i need new this i hate all the jeans in my closet or i have a huge event can you send me three options and whatever and we build on that reach out if you've ever worked with us or you've ever thought about working with us or you've ever thought i want to go see what this whole thing is in the palisades what are they talking about reach out to our styling team through elisewalker.com i think there's a portal for stylists, but definitely through Instagram.

56:18We would love the opportunity to get to know you. So do it now and in a year. Both guys. Yes. Yeah. Got it. Yes. Elise, thank you so much for being here. Truly. It's been so lovely to get to hear from you. And thank you for being a leader, both in fashion and business, but also as a person. Well, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.

56:43Thank you.