Shop Redondo: Ella Boutique

In the early morning of Jan. 28, Tepy Berriman received two phone calls at her Playa del Rey home. The first was from an alarm company informing her that there was something wrong at her Riviera Village boutique. Then, about 20 minutes later, a police officer called to tell her that there was a sport utility vehicle in the store, and she needed to come down immediately.

"It didn't sound as bad as it was," recalled Berriman, owner of Ella Boutique. "When I saw [Ella], I discovered that the driver destroyed the whole storefront.

"I guess [the driver] was excited to come in," Berriman said with a laugh.

According to the police report, a 61-year-old woman had passed out behind the wheel of her Toyota Highlander and lost control while driving on Catalina Avenue. Luckily nobody was hurt, but the SUV smashed all of the front windows, door and cashier counter. Berriman was forced to replace the entire front part of the store.

Ella Boutique, a high-end clothing and swimwear shop, has been part of the Riviera Village scene for more than 30 years. The store used to be called Mirage before Berriman, who had a longtime dream of opening up a bathing suit store in the South Bay area, purchased it three years ago.    

The reconstruction and cleanup took about six weeks, and Berriman had to close Ella for three of those weeks.

"It was a nightmare," Berriman said. "Of course, the construction doesn't go as you plan. It was hard."

The boutique owner told Patch that she was fortunate that the construction period coincided with the slowest time of the year for her business: January and February. Nonetheless, it was a stressful process.

"There was always some problem. You have to get a permit for pretty much everything, so you're waiting for all these people to give you an OK to do anything," she said.

Despite the ordeal, Berriman is so happy with how the boutique turned out that she believes the driver did her a favor.

"We renovated the store, which was something I always wanted to do. By moving the counter, it opened up the whole space here. With more light coming in, it looks more inviting," Berriman said.

Other improvements include new interior walls, fresh paint and better  lighting. 

The boutique held a reopening event April 2 and 3 offering refreshments and discounts to shoppers.

Berriman thanks her regular customers, who she says have been loyal through the reconstruction and tough economy. Many of them stopped by during the work to say hi and tell her they couldn't wait to come back to shop.

"The economy affected us as much as it affected anyone else, but you just have to rely on a lot of your regular customers," Berriman said. "It makes you do better with customer service. You really appreciate the people who are loyal to you no matter what. Without them, I don't know where I would be."

Ella Boutique is located at 1709 S. Catalina Ave. For more information on the boutique, call (310) 375-3293.