On Saturday, July 11, the courtyard at 225 26th Street served rosé and strawberries and cream between noon and 3 p.m. The Brentwood Country Mart called it "Wimbledon at the Mart," and it was also the welcome party for Varley, a London and Los Angeles label that had just opened its first Los Angeles County store inside the barn-red walls.
That afternoon summed up the Mart's year. In 2026 the center turned over several of its fashion storefronts, and each new tenant is an established European-rooted label. Two of them chose this courtyard for their first real foothold in Los Angeles, and one got there through a run of pop-ups that kept getting extended. If you walk the Mart every week, the new names may feel like the usual churn. Taken together, they show how a well-known brand gets a permanent spot here.
The 2026 Roster at a Glance
| Date | Tenant | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| March 1 | Malia Mills | Left the Mart after 17 years for a larger shop on Montana Avenue |
| June 12 | Orlebar Brown | London swim trunk and resortwear label opened its boutique |
| Summer, celebrated July 11 | Varley | First Los Angeles County store |
| Friday, August 14 | Sézane | First stand-alone Los Angeles store, after extended pop-ups |
| October 3 | Burger She Wrote | Opened at 11686 San Vicente Blvd., a short walk from the Mart |
A Departure That Made Room
The turnover started with someone leaving. Malia Mills, the swim and ready-to-wear designer, had kept a store at the Mart for 17 years. As of March 1, that store, her seventh nationwide, moved to Montana Avenue, according to the Argonaut. The brand's announcement on PR Newswire gave the new address as 1129 Montana Avenue and the opening date as March 1.
Her own explanation, as she told the Argonaut, frames the move as a natural next step:
"I think that change is good for everybody. It's good for the Mart community. It's good for our community. We were lucky that we moved not too far away. We have a space that's much bigger, and we also have a beautiful back garden that gets sun from both sides, and we can keep four glass doors open in the back."
A bigger room and a sunny garden are things the Mart's compact storefronts can't easily provide. A brand that has grown into needing them goes a few minutes down the road, and the courtyard space goes to a brand at an earlier stage. Longtime Malia Mills customers still have their shop close by on Montana. The Mart gained a free storefront.
Sézane Showed How the Tryout Works
The clearest example of the Mart as a testing ground is Sézane. The Parisian brand opened its first stand-alone Los Angeles store at the Mart on Friday, August 14. WWD reported that the store came "following a string of pop-ups at the shopping center that were extended multiple times in response to customer demand."
Sézane saw for itself, more than once, that shoppers at this particular courtyard kept coming, and then it signed on to stay. Uncover LA also placed the permanent opening in mid-August.
The format matches the courtyard's scale. WWD described a "jewelry box" store, a smaller space built around a tightly edited selection of the brand's best-selling pieces. At opening it carried the Will jacket in chocolate and the Clie and Lani shirts, along with fall pieces such as the Jule jacket in light olive green and the Theo and Edgar jumpers, timed to the launch of Sézane's fall 2026 collection. If you stop in on a weekday, expect an edit of the brand's greatest hits. For the full line, the brand's website is still the place to look.
Addresses Chosen With Care
Varley and Orlebar Brown arrived by a different route. Vernon Proper credited J.S. Rosenfield & Co., the firm behind the Mart, with running "well curated" country marts and reported that the Brentwood location "nabbed the first Los Angeles County location" for Varley.
Varley's history shows how selective that expansion has been. Lara and Ben Mead launched the brand in 2014. It sells through more than 1,000 retail partners, but it opened its first store of its own only in 2023, on King's Road in London. Its first U.S. store, on Broadway in SoHo, came a year later. In California, Vernon Proper counted only three Varley stores: the Brentwood Country Mart, Fashion Island in Newport Beach, and the Mart's sister center in Larkspur, the Marin Country Mart, which was set to open July 26. A brand that careful about where it opens picked both Rosenfield courtyards in the same summer.
Orlebar Brown, the London swim trunk maker, opened its boutique on June 12, Brentwood News reported. Patch Santa Monica described it as the brand's fourth California location, joining its boutiques in Beverly Hills, Newport Beach and Montecito. Brentwood News counted it as the label's second storefront on the Westside, so a brand that already had a Beverly Hills address still added this courtyard. Its June arrival, Varley's in summer and Sézane's in August meant the courtyard took on three European-rooted fashion brands in about ten weeks.
Each of these brands could have picked a bigger stage. They chose a courtyard where shoppers come back week after week. A smaller format fits a place like that, and so does a launch party that serves strawberries and cream.
The Same Pattern a Block Away on San Vicente
The Mart wasn't the only place to land a first Westside location this fall. Burger She Wrote announced its new home at 11686 San Vicente Blvd. in late September, per Brentwood News. Westside Current reported that it opened October 3 with a public grand-opening party, its first location on the Westside.
Like Varley at the Mart, Burger She Wrote picked this corner of Brentwood for its first location in this part of Los Angeles.
What the Holiday Season Looked Like Here Last Year
For anyone planning the next few weekends around the courtyard, last year's calendar gives a sense of the Mart's holiday routine. In 2025 the Mart held its Tree Lighting at the Mart on Friday, November 21, from 4 to 7 p.m. Photos with Santa followed on Sunday, December 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For this season's dates and times, the Brentwood Country Mart events page is the place to check. It's also where the Mart posted the Varley celebration in July. This will be the first holiday season with Sézane, Varley and Orlebar Brown all in the courtyard, and the first in 17 years without Malia Mills. For her shop, head to 1129 Montana Avenue.
The Mart's approach applies to homes as well: careful editing, the right format and a well-timed debut can decide how a property is received when it reaches the market. If you're thinking about what your Brentwood home is worth this season, Laura Brau would be glad to walk you through it. Request Your Private Home Valuation.
