For years, CB2, sister brand to parent company Crate & Barrel, has embraced the retail concept that larger is best. Think stores which are nearly 10,000 square feet and span two floors.

Now the Chicago-based company believes small is gorgeous. On Thursday, it’s opening its first Design Shop on the Malibu Country Mart. The outpost will probably be one-fourth the dimensions of its traditional furniture stores and staffed only with interior stylists consulting with customers who should want to remodel a complete home or simply need a latest piece of furniture to vary things up.

This smaller footprint makes it easier to suit into compact shopping centers just like the Malibu Country Mart where CB2’s fellow retail tenants include a number of high-end clothes shops, equivalent to Madison, Chrome Hearts, Double RL & Co., and Ron Herman.

The shop is situated 25 miles north of L.A. within the seaside mart frequented by celebs and influencers. It is usually adjoining to well-to-do L.A. suburbs Calabasas and Hidden Hills, whose residents include the Kardashian clan and athletes equivalent to LeBron James.

“Malibu felt like the very best place to start out this sort of retail concept,” explained CB2 President Ryan Turf.

Since 2009, CB2 has had a larger-format store on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood spanning two floors in a service-oriented constructing with a movie show, gym, restaurants and a parking garage underneath. The brand new Malibu store, at only 2,250 square feet, feels more like a showroom where shoppers can browse an unlimited array of merchandise, pick up housewares or order a settee to be delivered in just a few days.

For those in need of a fast fix, the Design Shop will stock one-of-a-kind vintage furniture and rugs and luxury items including lotions, scented candles and plants expanding the brand in a more lifestyle direction. There can even be design demonstrations, designer meet-and-greets and design-forward panel discussions with CB2 experts.

“Persons are coming in for an actual connection. Otherwise, you’re just going to buy online, right?” Turf said. Online was great through the pandemic, but customers need to feel the material and plop down in a chair or sofa to see if it’s comfortable. This fall, the corporate will probably be adding more custom upholstery selections with additional colours and fabric options, as CB2 positions itself as more fashion and design-focused.

CB2 was launched in 2000 as a brand where younger, budget-minded customers furnishing their first apartments could find affordably priced pieces. In the previous couple of years, Ryan and his team have been raising the bar, launching collaborations with Lenny Kravitz, retailer Fred Segal and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, amongst others.

One among the corporate’s latest stores opened in February outside of Detroit within the tony suburb of Birmingham, Michigan. It’s barely smaller at 5,900 square feet and offers more design elements.

The house-furnishings chain can also be stepping up the standard of its merchandise and its prices. When you still can purchase a water glass for $2.50 or walnut tongs for $7.95, sofas sell for as much as $2,999 and a marble dining table fetches $3,999.

The brand new Design Shop is an experiment in a smaller format that could possibly be rolled out in other locations if all goes well in Malibu. “This store is actually a test case,” Turf said. “We’ll see what we’d like to do to evolve the concept and go from there.”