Upper State Street Update: Luis Vuitton Moves In, La Cumbre Management Says We Need 'Shopping Experience'

The Daily Sound reports that Luis Vuitton has moved in to La Cumbre Plaza.

Alice Love, senior marketing manager for La Cumbre Plaza, said the addition of Louis Vuitton is one more example of how the plaza provides a shopping experience that can’t be found anywhere on the South Coast.

“What we’re doing is concentrating on a compelling mix, which is first to market stores,” Love said, adding that first-to-market means stores like Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton can’t be found nearby.

I'm not so sure that the La Cumbre Plaza makeover into some kind of mini-Rodeo Drive is compelling or very useful to the typical Santa Barbaran. This kind of 'shopping experience' perhaps can't be found here because it is the wrong change for a shopping center so far from Montecito or even the downtown area. My first-to-market prediction is that these stores will be loss leaders as the Santa Barbara address may mean to them that they can lose money and they will be forced to close within a few years.