Restaurant hospitality merges with luxury retail at the recently opened RH Newport Beach, the Gallery at Fashion Island.
Formerly known as Restoration Hardware, the upscale home furnishing and interior design company based in Corte Madera officially opened its new 97,000-square-foot store on Dec. 13. Stretching four stories, the space is filled with home furnishings from RH Collections, installed to feel like a house rather than a showroom.
“It’s hard to believe we are standing at the site of the old Circuit City,” Newport Beach Mayor Pro Tem, Joe Stapleton said at a ribbon cutting for the store on Friday.
RH Newport Beach is a four-level store with a rooftop restaurant.
(Courtesy of RH Newport Beach, the Gallery at Fashion Island)
Glass and steel French doors on the Venetian plaster exterior building open up to multiple fully styled floors, a Waterworks showroom, an RH Rugs showroom and a full-service restaurant.
RH interior design offices are housed within the space, providing clients with the expertise of interior designers who can help tailor what they see in the store to fit their own homes.
The development of RH Newport Beach took nearly three years, and RH chief executive officer Gary Friedman thanked the Irvine Co. and the city of Newport Beach for their support.
“Leaders have to be comfortable making others uncomfortable, and what we mean by that is leaders are generally leading people somewhere they have never been, doing something they have never done.” said Friedman. “Thank you to everyone for allowing us to make you uncomfortable … there has just been an incredible, incredible effort to bring this gallery to life.”
The impressive retail space has the feel of a fancy hotel, but the addition of two wine bars flanking the staircase create an additional level of hospitality not typically found in a furniture store. Shoppers can sip Champagne and wines from Napa Valley while pursuing the gallery. Should they work up a larger appetite, RH Ocean Grill is open for brunch, lunch and dinner on the top level.
“The crown jewel on the rooftop is the 260-person restaurant with these ocean views,” said Stapleton.
RH first broke into the hospitality industry in 2015 when the company opened the Three Arts Café at the RH Gallery in Chicago. Since then, the company has opened 14 restaurants inside of RH Gallery locations.
RH Ocean Grill offers indoor and outdoor seating with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. The menu is centered around seafood and caviar specialties but also features salads, sandwiches and steaks. The first seating of the restaurant on Friday saw servers shuttling seafood towers and boards filled with prosciutto, cheese and grapes to tables.
RH Newport Beach joins a growing trend of luxury brands adding food and beverage programs to their Orange County locations.
In August Giorgio Armani opened a boutique and cafe in Costa Mesa at South Coast Plaza, following Tiffany & Co.’s caviar-centric Petrossian at Tiffany, which opened in 2022.
Shrimp cocktail and other seafood tower options are on the menu at RH Ocean Grill.
(Courtesy of RH Newport Beach, the Gallery at Fashion Island)
By bringing in a fully integrated hospitality team, the retailer is providing a service that goes beyond furniture shopping or even interior deign, in a market that values elite and unique experiences.
“At RH, our vision is to create an endless reflection of hope, inspiration and love that will ignite the human spirit and change the world,” said Friedman. “By chasing our hopes and dreams, we can inspire others to chase theirs.”
While the new space is a major boon for RH, Stapleton said it is also an asset for Fashion Island and Newport Beach as a whole.
“Newport Beach is known as a destination for visitors coming here to vacation. I think it is safe to say we will continue to be known as a destination for retail and shopping,” said Stapleton.