Stand outside 1306 Montana Avenue and look for the pink front door. That's Kilte, a knitwear label that launched online in 2020 and grew through its website, trunk shows, and pop-ups before opening a permanent store. Next door at 1308 is Ernesta, a custom rug company that was an online startup before it opened any showrooms. ROLLD, the Australian-style hand roll counter, is across the street at 1307. All three are on one block, and all three ran their businesses somewhere other than Montana Avenue until recently.
That pattern runs through most of what opened on the avenue in 2026. Several of the new tenants are brands that found their customers on the internet first, and when they went looking for a physical address, they chose the street those customers were already walking.
Three doors on the 1300 block
The cluster around 1306 to 1308 is the clearest view of what's happening.
Kilte's Montana boutique is its first brick-and-mortar location. Modern Luxury's August roundup describes the store as known for "high-quality knitwear and machine-washable cashmere" and says it opened recently. City Lifestyle's profile puts the address at 1306 Montana and reports that founder Hannah Hale Redfern launched the brand online in October 2020, without outside funding.
Ernesta opened its first West Coast showroom at 1308 Montana on September 14, according to the company's announcement on PR Newswire. Hoodline reported that the store is Ernesta's 12th physical location and that the company, founded in 2022 by former Peloton executives, sold only through its website and sample kits before its first flagship opened on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 2024. The showroom offers one-on-one design consultations. According to the same report, the company's pitch is to-the-inch rug sizing in as little as two weeks, compared with the 12 to 20 weeks that traditional hand-knotted custom rugs often take.
ROLLD's website lists its Santa Monica location at 1307 Montana. The Santa Monica Mirror first reported the address in August 2025. Modern Luxury describes six hand roll flavors, from Atlantic salmon to spicy prawn, with soy sauce in small fish-shaped squeeze bottles. That makes it an easy pickup on the way to the beach.
What the other new arrivals have in common
The 1300 block isn't the only place this is happening. Most of the avenue's other 2026 openings are a "first" of some kind for their brand.
| Address | Business | What kind of first |
|---|---|---|
| 1306 Montana Ave. | Kilte | First brick-and-mortar store for a brand that launched online in 2020 |
| 1308 Montana Ave. | Ernesta | First West Coast showroom; 12th location overall |
| 1406 Montana Ave. | Jones Road Beauty | First California store; 15th retail outpost |
| 1101 Montana Ave. | Sundays | Montana showroom for a furniture brand founded in Vancouver |
| 1510 Montana Ave. | Bacio di Latte | Second Santa Monica shop; 30th U.S. location |
Jones Road, the clean beauty brand Bobbi Brown founded in 2020, opened at 1406 Montana. LA Magazine calls it the brand's California debut. The 1,470-square-foot store offers free skin matching, makeup lessons, and bridal applications. Uncover LA covered launch promotions held June 18 and 19, which places the opening in mid-June. Modern Luxury puts it at the 15th retail outpost for a brand that has been growing quickly.
Modern Luxury's August roundup of the year's new Montana tenants also includes Sundays, a brand started in Vancouver by four friends with backgrounds in the furniture industry. It sells modular sectionals, dining tables, and storage beds. The Sundays showroom page lists 1101 Montana Avenue, open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. The brand also has a showroom in New York, so Montana isn't its only U.S. store.
Why these brands picked Montana
The stories behind these openings point to the same reason. These businesses already knew who their customers were, and many of those customers lived within a short drive.
City Lifestyle reports that much of the community that first supported Kilte came from Brentwood, Santa Monica, and Pacific Palisades, and that the founder lives a few minutes from the shop. Before the website existed, she tested prototypes at home trunk shows. Pop-ups in New York, Dallas, Palm Beach, and Charleston came later. When she opened a permanent store, she put it close to where the brand started.
Bobbi Brown explained the Jones Road choice in similar terms in comments to Modern Luxury:
"Whenever I visit, Montana Ave. is my go-to street to walk, shop and people-watch. It has an easy, California-cool vibe, yet it's also a vibrant community filled with some of the chicest local shops, restaurants and wellness hot spots."
A business that came over from the Palisades shows the same pull. Marc Michel Eyewear Studio spent 25 years on Antioch Street in Pacific Palisades before relocating after the fires. The Palisadian-Post reported that the shop focused its search on Montana Avenue because the street is close to Pacific Palisades and its character felt similar to the Palisades community. It opened in March in a roughly 1,000-square-foot space at 1203 Montana, on the corner of 12th Street.
Ernesta is the one arrival without an obvious local connection. Even so, Hoodline notes the company chose a stretch of West Los Angeles already known for high-end home design retail. Montana gave it neighbors that home shoppers were already visiting.
The walk, from 6th Street to 15th
Read in order of street number, the 2026 openings make an easy afternoon route east along the avenue.
- Summer Pilates, 625 Montana Ave. Councilmember Lana Negrete's March 30 newsletter listed it as now open, making it one of the year's first arrivals.
- The Win~Dow, 930 Montana Ave. The smash burger walk-up opened June 9 in the former Go Get Em Tiger space. The Santa Monica Mirror listed weekday hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and weekend hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Sundays, 1101 Montana Ave. You can sit on the sectionals before you order one.
- Marc Michel Eyewear Studio, 1203 Montana Ave. The Palisades optician, now at the corner of 12th Street.
- Kilte, 1306; ROLLD, 1307; Ernesta, 1308. The three-door cluster described above.
- Jones Road Beauty, 1406 Montana Ave. Book a skin match or a makeup lesson here.
- Bacio di Latte, 1510 Montana Ave. The newest arrival on the list.
The route ends with Bacio di Latte, which SMDP reported on October 9 as the chain's second Santa Monica shop and its 30th U.S. location. The company started in São Paulo in 2011, has more than 250 locations in Brazil, and expects to reach 35 U.S. shops by December. It makes more than 22 regular flavors in-house every day, with Pistacchio, Giandujotto, and Cioccolato Belga as best-sellers. The seasonal Crema Positano launched in September, and there's an affogato bar for anyone who wants espresso with their gelato. The milk comes from Clover family farms in Sonoma County. Bacio di Latte is a different kind of first from the others on this list. It's a chain that already had a Santa Monica shop and decided Montana should have one too.
What's next on the avenue's calendar
The biggest event of the season has already happened. The Montana Avenue Art Walk took place Saturday, October 3, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the avenue closed to traffic. SMDP's preview reported that this year's event was part of the city's celebration of the Route 66 centennial. It also reported that the Montana Avenue Merchant Association brought in Venice Blvd Productions, the company behind The Venice Fest, to reimagine it. SMDP described the route as running from Sixth to 17th streets. The merchants' own event page says 7th to 17th.
The holiday season is less settled. As of October 11, the Montana Avenue events page still lists the Holiday Walk Marketplace with last year's date, December 6, 2025, and no 2026 date has been posted. If the walk happens this year, it will be the first one to include Kilte, Ernesta, Jones Road, Sundays, and Bacio di Latte.
When a new store opens on the avenue, it changes what the blocks around it are like to live near. If you own near Montana and want to know how this year's openings fit into your home's story, or how to describe them to buyers, Megan Whalen is happy to walk the blocks with you. Let's Connect.
