Dean McKillen, a son of Belfast-born property tycoon Paddy McKillen, has launched a new upmarket grocery chain in West Hollywood, Los Angeles.
The property developer best known for selling homes to Beyoncé and Calvin Klein has a string of hospitality sector interests in the LA dining scene, including Laurel Grill and Ysabel.
McKillen and business partner Phil Howard have now moved into the grocery sector with a new location called Laurel Supply on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.
The 1,500sq m shop, which opened in recent weeks, is located close to Laurel Hardware, a restaurant opened in 2012 by the pair on the same street.
Property records show McKillen and Howard have controlled the building housing the new grocer since the late 2010s. It was constructed in the 1940s and was previously home to the Ritts Company Furniture and a dot-com era company called Hollywood Stock Exchange.
Laurel Supply has launched in an area of Los Angeles that is home to many Hollywood actors, with upmarket, organic products on its shelves.
The business is one of many in the US looking to capitalise on the high-end grocery trend, including Whole Foods Market and Erewhon.
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Private equity-backed health store Erewhon has expanded rapidly from being one family-owned store in 2011 into a network of 13 locations. A recent report by Fast Company estimated the company’s 10 stores made $171.4 million (€150.48 million) profit in 2023.
Products sold in Laurel Supply include organic yoghurt-covered raisins for €38 per kg ($20 per pound), organic chicken for €44.58 per kg and fresh line-caught fish for €56 per kg, according to news outlet SFGate.
Other items include bags of tortilla chips for $17 (€15), tinned tuna for $44 and a small bottle of Italian spring water has been priced at $6.
Laurel Supply’s health and beauty section also has a large range of wellness items, including a toothpaste brand called Köppen for $16.
There is also an in-store bakery selling breads made on site, while pizza from a wood-fired oven and sushi can also be purchased on site.
SFGate’s report on the opening said the grocer also offers some value for money, including a fresh-baked loaf of ciabatta for $6, bananas are 29 cents each and a slice of wood-fired pizza “big enough to be a quarter of a large pie” is priced at $8.
Following the launch of the new store, Howard said the opening has been well-received.
“We both have a passion for retail, and we’re obsessed with travelling to places like Japan to see what sort of food they’re selling,” he said.
“We’ve been in West Hollywood for 15 years with the restaurant. The community has been amazing to us, and the city has been amazing to us. We just want to keep getting better.”
McKillen has enjoyed significant success in the Los Angeles real estate market in the past decade, typically buying homes for refurbishment and then selling them to entertainment A-listers.
In 2017, he sold a 2,700sq m Bel Air mansion to Beyoncé and husband Jay Z for $90 million. Two years previously, US fashion designer Calvin Klein paid $25 million for a Hollywood Hills-based mansion that McKillen had bought for $6 million in 2012 and renovated.