March Madness will soon give way to March Sadness as Rosa’s Shop, one of Culver City’s longest-established businesses closes its doors for good within the next two weeks.
Rosa’s established itself in 1971 when Rafael and Rosa Legra opened their doors to the community by selling Italian gold jewelry. However, it wasn’t long before the two entrepreneurs from Cuba decided to expand their offerings to dresses, wedding gowns, and accessories for baptisms, proms, newborns, and Catholic ceremonies.
Rosa Legra Jr., 56, the daughter of the original owners, has been running the store for the past 10 years and decided that due to persistent health problems, this would be the store’s last year, at least as a physical location. Legra Jr. plans to continue the store as a purely online enterprise run by her two 20-something sons. Plans for the online store are still in the development stage.
“The hardest part [of the store closing] is not seeing my regular customers,” Legra Jr. “When they come in for their bridal gown and they bring their baby for their baptism, and then communion, and prom and they get married, it just keeps going and going and going.”
Rosa’s Shop is located at 4352 Sepulveda Blvd.