Palisades General Store planned its grand opening for Saturday, September 19, 2026, marking Amy Russo's return to a Pacific Palisades storefront after the January 2025 fire destroyed her jewelry business. The shop brings Russo's former Obsessed brand into a broader retail concept featuring pantry goods, vintage clothing, crystals, body care, home goods and gifts.
The reopening was reported by CBS News Los Angeles, which said the store had not operated since the Palisades Fire swept through the community. The store's own account says Russo decided to build something new after losing Obsessed in the fire, according to Palisades General Store.
From a Destroyed Showroom to a New Concept
Russo ran Obsessed with business partner Michelle Good. After the fire destroyed the business, the pair moved beyond a straightforward reconstruction of the jewelry line and developed a broader store concept, according to the Palisades News. The planned inventory included pantry items, vintage clothes, crystals, body care, home goods and gifts.
The finished store keeps that dual identity intact, with an Obsessed jewelry corner alongside an expanded merchandise selection.
Disaster Assistance for Affected Businesses
The U.S. Small Business Administration said low-interest disaster loans had been available to businesses and other eligible applicants affected by the January 2025 Southern California wildfires, including eligible homeowners, renters and private nonprofit organizations. The information supplied for this story does not set out a separate eligibility standard for businesses whose premises were destroyed versus those that were displaced. After June 30, 2026, the U.S. Small Business Administration said approved but undisbursed assistance would be available only on a case-by-case basis.
Part of a Slow, Uneven Comeback
The store's return lands amid a broader, halting recovery across Pacific Palisades. The business community has come back slowly, the Daily News reported in January, capturing a stretch when many storefronts remained dark and much of the community was still displaced. Homes and other businesses remain in various stages of reconstruction, according to the Los Angeles Times, even as some larger commercial anchors have come back online.
Chief among those anchors is Palisades Village, the Caruso-owned shopping and dining center that reopened last month following what the Times described as an extensive, 19-month, more than $100-million restoration and environmental remediation. The Los Angeles Times reported the property was 99% leased, with roughly one-third of its businesses new to the site. By the time doors opened, KTLA reported nearly all of the storefronts were occupied, with two-thirds of the original businesses returning.
New Shops Filling a Void
Central Oregon Daily framed the wave of new retailers, alongside the reopened Village, as spaces meant to help draw tourists and residents back into the town and restore a sense of daily life to a community still rebuilding. Palisades General Store fits that description: a small, family-run shop reconstituted from the wreckage of a business the fire wiped out entirely.
Reports on the scale of that destruction vary depending on the source. The Los Angeles Times has put the toll at more than 5,600 homes and businesses destroyed across Pacific Palisades, while the Daily News reported 6,837 structures destroyed and damaged nearly 1,000 others. Whatever the precise count, Russo's shop is one more entry in the ongoing tally of businesses working their way back.
