Community Corner
Celebrity-Owned Store InvenTORI Opens on Valentine's Day
Tori Spelling told Patch she is too much of a control freak to let someone else run her new business.
The cameras for her reality show were rolling as Tori Spelling's new antique store, InvenTORI, opened on Valentine's Day in Sherman Oaks, showing that Spelling is one of the hardest working celebrities around.
"We love this neighborhood—it's hip and happening," Spelling said when she sat down with Sherman Oaks Patch to answer a few questions. "We love the Valley–we're family people, and we want everybody to come into the store," she said.
Spelling said it made sense to add the antique store, at 13826 Ventura Blvd., to her other entrepreneurial endeavors—including her jewelry line on HSN and her clothing line Maven and Little Mavens—because she had been collecting antiques for years and had a storage unit filled with her personal inventory that is now being sold in the store.
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Spelling, dressed in a romantic vintage dress, said she has friends on the block and named Lisa Renna, owner of Belle Gray, Leslie Danelian, the owner of Sweet Butter Restaurant, and Mark Held, owner of the flower shop Mark's Garden.
"We are totally excited to have Tori and Dean in the neighborhood," said Held, who provided the flowers for the opening. "They have so many beautiful and unique things. I wanted to buy some cologne, but it was too busy for me to get in there today."
Find out what's happening in Sherman Oakswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Spelling said she and her husband, Dean McDermott, wanted to open the store for months but had been shooting back-to-back wedding shows, so they decided Valentine's Day was the perfect day for the couple to launch the new venture.
"I walk my dogs every day down here. It's great to see these neighborhood improvements,"said Sherman Oaks resident Marci Liroff as she showed Patch the vintage photo she purchased at the opening.
The answer to how much hands-on responsibility she will have with the new store is the same as the answer to if she reads and answers her own tweets. Spelling said, "I'm too much of a control freak to let somebody else do it and I wouldn't have it any other way."
Due to the production company and exclusive photo agreements made with some media outlets, Patch was not allowed to take photos of Spelling or the inside of the store but there were lots of adults, children and dogs enjoying the champagne, cookies and other treats at the opening.
Spelling said she wants people to know the store is dog- and kid-friendly, everyone is welcome and there is something for everyone at InvenTORI.
