LA JOLLA – Fa La La. It’s not a musical refrain but a new line of holiday clothing begun by a La Jolla entrepreneur merging hometown pride with holiday spirit.
Brenda Viola, an author, speaker and consultant in La Jolla Village spoke of what motivated her to recently launch The Fa La La Store online. Her latest enterprise is a collection of holiday apparel including hoodies, T-shirts, onesies, and caps personalizing and geographically defining the year-end holiday.
Viola addressed why she created her new business model and its website, www.TheFaLaLaStore.com. “The genesis came from falling in love with La Jolla,” said the East Coast transplant. “After I came to San Diego I said, ‘Wait a minute, this place is festive, like being in a Hallmark movie.’”
As for her new business and its name, Viola noted, “I had the idea – but I didn’t know what to do with it.”
Viola was subsequently having dinner with her cousin discussing her start up idea, and her relation suggested Fa la la as an appropriate name noting, “That is really a brilliant phrase. It should be on Christmas items.”
Noting her new business is something of an anomaly with her background, Viola nonetheless couldn’t shake the feeling that Fa La La was a really good idea. Thus began her retail journey.
“I had to come up with a design and I’m not a graphic artist,” she noted about her initial challenges adding she did what other people are doing today in similar situations, she consulted ChatGPT.
Add a little mistletoe, take every product in her new line and SWAK it, and the end result is Fa La La, a new seasonal fashion trend. Viola then took the fun name for the festive season and created a fancy logo for all her products.
“I paid for the trademarks,” she noted. “I have a vision. I wanted Fa La La to light up the holidays with my (new) hometown.”
La Jolla should be everyone’s hometown, claims the La Jolla entrepreneur.
“Think of how many people from all over the world come to La Jolla because they love it,” Viola pointed out. “La Jolla has a real sense of pride and place. With Fa La La, the whole family can deck themselves in something that’s got holiday spirit and hometown pride. It’s not something I’ve seen anywhere else.
“I just need people to find out about it,” Viola said of her startup, which is also targeting La Mesa. “I would love to partner with some retail outlets in La Jolla Village to offer the product line, and I’d also like to set up pop-up shops at some of our 55-plus retirement communities.”
Viola is hitting the road to popularize Fa La La. Confirmed locations/dates where Fa La La La Jolla items will be available include:
- Friday, Nov. 27, 9 a.m. to noon in the lobby of Lifetime Fitness, 1055 Wall St. in La Jolla.
- Sunday, Dec. 6, starting at 1 p.m. during the annual La Jolla Christmas Parade.
- Thursday, Dec. 10, Blue Whale Night Market, 834 Kline St. in La Jolla.
Tentative: Nov. 22 and 29 – La Jolla Farmer’s Market, 7335 Girard Ave.
Fa La La will also be at the La Mesa Christmas Market on Dec. 12.
