UK women’s fashion label, Miss Selfridge, is expected to rollout standalone stores in Australia next year, but the brand still needs to be “refined and developed” before its able to make its solo debut. “What we’ve seen certainly with a brand like Miss Selfridge is that it’s really going to take some time to really refine and develop the brand in Australia,” Prue Thomas, group marketing director at Next Athleisure (owner of the Miss Selfridge licence in Australia), told Inside
Retail PREMIUM.
“Standalone stores are certainly in the pipeline, but we just want to make sure that the product is absolutely on par with Australian customers before rushing into it,” Thomas said.
Miss Selfridge first launched in the UK as part of the young fashion section of the iconic Selfridges department store in London in 1966.
It was introduced to the Australian market via a partnership with Next Athleisure’s Glue Store chain, opening a concession store at the SuperGlue store at Highpoint Shopping Centre in 2013.
Miss Selfridge has since rolled out the label into larger Glue Store formats and its SuperGlue store in Sydney. A third SuperGlue store, which will also include a Miss Selfridge concession, will open this month at Emporium.
“It was supposed to be within a year [opening a standalone store] and we certainly may meet that time frame. We’re just working now with the UK to make sure they understand that it’s a different customer and a different lifestyle in Australia.”
Miss Selfridge has also been launched locally online as part of the Glue Store’s newly rebranded website. Its e-commerce debut is the first time the brand has been allowed to launch online outside of the UK.
Despite previous speculation, it is not yet known where the first standalone store will be located.
In February 2013, a report by Colliers International indicated the first Miss Selfridge standalone store would open at Westfield Bondi Junction. The report also stated that a total of five stores were planned for the Australian market, with each store between 400sqm to 800sqm, however, this has not been confirmed.
“We have to get that counter seasonality right before we start going out and with solo stores,” Thomas said.
This story first appeared in Inside Retail PREMIUM issue 1995.
