en you’re not just dealing with guys that are 18 to 35, you’ve got everyone that drinks coffee as your customer,” he said. According to Demkiw, the new store design is pretty rough and ready, “it’s almost like someone has picked it up off the street and dropped it in [to the centre]”. Architect, Nick Hardy, used simple, modern building materials with timber windows and solid timber bench tops to create a homely feel, reminiscent of a NY warehouse apartment, shying away from what Demkiw refers to as the “squeaky clean shopping centre look”. “We wanted to make a very unshopping centre-ish shop, if that makes any sense.” Demkiw said the idea of merging retail and hospitality was a risk and Emporium centre management thought it was crazy at first, but it didn’t take long for the centre to acknowledge the dual concept could work. “When people walk past and see the interaction happening inside, the windows are open and people are sitting out the front, they come and have a glance, and see what the offerings are,” said Demkiw. “Vice versa, customers come for their fix of fashion and end up sitting and sipping an espresso on their way out.” The store strives for a local Melbourne experience and serves coffee roasted around the corner from Emporium by Industry Beans and a range of treats, such as cookies and granola bars, all made locally. “We decided to go niche. You can’t be selling unique and interesting garments and then be having coffee that you can just buy off the supermarket shelf, it’s just not the same.” The concept has already aroused interest, with a number of shopping centres offering Autonomy tenancies, but it has no immediate plans to expand. “If someone wants to dig deep in their wallet and buy the brand, then that’s fine, but I think we’ll just sit tight and enjoy what we’ve created for a little while. “It’s brought a breath of fresh air into the business, that’s for sure.” This article first appeared in Inside Retail PREMIUM issue 2002. Images: Ben McGee