In a retail market overrun by big name foreign brands, two Australian fast fashion labels have decided bigger is better, joining forces to develop a 1829sqm megastore in Melbourne. To open on November 19, the joint venture between Valley Girl and Temt will be the first megastore for the two labels, owned by Fast Future Brands, with another under construction simultaneously in Singapore, and a second Melbourne megastore to open in mid-July 2015. The 1829sqm store will occupy the entire bas
sement level of Emporium and will be broken into three sections – Valleygirl, Temt, and accessories.
On entry the first thing customers will see in the centre of the store is a series of bright, transparent, colourful 3mx60mm metal tubes displayed in a circle and surrounded by running horses presented as a carousel.
It will boast 60 mannequins, with an area dedicated to visual merchandising, and three showcase boxes to display each of the brand’s latest styles.
The colour palette, which for Valleygirl is traditionally blue and white; and Temt, black and white; will be red, yellow, violet, green, orange, and white, which Young Chung, project manager at Fast Future Brands, says will make the megastore stand out from the monotone colours used at Emporium.
Chung told Inside Retail PREMIUM he’s noticed a retail trend where store sizes are increasing.
“Overall there are many megastores coming in at 1000sqm and even higher than 2000sqm, so in order to be competitive we are combining Valleygirl and Temt,” he said.
With both brands targeting a different demographic and harbouring very different looks, the megastore will be themed “distilled carousel” to bring the two demographics together.
According to Chung, the idea of a carousel “gives a fun feeling to teenagers, and for women aged 30 and higher it can recall good old day memories”.
Valleygirl’s target market is 10 to 20 year old girls, and Temt’s is women aged 20 and up.
“Our concept is young meets old, so we are combining two different emotions which are modern and classic.”
To mark the opening of the Valleygirl megastore, it will offer 50 per cent off everything, have live mannequins on display, and encourage instore selfies with competitions running on their Instagram page.
