Privately owned appliance retailer Winning Appliances officially opened its new store in Chadstone on Thursday, bringing its signature multi-sensory shopping experience – where the refrigerators cool, the ovens roast and the stoves simmer – to a shopping centre format for the first time.
The store features several signature elements of Winning Appliances’ design, including bespoke, built-in kitchens showcasing different lifestyles, a culinary theatre where chefs can prepare food and demonstrate products and a living green wall and timeline of the 113-year history of the family business.
“We are delighted to be officially opening our showroom in Chadstone Shopping Centre, as we share a passion for innovating the shopping experience and setting the bar nationally,” John Winning, the company’s CEO, said in a statement about the launch.
The 600sqm store marks Winning Appliances’ third location in Victoria, following the opening of a showroom in Richmond last October and the acquisition of Michael’s Appliance Centre in Brighton in 2018, and the 17th in Australia.
Despite the smaller footprint, the store reportedly features around 90 per cent of the brands displayed in Winning’s full-size showrooms – such as, Gaggenau, Miele, Smeg, Neff, Siemens and Fisher & Pakel – though not the full range for each brand.
The store was designed by Melbourne-based studio Cera Stribley Architects, which was also behind the Richmond showroom, and is intended to feel like a home, with leather sofas and upholstered chairs from Coco Republic, built-in cabinetry, a panelled ceiling and copper details throughout.
“The design of the showroom is light and sophisticated, with the intention to feel like a sanctuary, just as a home should feel,” Winning said.
The store reportedly attracted more than 1000 people on opening day, December 19, and has seen 500 people on average walk through every day since.
That is more than twice the foot traffic at the company’s flagship showroom in Redfern, Sydney, according to Winning, which goes some way to justifying the high cost of the luxury fitout and rent in one of the world’s best performing shopping centres.
