our move to Miranda has been a long time coming,” Kailis GM Tanya Tindall told Inside Retail.  The brand operates three stand-alone stores in Perth, including a flagship store in Raine Square, as well as a boutique in Broome.  Kailis products are also available through a number of domestic and international stockists, but Tindall is focused on growing the brand’s direct-to-consumer presence – particularly on the East Coast. “It’s about customer experience for us. We feel that customers want to engage with brands directly,” she said. “That’s the only way they can get that true experience, and get that full product knowledge.”  Stand-alone stores are also better equipped to carry the full range of Kailis products, which is vast due to the unique nature of pearls.  “It’s very difficult for a stockist to carry all of the lines,” Tindall said. “To be fair, it’s very difficult for all of our stores to stock every single product that we offer. Every pearl is unique.”  Rise of suburban shopping centres In the past, if a brand was entering a new market, it would typically seek out a central CBD location that was guaranteed to get a high volume of foot traffic, but since Covid-19, that is no longer the case.  Now, many brands are focusing on suburban shopping centres, closer to where people live and, increasingly, work, thanks to the rise of hybrid office arrangements.  Tindall noted that local shopping centres – like Miranda Westfield – have become the “main destination” for consumers and brands alike.  “It’s where your major brands are focusing these days, because people don’t necessarily have to go to the CBD to find everything that they need. It’s a really good way for brands to engage with their customers and meet their needs,” she said.  Tindall sees a pop-up shop as the ideal format to test the waters in Miranda, especially for a luxury brand like Kailis, whose products range in price from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.   “People can come and see your brand without having to cross the threshold. It’s a really non-threatening way for people to do that,” she said.  While the primary purpose of the pop-up is to introduce the Kailis brand to new customers on the East Coast of Australia, Tindall also sees an opportunity to capture holiday spending in the lead-up to Christmas.  In addition to print advertising in Sydney, the brand has been running ads in the Westfield Miranda cinema, as well as geo-targeted digital advertising to alert local shoppers to its presence.  Luxury no longer “recession proof” While luxury retail has traditionally been thought of as recession proof, Tindall said that the past year has been “quite up and down” for Kailis due to the cost-of-living crisis in Australia, which has forced many consumers to rein in their spending on discretionary items.  “This year has also seen the return of the European summer, so people are choosing whether to travel or purchase locally,” she said.  At the same time, Tindall noted that Western Australia has not yet experienced a return of international tourists to pre-pandemic levels. In the past, wealthy visitors from overseas seeking a special memento from their trip Down Under made up a big portion of Kailis’ business.  “I think that’s the part of the equation that’s missing at the moment,” she said.  This makes tapping into new audiences in Australia a critical part of the brand’s future growth strategy. Beyond opening more store locations, Kailis is also well positioned to benefit from the growing men’s jewellery market – Tindall said the brand has a strong unisex offering in its Explorer range – and the timeless appeal of pearl jewellery.  “Our target customer can be anyone to be honest. I have a 17-year-old daughter, and some of her friends wear pearl products,” she said. “It’s about the design element that goes with the pearl that actually makes it timeless.”