Rapidly expanding retail chain Platypus, part of the Accent Group, is opening a new flagship store on Queen Street on 22 December. It’s the third shoe store on Queen Street for the group, with already one Platypus store and one Sketchers store in the shopping precinct.
“We first opened on Queen Street just over two years ago now. It’s been a very strong performing store for us. We’ve had really strong demand from customers and the community around Auckland’s CBD,” general manager of retail Matt Hapgood said.
The flagship store will be located six stores down from the current store and will take a larger space on Queen Street, with a new-look fit out and a wider range of brands. New brands will also be introduced to attract a wider range of customers. It will be double the size at 270 square metres. The overall desire to open again on Queen Street is the biggest foot traffic area for shopping in New Zealand.
“We believe we’ll be able to successfully trade both stores,” Hapgood said.
The flagship store will feature a DJ console during busy and peak trading times, a drinks fridge available for customers and complimentary soft drinks and waters as part of the purchase process. A mezzanine floor upstairs will be completely dedicated to stock.
As part of the fit out, a huge light box at the back of the store is being introduced, with accessories hanging in front, which will provide appealing imagery from the front of the store. In the middle part of the store there will be a portal made from wooden elements better able to showcase certain lines of products.
A wide range of socks and shoe cleaner products will also be available for customers. The design evolved from the company’s collaboration with store design company ACRD based in Melbourne, resulting in the fit out featuring a grainy wood.
“Our stores have been traditionally loud and vibrant. We wanted to go with a ‘less is more’ approach,” Hapgood said.
He said the Platypus customer is currently the 15-28 age group, and is very much 50/50 across male and female. In addition to the stores trading already, the group is just about to open a new store in Dunedin, which will be the first Platypus store for the South Island city.
