Australia’s first Marimekko store has opened today in Sydney on King St in the city’s CBD.
A second store is due to open in Melbourne on Monday.Both new are based on the same concept as new international stores and offer all of Marimekko’s product lines.
The Finnish retailer and designer brand is known for its brightly coloured prints and has 96 stores in more than 40 countries, including the US, UK, Germany, India, China, Hong Kong, and Japan.
The Sydney flagship is in an art deco building at 66 King St. The store was designed by the same team who managed the visual layout of Marimekko’s flagship stores in Helsinki and New York.
The interior of the two-storey store, which is 8m high, provides a framework for presentations.
The Melbourne store will be located at 576 Chapel St.
The new stores will play an important part in building Marimekko’s recognition factor and in underpinning the brand image in Australia.
President and CEO, Mika Ihamuotil, said expansion to Australia was a natural step.
“The strongest focus of growth in the global consumer market has shifted from the Atlantic and Europe to the Pacific region. It is partly for this reason that we have invested in this region particularly much in recent years.
New Marimekko stores have been opened in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong,” said Ihamuotil.
“Positive and easygoing Australians like Marimekko’s playfulness and colour.
This is why I believe our new stores will do well.
My assessment is also backed by our long roots in this market and the increased interest in Marimekko shown recently by the local media.
“The stores being opened in Sydney and Melbourne will be Marimekko’s first in the southern hemisphere.
This naturally means that we will have to take geographical facts into account in our design more broadly than before, which will also facilitate accessing other markets in the southern hemisphere later on.”
The company’s long term aim in Australia is to expand distribution through high end specialty retailers and department stores and to open new Marimekko stores, both company-owned and franchised.
A subsidiary was set up in Australia earlier this year and the local team will be in charge of expanding distribution.
