Founded 31 years ago as a specialist retailer for the well-dressed man, Harrolds is upping the ante in its push for the female dollar. Following the success of the stand-alone womenswear department it opened in Sydney Westfield in February 2015, the luxury department store has devoted an entire floor of its rebuilt Melbourne location to the fairer sex, bringing luxury women's ready-to-wear, accessories and shoes into the Collins Street premises for the first time.
After a six-month refurbishment, the Melbourne store will reopen in January. Pride of place in its new ground-floor womenswear department will be a store-in-store for British designer Stella McCartney, the only one of its kind in Australia (Stella McCartney spring summer 2017 season, pictured above). Also given a prominent footprint in the store – if you'll pardon the pun – will be shoe king Manolo Blahnik.
Now the largest Harrolds in the country, at more than 1000 square metres spread across three levels, the Collins Street premises will also house stores-in-store for Balenciaga, Stefano Ricci, Thom Browne and Tom Ford, the last two exclusive Australian partnerships with the American fashion houses. Stella McCartney's just-launched inaugural menswear range arrives exclusively early in the new year.
It's been a busy year for the family-owned Harrolds, which opened its first Queensland store in the new Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast in August. In a sign of confidence about both his business and the potential of the Gold Coast, owner John Poulakis signed a 15-year lease on that two-level, 780-square-metre space. Blue skies indeed.
