Zara comes to Sydney first

Ragtrader has learned that Zara has been working with the Australian Centre for Retail Studies, an arm of the country's Monash University that helps businesses in the retail sector. Specifically the ACRS is helping Zara come to an understanding of how the Australian retail market works, which led to the natural question: where to open a Zara store first, Sydney or Melbourne?

When news of Zara's expansion into Australia broke it seemed that the size of the market meant that Zara would open in Sydney before anywhere else in the country. However, keen to open with their Autumn / Winter 2011 collection Zara were pushing for an early 2011 store opening.

And that's where the benefit for Melbourne may just lie.

Zara want to open big and early. To do so, the Bondi Junction shopping centre is the only neat option for them. However, while it ticks the early box, with retail space available, it doesn't tick the big box. For that, they need the Sydney Westfield site. That, however, would push their opening back to April or May 2011. And that's too early enough to successfully sell in a full season's worth of clothing.

"The Sydney store is due to open in Westfield's Pitt Street Mall Centre during April or May 2011."
As such it brings this news for Melbourne's fashionisers:

"They have accelerated their plans for a Zara store in Melbourne and there is a possibility that the Melbourne store will open before the Sydney store."
Stay tuned to Fashionising.com for more news on Zara in Australia as it comes to hand. In the meantime, with the chance that it may be one of the first Zara collections available in Australia, you can see one of their Autumn / Winter collections, sold recently in Europe, by clicking on the thumbnails below.