Briefs
Ramsay's retail growth
MELBOURNE: Victorian womenswear designer Arabella Ramsay has opened her third boutique in four years. The designer's eponymous label will now be represented in Melbourne's Flinders Lane in addition to Ramsay's two other stores in High Street, Armadale, and Melbourne's GPO. It is reported Ramsay signed a three-year lease for the 25sqm Flinders Lane site. The store represents the latest venture for Ramsay, who has also invested in her own 'Homegrown' homewares line and vintage clothing sales in recent years.
Shakuhachi's first
SYDNEY: Ten-year-old womenswear label Shakuhachi has opened its first retail store. The flagship site in Sydney's Paddington joins the label's online boutique (www.shakuhacki.net.au) and its 150-plus stockists including Green With Envy (Vic), Adrenalin (QLD) and Subway DC (WA), as well as department store David Jones. Carrying the full Shakuhachi womenswear range, including shoes, the flagship store will operate seven days a week.
Recent retail rise
NATIONAL: Clothing, footwear and personal accessories recorded the largest rise in retail trade in September, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Trade for the sector increased 2.5 per cent for the month, while department store retail trade dipped 0.2 per cent. Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia all experienced a rise in turnover, while figures were flat in Queensland. New South Wales recorded a dip in retail trade of 0.2 per cent, while the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania went backwards by 0.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.
Mexico in Melbourne
MELBOURNE: The Mexican ambassador to Australia, Beatriz Lopez Gargallo, was on hand to open a new Melbourne boutique devoted to Mexican design. The Ricardo Amare Gallery Boutique, situated in South Yarra, carries a range of fashion labels including “the Mexican Hermes”, Pineda Covalin, renowned for its bags, scarves, clutches, ties, jewellery and eyewear. Ricardo Amare Gallery Boutique's fashion offering will be complemented with a selected range of homewares, footwear and imported Mexican tequila.