MELBOURNE: Sportsgirl's Chadstone Shopping Centre flagship is in the running for a major international retail design award.
It has been announced as a finalist in the Oracle World Retail Awards category for Store Design of the Year. The young women's retailer will be up against Topshop in New York, Anthropologie in London, the Barbie concept store in Shanghai, Liberty in London and Shanghai Tang in Hong Kong.
It is the first time an Australian store has been a finalist in the category. Entries were open to all retail sectors and store sizes, providing they opened in the last 12 months.
Sportsgirl's flagship will be scrutinised by over 35 independent judges from around the world. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Berlin at the German Historic Museum on April 22, in conjunction with the World Retail Congress.
Designed in association with UK architects HMKM, the Sportsgirl store opened in August last year. A key element is the use of store-in-store concept spaces for different product categories, vibrant colour and unique product display.
Other categories in the awards include the Retail Innovation Award, Etailer of the Year and Responsible Retailer of the Year.