MELBOURNE: Sportsgirl will more than treble the number of its spin-off SG concept stores over the next two years as it works to capitalise on the burgeoning accessories market.
The womenwear fast fashion retailer revealed it will open 15 new SG accessory stores across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Sportsgirl CEO Elle Roseby said the investment came on the back of consistent year-on-year growth within Sportsgirl's accessories division.
“A truly loyal following has developed within our accessories business and with that in mind we wanted to develop and deliver this concept to more of our customers nationally,” Roseby said.
The first of the 15 new stores will open in December in Karrinyup, Perth, and will measure 84 square metres. It will add to the existing four SG stores located within Sydney's QVB shopping centre, Melbourne Airport, Brisbane's Myer Centre and Westfield Chermside (Qld).
“Our four existing locations … have proved that we have the right store formula to build on so we will confidently deliver the SG expansion plan based on the already successful retail model,” Roseby said.
She added Sportsgirl was in the process of securing further sites, with the total 15 stores slated to add just under 2000 square metres of real estate to the business.
Each SG store will stock Sportsgirl's entire range of shoes, bags and jewellery as well as other accessories including sunglasses, scarves and headwear. Price points for Sportsgirl shoes and bags start at $29.95, while hair accessories and jewellery start at $7.95.
The SG rollout strategy will no doubt increase competition in what is already a crowded accessories market in Australia. Accessory stalwarts Diva and Equip were joined in 2009 by chain store newcomer Colette Accessories, owned by Colette Hayman. Earlier this year the parent company of Diva, BB Retail Capital, launched another accessories chain called Lovisa. The latter is currently sitting at 30 stores nationwide.
Roseby circumnavigated questions on how Sportsgirl would tackle its competition.
“Whilst it's important to consider the competitive market, Sportsgirl will remain focused on the feedback from our customers and continue to deliver the best accessory collections we can."
Sportsgirl is owned by the Sussan Group.
Erin O'Loughlin