SYDNEY: The man behind Second Family distribution and FreshIn e-store is among the few independent retailers taking a chance on Westfield Sydney.
Nick Denton will open a contemporary menswear store, Capsule, within Westfield Sydney's 'urban' precinct on Thursday October 28. The opening will be part of Westfield Sydney's much publicised stage one completion.
Capsule is the latest retail venture for the New Zealand native, following his launch of wholesale business Second Family in 2007 and retail store FreshIn in 2004. While FreshIn continues to trade online, Denton closed its former Darlinghurst store earlier this year to focus on Capsule instead.
“To be honest, our distribution has been the reason why we have been able to go into Westfield,” Denton said.
He hoped Capsule, which will stock many of Second Family's brands including Mishka, Upper Playground, Tanner Goods and Federation, will boost Second Family's operations.
“Once we've got a store in the city, we can also push our brands through there. With Federation, who we just signed from New Zealand, they've got a lot of accounts in New Zealand, we're excited about that. Having a prime retail spot where we can push it through as well gives us the credibility to sell that brand to other stores.”
Other brands the 25-sqm store will carry include Vans, Carhartt and Design Against Culture, with product to include tees, shirts, singlets and hats.
Denton explained the store would be split between two aesthetics.
“One side is men's contemporary. I wouldn't say it's really upmarket, it's just really clean, a lot of basic classic silhouettes. Then the other side is a younger demographic, more street, louder colours.”
Denton signed a three and half year lease for the Capsule retail space, though he explained the long-term plan for Capsule was not limited to Westfield Sydney.
“We want to bring visibility to what we're doing and to our brands. If it works, that's cool, that's all good, but we've also got other plans in place too. Ideally we'd like to look at either splitting the stores or looking at opening in some other markets.”
Westfield commenced work on its $1.2 billion Sydney city development in August 2008, with the centre's final completion not expected until 2012. Over 100 of the 250 retailers due to inhabit the centre will open on October 28, 2010 as part of the stage one opening.