With the Australian Fashion Industry Awards fast approaching, Ragtrader is taking a daily look inside each category — the finalists, the work behind the entries and the strategy that earned them their place.
Next up: Best Store Design, which spotlights innovative design and creativity within fresh retail store concepts. The seven finalists are Bond-Eye Australia, By Charlotte, Country Road, David Jones, Kathmandu, P. Johnson and Saba.
Winners will be revealed at the AFIA Awards Lunch on Thursday 6 August at The Promenade Docklands, Melbourne. Tickets are on sale now.
The AFIAs 2026 are supported by Headline Sponsor The Retail Score, Gold Sponsors Better Packaging and ReStore, Silver Sponsors Apparel21 and Williams Logistics and Bronze Sponsor Afterpay.
Here's the work that got the finalists there in alphabetical order:
Bond-Eye Australia — West Village, New York
Bond-Eye's Bleecker Street store brings the effortless energy of Bondi Beach to the heart of New York's West Village — a lifestyle-driven environment rather than a traditional swimwear store, marking the brand's evolution to a permanent US direct-to-consumer presence after a successful pop-up.
A soft neutral palette of sandy hues, pale timber flooring and sculptural forms lets the colour and silhouette of the product remain the hero, with curved archways and oversized lounge seating creating a residential, gallery-like calm a world away from typical New York retail. The defining feature is a private outdoor courtyard designed as an extension of the customer journey — regularly hosting events, client gatherings and community activations.
Across March and April, total US revenue increased 28% year on year following the store's launch, accelerating to 37% in May. Ecommerce and wholesale grew independently alongside. The store achieves an average order value of approximately USD $280 versus USD $232 across US ecommerce — evidence of the environment's impact on full-look styling and discovery. A launch event on 16 April 2026 generated 92 media placements with total audience reach of more than 96.8 million, cementing the brand's presence in the US market.
By Charlotte — QVB, Sydney
By Charlotte's QVB boutique was designed as a sanctuary rather than a transactional jewellery store — an intimate, tactile space within one of Sydney's busiest retail arcades, engaging all five senses through fragrance, a curated soundscape, refreshment rituals, materiality and a luminous glow reading from the shopfront.
The design retains the drama of the arched shopfront and stained-glass transom while inserting a contemporary language of travertine, render and timber, with raw stone and touches of green evoking the lotus ponds of the brand's origin story. Sculptural volumes create a fluid, non-linear journey with multiple engagement points, anchored by a central consultation space supporting clienteling and dwell time. Long glass vitrines and recessed wall niches frame collections as curated objects.
Opened in November 2025, the boutique is delivering sales up 16% on a like-for-like basis versus the brand's previous QVB pop-up. The opening also produced a measurable omnichannel halo — average website engagement time surged from 42.79 seconds to a peak of 58.71 seconds on opening Saturday, while site-wide bounce rate dropped from 55.4% to a period low of 49.2%. Traffic that was fewer in number but far higher in intent.
Country Road — Brisbane CBD
Country Road's Brisbane flagship occupies the heritage former Bank of New South Wales building on the Queen Street Mall — past and present woven together through preserved Corinthian columns, arched windows, marble entry floors, ornate plasterwork and original stone bank counters across an 838 square metre double atrium.
Working with Moloney Architects and Folar Studio, the design draws on the iconic Queenslander vernacular. A relocated central staircase in timber battens creates clear visual connection to the mezzanine, engineered as self-supporting freestanding steelwork floating above the heritage marble to protect it. Lighting designer Ambience answered the limited natural light with a skylight effect within a timber grid inspired by the heritage window diagrids.
The store was designed and built to a 5-Star Green Star Interiors rating, certified in April 2026, with over 90% of construction and demolition waste recycled and low-VOC materials throughout. Commercially, visits have increased more than 25% on the previous Brisbane location 500 metres away and sales conversion rates have doubled. The store manager reports daily wow moments, repeat customers bringing friends just to show the space off and shoppers adopting it as their new local.
David Jones — Chatswood Chase, North Sydney
The Chatswood Chase refurbishment is the most complete expression of David Jones' Vision 2025+ and Store of the Future strategy — a suburban flagship conceived around three principles: community, editorial and theatre.
The layout features Always Evolving zones with modular fixtures that allow rapid reconfiguration without significant capital investment. New service-led environments include personal styling suites, luxury beauty treatment rooms from La Prairie and Clé de Peau and The Apartment, a bespoke space for private events. More than 50 new and exclusive brands were added, while decentralised and mobile points of sale, RFID-enabled inventory and click and collect connect the physical and digital experience. Inclusivity was prioritised through wider pathways, gender-neutral facilities and a dedicated prosthesis fitting room.
The store has delivered uplift in dwell time, stronger cross-category interaction, growth in conversion and increased average transaction value, with customers returning more frequently. Service environments are outperforming the broader network. Beauty treatment rooms are achieving around five per cent higher occupancy than the national average, while the personal styling suites are the highest performing in the network — exceeding both budget and occupancy targets. Chatswood Chase now serves as the benchmark for future store development.
Kathmandu — Melbourne CBD
Two years in development, Kathmandu's Little Collins Street store is a considered expression of the brand's repositioning — reclaiming its ANZ outdoor authority while redefining what modern outdoor retail can be for urban design-conscious newcomers and its loyal core alike.
The strategic insight was treating the first five metres beyond the lease line as the headline of the brand. The most distinctive innovation is life-size ultra-high-resolution digital mannequins at the shopfront that move naturally with the viewer and demonstrate how product performs and layers — replacing traditional mannequins entirely. Inside, stock density is reduced in favour of activity-based storytelling across Adventure Travel, Outdoor Active and Hike, while materials carry the sustainability narrative: recycled plastic panelling and floor finishes, bamboo joinery and recycled plastic 3D-printed light fittings.
Independent pre-launch research by Kantar found the concept outperformed comparable retail environments tested in recent years. Early indicators show the storefront actively disrupting foot traffic patterns in a competitive CBD, the digital façade drawing customers in and the open layout supporting increased dwell time. Store teams report improved functionality and greater confidence in product storytelling.
P. Johnson — Armadale, Victoria
P. Johnson's Armadale showroom rejects the transactional feel of retail for the domestic intimacy of a private residence — a physical home for the brand's womenswear expansion in Victoria and an expression of its ethos: Live Slow. Die Old.
Designed by Tamsin Johnson, the space is organised as a series of curated rooms rather than a linear floor plan. Parquetry floorboards, custom ironwork, gold velvet against leopard carpet and marble softened by vintage linen create a lived-in richness, lit by warm ambient lamps and natural light rather than retail spotlights. Mirrors on the ceiling bounce light through the space. The anti-retail innovation hides the mechanics of commerce entirely: inventory is largely out of sight or displayed as art, oversized fitting rooms sit at the heart of the store and technology is used discreetly by staff.
The slow retail model has transformed engagement. Typical consultations now last 45 to 90 minutes, enabling full-wardrobe conversations rather than single-item purchases, and the store delivers a significantly higher average order value than digital-only sales. It has become a marketing asset in its own right through features in The Local Project and Vogue — and now serves as the design blueprint for the brand's global expansion.
Saba — QVB, Sydney
Saba's QVB store was elevated into a concept flagship matching the brand's evolution toward a more refined product offer — the centrepiece of a national expansion spanning five new boutiques and six refurbishments in the past year across 21 standalone stores and 40 David Jones locations.
Developed with acclaimed interior studio Arent + Pyke, the 150 square metre space draws directly from Saba's DNA: minimal, tailored and refined. Textile green wallpaper, brass finishes, timber and bespoke joinery complement the grandeur of the QVB, while the point of sale was deliberately relocated away from the changerooms to draw customers through the full space. Fitting rooms expanded from four to six generous, carpeted spaces. Many existing tenancy elements — ceiling, floor, entry and back of house — were strategically repurposed, proving sustainability and design excellence are complementary priorities.
The results exceeded expectations on every metric. Sales are tracking 12% above forecast post-refurbishment, in-store conversion is running 76% above forecast, average transaction value has increased 10%, units per transaction are up 2% and the store has delivered a one per cent lift in delivered margin — validation that elevated design and a considered customer journey convert directly into performance.