Overview
Pōneke you have a luxe new shopping experience in your windy city. Much loved local label Stolen Girlfriends Club today unveiled its giant new flagship store in Wellington and it's everything fans of the edgy streetwear brand could have hoped and dreamed for.
Designed in collab with architects Jasmax and multi-disciplinary studio ALT Group, the store is Wellington's first SGC brick and mortar and provides a luxe shopping experience you might expect to find in Japan, Berlin or Paris.
"The store concept runs counter to what you might expect in terms of retail attraction and conversion. It's actually kind of anti-retail," SGC founder Marc Moore says. "I describe it as an inverted disco ball, purposefully pumping with light in the centre to draw in customers while maintaining a sense of mystique from the street."
Mystique is right — don't be put off when walking past the new 150sqm flagship store, which resembles a blacked-out nightclub from the outer. No window shopping here — enter through the 20m-long, blacked-out threshold which delivers you into a dramatically decked-out store.
Inside, you'll be rewarded with a wildly 'grammable silver interior, with bespoke display objects like blade-like stainless steel shelves and a sinuous ceiling-mounted garment rail that wraps through the space.
When you find some pieces to try on, head to the oversized pick fitting rooms, which face into an 'anteroom' instead of the shop, so you have privacy.
Architect Jun Tsujimoto says it's so you can remove yourself from the shop floor when trying on clothes in the"beautiful pink rooms," he calls the luxe anthesis of the online shopping experience people have become accustomed to over the past few years.
Opening celebrations kick off this week — every purchase over $199 receives a complimentary Stolen Girlfriends Club tote bag and face mask. So, yes, all-in-all it's a slightly elevated experience above, say, your local mall.
Stolen Girlfriends Club's flagship Wellington store is now open at 98 Victoria Street.