When Vanessa Spencer was weighing up the place to open her subsequent boutique, on-line gross sales information pointed her within the course of Brisbane. With present shops in Melbourne and Sydney, she selected the capital of Queensland because the Australian state was already the upmarket retailer’s third-largest buyer base. “But it’s a little bit more than that,” says the co-founder and model director of The New Trend.
“It’s also instinct. Brisbane just feels like such an up-and-coming city. There’s such a beautiful energy there right now. It’s about culture; it’s about inclusion; and there’s this sense of community which is unlike anything else,” Spencer provides.
More particularly, Spencer set her sights on James Street within the suburb of Fortitude Valley, the place she opened the doorways to the brand new department of her multi-brand retailer in October. Situated throughout the snaking Brisbane River to the east of the Central Business District (CBD), this leafy pocket is a treasure trove of impartial retail, Australian manufacturers and hospitality choices.
“It’s such a unique part of the Australian retail landscape,” says Spencer, whose boutique has historic hyperlinks to a Canadian counterpart of the identical title however is independently owned and operated in Australia, stocking manufacturers like Bottega Veneta, Loewe, Christopher Esber and Alemais. “You can’t compare [the area] to anywhere else in the country.”
Over the previous decade or so, most main luxurious manufacturers moved into the CBD, with many located on the bottom flooring of the QueensPlaza centre on the Queen St Mall, a pedestrian thoroughfare. These embody Chanel, Gucci, Dior, Saint Laurent and Fendi. Australian manufacturers Rebecca Vallance, Zimmermann, Aje, Oroton and Camilla are amongst these upstairs in the identical centre.
Elsewhere within the CBD, Louis Vuitton relocated to a brand new flagship in 2023 within the former National Australia Bank constructing, which abuts QueensPlaza. Nearby Edward St additionally has a luxurious contingent with shops from Hermès, Cartier and Canali.
It’s not exhausting to see the enchantment of Brisbane, affectionately referred to as Brissie by locals and often called Meanjin within the language of the realm’s Indigenous Yuggera and Turrbal folks.
“It’s a subtropical gem that has always walked to the beat of its own drum,” says Heidi Middleton, the Brisbane-raised co-founder of Sass & Bide. “It has really come into its own in the last five to 10 years. I feel like it’s quite a humble city; it’s not showy or brash. It’s sort of just been chipping away, doing its thing, and has built itself gently and slowly over time to evolve into this great city.”
The metropolis’s unassuming nature can also be mirrored in its residents. Take Margot McKinney, a fourth-generation jeweller who often travels to work together with her worldwide clientele and nonetheless finds herself having to clarify that she isn’t primarily based in Sydney or Melbourne. When folks inform her they’ve by no means visited Brisbane, she says it’s simple to clarify why they need to. “It’s our secret city, [but] it’s the city you need to get to know because it’s where all the energy is moving to.”
Retail’s Next Expansion Phase
Brands trying to enter Brisbane or increase there are conserving an in depth eye on the opposite aspect of the Queen St Mall, the place the Wintergarden Shopping Centre is located.
Owned and operated by IFM Investors, this 13,000 sq m area is poised for redevelopment with an anticipated value of round 1 billion Australian {dollars} ($670 million). It is predicted to begin late this 12 months and open in time for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, incorporating the Wintergarden, neighbouring 155 Queen St (the house of Zara’s three-storey flagship), the Regent Theatre and the InterContinental Brisbane (previously Hilton Hotel).
“We have had a lot of interest from luxury and what we call ‘sub-luxury’ brands that we believe are using their online shopping data to track the cities their clients live and shop in, and we only see this interest increasing,” says Leah Mienert, IFM Investors Regional Asset Manager.
“Brisbane CBD currently offers luxury flagships and custom flagship stores and demand for larger footprints from new luxury brands is increasing. We’re accommodating these unique footprints in our development planning,” she provides.
Ilias Tsangaris, director of economic property advisors InCommercial, believes the Olympics will speed up quite than create curiosity within the Brisbane market. “More international brands will be showing interest earlier than expected because they’ll want to get in pretty quickly to secure their spots,” he says, including that Albert and Adelaide Streets within the CBD are additionally bettering.
The metropolis’s deputy mayor Fiona Cunningham says Brisbane provides a “sweet spot” for retailers. “We have strong population growth, a thriving tourism market and a lifestyle-led culture which naturally encourages spending in fashion, dining and the experience economy.”
Beyond luxurious, Queen St Mall can also be residence to native high-street manufacturers together with Cue and Country Road, which opened its new flagship within the heritage-listed Bank Building in August. These are priced above H&M, Uniqlo and Zara, three worldwide mass- and fast-fashion manufacturers which have firmly established themselves in Queensland after coming into the Australian market within the early 2010s.
That stated, H&M closed its Queen St Mall flagship in September after 10 years within the location, reportedly in step with round 200 world closures in 2025. The Swedish retailer stays in seven Queensland places. In addition to Zara’s mall flagship, the Spanish retailer has one suburban and one Gold Coast location. Uniqlo has a complete of six Queensland shops.
From Contemporary Giants to Niche Luxury
The lush inexperienced stretch of James St that attracted Spencer from The New Trend options an enviable mixture of impartial retailers. This contains standalone boutiques from the likes of Zimmermann, P.Johnson Men’s and Women’s tailors, Scanlan Theodore, Bassike and Brisbane designer Gail Sorronda. Also current is multi-brand retailer Camargue, which started introducing Brisbane to cutting-edge worldwide labels in 1978, and immediately shares Comme des Garcons, Dries van Noten and Jacquemus amongst others.
Another landmark on James St is the Calile Hotel, a gathering place for locals and a hub for travellers trying for a extra distinctive, design-led expertise than a CBD five-star. The New Trend is located on the entrance of the resort, which has proved a profitable mixture for the retailer, each for serving present clients visiting from Sydney and Melbourne, in addition to attracting a brand new buyer base in Brisbane and from abroad.
Spencer says the combination of individuals visiting James St contains these residing within the surrounding suburbs, in addition to buyers from areas surrounding Brisbane, together with the Gold Coast, a beachfront metropolis one hour’s drive south that features Surfers Paradise. Noosa is 2 hours’ drive north within the Sunshine Coast and Byron Bay is lower than two hours’ drive south, simply over the border in New South Wales. “They make a day of it, they go for lunch, they really experience the area. It is a very special place.”
Middleton, who launched her present label ArtClub in 2019, just lately returned to her hometown after spending greater than 20 years in Sydney. Opening her first area for ArtClub on James St in a former Sass & Bide retailer was a full-circle second. Her husband, Michael Malouf is a part of the household behind the Calile resort and one of many driving forces behind the event of the James St precinct over the previous 20 years.
High-end homeware and design retailers additionally name the neighbourhood residence alongside magnificence pioneers Mecca and Aesop. “You have this beautiful edit of retail and some of the best restaurants are now at home in that precinct as well,” says Middleton.
A Centre of Economic Growth
Brisbane might not be a family title past Australasia, however in seven years’ time it is going to be. The 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games will carry the town world consideration, an inflow of holiday makers, and media protection from far and extensive.
Cunningham says the occasion is “a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Brisbane”, including that preliminary estimates present the Games might inject 8.1 billion Australian {dollars} ($5.5 billion) into the city financial system. But, she provides, “the real benefits would be the lasting infrastructure for our region. From upgraded entertainment venues to more interconnected transport options like the Brisbane Metro, the Games have already helped shape our legacy.”
“Amongst businesspeople, and people who understand exactly what having the Olympics does for a city, there is enormous excitement,” says McKinney. “It will change Brisbane forever and people who recognise that and get into business in Brisbane now will definitely reap the benefit.”
The metropolis was already on an upward trajectory earlier than it received the Olympic bid 5 years in the past. Brisbane has lengthy been Australia’s third-largest metropolis by inhabitants, although studies counsel Perth could overtake this place by 2050. In 2024, Brisbane’s inhabitants was 2.78 million, roughly half of Sydney’s, however a big enhance from a couple of years earlier. Notably, Sydney recorded a web lack of migration inside Australia, whereas Brisbane skilled the very best inflow.
“The pandemic saw a shift from the larger cities to Brisbane and south-east Queensland,” stated Mienert, citing folks’s “realisation that you don’t have to be tied to a certain city.” The inflow from different states “correlated with an increased demand in businesses who wanted to occupy [Brisbane’s] CBD retail spaces — including luxury brands.”
It’s not simply the inhabitants that’s rising. The state’s financial system can also be steadily heading upwards, with GSP (gross state product) the second highest within the nation, up 2.2 p.c in opposition to a nationwide common of 1.4 p.c for the 2024-25 monetary 12 months.
Like the nation’s largest state Western Australia, mining (together with for coal, lead, zinc, bauxite and copper) is Queensland’s largest business. Tourism can also be booming. Queensland is the second-largest tourism market in Australia, thanks in no small half to pure sights such because the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest and the Whitsunday Islands.
Brisbane’s gateway standing brings different benefits, says native jeweller McKinney, who just lately opened a boutique in Beverly Hills and is ready to open on New York’s Madison Ave within the coming months. “Increasingly there are more international clients, people flying into Brisbane and using it as a stopping-off point before they go to the Barrier Reef.” Further sights embody the town’s arts scene, its bodily magnificence, waterfront developments, “amazing lifestyle and some of [Australia’s] finest dining.”
Wealthy locals additionally play a significant function in conserving the native luxurious market buoyant. Brisbane is at the moment ranked among the many high 50 cities on this planet for millionaire inhabitants, in accordance to high-net-worth particular person residency agency Henley and Partners, with numbers rising 22 p.c between 2014 to 2024. By 2025, the town boasted 26,400 US-dollar millionaires, barely lower than Berlin however greater than Tel Aviv.
How to Cater to Brissies
The metropolis’s sub-tropical local weather has a definite affect on the merchandise combine, with retailers suggesting that lighter fabrications and pared-back silhouettes are extra well-liked in Brisbane than in Sydney or Melbourne.
But the place sizzling climate can generally lead to a very informal wardrobe, Middleton says that Brisbane demonstrates fairly the alternative, describing locals as discerning buyers. “I always felt growing up that people almost enjoyed dressing up a bit more [here] because we were considered a little bit the country cousin of the [other Australian] cities. So, there was a bit more effort.”
McKinney, whose extravagant jewelry designs sit on the heady finish of the posh market, concurs. “Brisbane is definitely a very mature market. [Customers are] very sophisticated and well-travelled.”
In phrases of favor preferences, prints and brighter colors are well-liked and worn year-round, says Bridget Veals, government basic supervisor of womenswear, footwear and equipment at David Jones. The nationwide division retailer has Queensland branches in Brisbane’s CBD, Indooroopilly, Carindale and Chermside suburbs in addition to two places on the Gold Coast and one on the Sunshine Coast.
“Resort brands, swim, all of that can keep going in Queensland all year round [whereas] the longevity of those brands on the floor can be really difficult [in some other places],” states Veals.
The area’s nearly infinite summer time signifies that merchandise could be trialled in Brisbane earlier than the remainder of the nation, Veals explains, noting that the standard of life and sense of group carry different benefits. “People love living in Queensland so much that you don’t have staff turnover at the same rate,” she quips.
With its profitable mixture of financial development, a gorgeous life-style supply and new developments being put in place forward of the Olympics, the town is getting ready to usher in a brand new period for locals and guests alike. Global retailers, take observe.