sambag surprise pop-up store

SAMBAG, the destination of the savvy and chic, will be opening a surprise Pop Up Store in Chadstone Shopping Centre – “The Fashion Capital” in Melbourne’s most prestigious and established shopping centre on Thursday September 23rd.

The store will be located right next door to Mimco and opposite to Sass and Bide. SAMBAG’s Spring/Summer 10 collection will be fully delivered and offer an array of bags, swimwear, accessories, summer apparel as well as unique and endless variations of the SAMBAG classic ballet flat.

The Pop Up Store will create buzz and surprise as the first week of November will then see the opening of SAMBAG’s new permanent store just around the corner. The spring opening will be timed perfectly for Chadstone’s celebrated VIP shopping night in late November and for Christmas. The store, situated at the entrée to the designer fashion walkway, opens with the full High Summer 2010 SAMBAG range.

It’s SAMBAG’s second toehold in a shopping centre. The first, in Chadstone’s sister centre in Chatswood, Sydney opened in May 2009, and has since rivalled SAMBAG’s flagship store in Woollahra as the group’s highest performer. SAMBAG Chadstone will feature the brand’s signature blue interiors albeit with a fresh take. Penny Kinsella from Essi Designs, is applying a contemporary approach but maintaining the inviting plush atmosphere of sister stores with ottomans, mirrored surfaces, and pendulum lights.

SAMBAG, which this year celebrates its 13th year of confirming Australian style, was founded by Sam Wagner in 1997; SAMBAG’s “affordable luxury” is known for quality, style and beautiful finishes. Beginning with simple but covetable totes SAMBAG now offers a lifestyle proposition for fresh, simple, no-fuss stylistas, with shoes and boots, bags, clothing, accessories, swimwear and a capsule range of SAMBAG for kids as well as endless updates of the SAMBAG classic ballet flat.

Chadstone has for years set the tone as an influencer in retailing with ongoing developments in 2009 attracting a cluster of desirables - Gucci, Burberry, Miu Miu, Jimmy Choo and Prada et al - under its ever expanding roof. It had the highest retail turnover of any centre in Australia last year at $1.2billion. The strong branding as the “fashion capital” positioned Chadstone at the fashion epicentre of Melbourne, drawing crowds of 360,000 on Boxing Day 2009, from a trade area comprising one million people – 25% of the city’s population.
Wagner, who feels the fashion hub of Chadstone is ideal to capitalise on the recent strength of the Melbourne market complementing as it does the area’s demographic, has already opened five SAMBAG stores; Woollahra, Chatswood and the Strand Arcade in Sydney, as well as two (soon to be three) Melbourne stores: Prahran East and Albert Park. SAMBAG Online was relaunched in June and has seen an increase in sales of over 200%. And now her SAMBAG aesthetic – and the many variations of Wagner’s well-known SAMBAG Tina ballet flat – will dance into the heart of Chadstone.