Lady LUX

Get ready Sydney fashionistas, a bevy of high-profile brands will soon be opening their doors in the Australian metropolis, including Topshop from Britain and Uniqlo from Japan..

Leasing directors from international retailers are hitting the pavement to look for potential sites for new retail outfits. But they will not be limiting themselves to just a couple of locations. Some pretty hefty expansion is planned into major cities and shopping malls.

“Zara, Topshop and F21 will not come to Australia from as far away as Spain, U.K. and the U.S. just to open one or two stores in Australia. They will open more and more, including outside the CBD in well-to-do suburbs,” Knight Frank’s associate director, Alex Alamsyah, said to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Gap, for example, already has locations in Sydney and Melbourne, plus is considering Brisbane and Perth. All of this expansion is really landing Australia front and center on the list of fashion destinations. As tourists from around the globe descend on these new stores, traditional Australian retailers can expect a boost in sales and customers.

This will likely add up to these labels engaging in a “battle of the brands,” says Knight Frank’s associate director, Alex Alamsyah.

“Fashion fans like to see great showdowns of highly anticipated and long-speculated battles of heavyweight brands in prime Sydney CBD locations,” Alamsyah said to the Sydney Morning Herald. “The like to see a face-off between Zara and Topshop, F21 and H&M, and A&F and Uniqlo.”

Also possibly jumping on the Australian bandwagon are Forever 21, which is mulling over taking over bookstore chain Borders’ Australian locations come 2012/2013; both Uniqlo and Abercrombie & Fitch, which may open in Sydney in the next few years; and H&M group, which is contemplating expanding into the country in 2013/2014.

“There is strong activity in the Sydney CBD,” Alamsyah said.

We will likely witness heavyweight international brands, middleweight labels and lightweight names flocking to Sydney, from Patagonia and Billabong to Victoria’s Secret, Louis Vuitton and Banana Republic, with stores ranging in size from 4,000 square meters to 200 square meters. As Australian shopping prestige rises, a number of labels will expand, add new locations and move to larger stores.

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