On Thursday, 30 November, sporting giant Rebel unveiled its largest and most immersive flagship store ever at Vicinity’s Emporium Melbourne to much fanfare.
The 3,600m2 store features an elevated women’s FIT STUDIO, cutting-edge foot sizing technology, 855m2 of floor-to-ceiling custom murals, 70 bespoke pieces of digital content – and even a rooftop basketball court.
But the state-of-the-art store was actually the culmination of a unique collaboration between Rebel, Vicinity Centres and The General Store.
Here, Vicinity CEO Peter Huddle, Rebel Managing Director Gary Williams, Rebel General Manager (Portfolio Strategy) Ryan Pittaway and The General Store Chief Strategy Officer Danny Lattouf share their experiences of working together on this one-of-a-kind project.
Rebel Managing Director Gary Williams
How would you describe the new Emporium store and the customer experience?
Williams: “This is the most ambitious project to date for rebel. It’s our largest store which provides us with opportunities to introduce new and innovative retailing to our customers. Every corner of the store – even the roof! – offers something compelling that many customers have not seen from a sports retailer in Australia before.
“We’ve introduced technology in how we measure and recommend technical running shoes and unique ways to shop your favourite athleisure products via our Fit Studio, as well as experiences in Football and Basketball that allow you to engage in those sports beyond just looking at product on a shelf.
“There really is something for everyone in this store that we hope creates a memorable experience when you shop with us.”
Vicinity Centres CEO Peter Huddle
How did this collaboration begin?
Huddle: “Gary and I have worked together quite a few times over the past 20 years, and I met Danny through Reid Nakou, Head of Retail and Design at The General Store. The team at The General Store are on-trend creatives that think of retail as a key place maker for cities and suburbs.
“We got the opportunity to work together again to create Rebel’s new Emporium flagship. We did things a bit differently by initially working with Danny and his team to develop the whole Emporium concept, which we felt would be perfect for Rebel. Then we pitched the concept to Gary and his team.”
Why do you think this partnership was so successful?
Williams: “Rebel and Vicinity have a close working relationship based on openness and shared objectives. Both parties are at the top of their game in bringing world-class customer experiences to Australians at every opportunity we have together.
“Two strong teams collaborating successfully around shared objectives creates a working environment that enables innovative thinking, leading to outcomes such as the rebel Emporium customer experience.”
As a creative agency, what were some of the unique benefits of working with a retailer and a landlord at the same time?
Lattouf: “Understanding the project from every perspective would have to be the largest benefit of this project.
“As a design partner to a brand, our focus is on the customer experience and the authentic relationship between the brand and their customer. We’re very focused on advocating for the customer above all else. Of course, we have to factor in operations, which serves the customer well too.
“In this instance, beyond the brand’s objectives, we had a wonderfully clear view into the landlord’s objectives too. The General Store was in a unique position to develop Emporium’s strategic brand proposition and thinking around master planning, whilst unlocking a shared objective of bringing an amazing rebel experience to Melbourne’s CBD.”
The General Store and Rebel first launched the rCX stores several years ago. How would you describe its evolution?
Lattouf: “The evolution has been constant. With every store, we make marginal changes. We’re continuously challenging our playbook to ensure we’re improving the experience, building ability, affordability and team member experience.
“While we pushed the innovation with rebel’s CBD store in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall, we knew we had to take it up a notch for Melbourne and Emporium.
“We were lucky enough to work in partnership with Nike’s global agency WD out of the US to really level up our football and women’s proposition and collaborate with Curry Brand for our basketball rooftop, a tribute to legendary shooter, Steph Curry.
“Pairing that with our recent travels across Europe, Asia and the US to seek out the very best of innovation, we genuinely wanted this store to be world-class.”
Rebel General Manager (Portfolio Strategy) Ryan Pittaway
How was the strategic alignment and development of this project different to your typical landlord and retailer operating rhythm and relationship?
Pittaway: “The key to this project was how early we started working together, along with honesty and transparency around what we all wanted to achieve. We were open-minded and had a great space to work with that enabled innovative thinking and the opportunity to push us all to another level of creativity.
“Being this ambitious does bring its challenges, but we were so aligned and committed to doing something special in Melbourne’s CBD, that we were able to overcome and deliver the amazing Emporium flagship that you see here.”
What would you say were some of the interesting challenges that you faced during the process of creating the Emporium store?
Pittaway: “For rebel, this was the first time we ever built both outside and on a roof top! It’s no mean feat to create a basketball court that’s so unique and could become a landmark in Melbourne’s CBD.
“Vicinity was able to provide and construct the perfect environment for us to work with our global brand partner, Under Armour, to create the Curry Brand Court that I’m sure will feature on many customer Instagram Stories in years to come. Obviously, coordinating all the elements that go into something like this is a first for many of us. But given the passion of the project teams, we managed to deliver something pretty special.
“The sheer size and scale of this store was also a challenge. We are pushing into territory we haven’t operated in before, so there was lots to consider. While space gives you freedom to try lots of new opportunities, our operating rhythm, design, flow, sight lines and navigation of the store is something we’ve had to spend time perfecting. We will continue to learn a lot from this store once our customers are shopping and telling us what they think.”
Huddle: “Gary and his team have elevated the experiential element of lifestyle and sporting products in recent years, and rebel’s Emporium flagship pushes the envelope even more with a unique rooftop basketball court.
“When you try to innovate, there are always challenges. With the rebel basketball court, we had to work through things like authority heritage approvals and careful engineering considerations, while making sure the rooftop would deliver a great customer experience today – and form part of a potential future rooftop master plan.”
Lattouf: “In truth, designing a highly evolved proposition with very minimal time to prototype and test was seriously challenging. It meant lots of experience and gut feel decisions had to come into play, alongside some great partnerships with delivery partners to make it all happen.
“In working with Rebel and Vicinity, we collectively needed to manage the delicate balance of really pushing the boundaries and finding the sweet spot for all parties involved.
“The most challenging part of this project for The General Store was the vast array of large scale and intricate elements that were all in development at the very same time – from architecture and interiors to artwork to digital content to game development to technology innovations. And it all had to come together to feel highly intentional and connected for the customer.”
What are your thoughts on retailers, developers and agencies working hand-in-hand on future projects? What do the optimal conditions look like?
Huddle: “With a focus on the customer at the core of our business and taking experiential retail to the next level, we think the approach deployed at Emporium Melbourne with The General Store can deliver real value, particularly for larger-scale developments with a shared ambition between parties.
“For the development of rebel Emporium, The General Store provided value with their ability to advise on consumer strategy, a broad and wide range of expertise that allowed them to be heavily involved in the front-end design of the new flagship with the property owner and the execution of the strategy with the retailer.
“This is a unique way of working and to be successful, you need a strong alignment of objectives between all parties from the start of the process – I think the end result has demonstrated that was certainly the case with this project.”
Williams: “For this project, rebel worked closely with Vicinity and also two world-class design agencies – The General Store from Australia and WD Partners based in the US. Throughout the project, we also utilised expertise from our current trade partner base.
“Nike challenged us to evolve our thinking in executing Women’s and Football whilst Under Armour leveraged the power of their Steph Curry Brand to activate the rooftop basketball court.
“We were also lucky enough to engage some amazing local artistic talent with the likes of Brolga, whose artwork is a unique and a key feature of the Emporium branding for rebel throughout the store, as well as Rory Lynch-Wells, whose amazing talent is featured throughout the Basketball category and on the rooftop.
“Early planning is critical when using so many unique partnerships to bring a project like this to life. There is nothing more challenging and creatively limiting than when you commence a project with no time to do the basics, let alone give yourself time to think outside the square.
“If you can start planning projects of this ambition early, clearly align on the goals and set up a structure and rhythm to execute the project, you’ve got the best chance of success. Independent planning and architectural works are ok for basic programs, but for projects of this ambition, all stakeholders being in a room at the very beginning is paramount to success. Given how this project has performed, we’ve got an amazing model to take with us into the future.”
