Grand dame of retail uses feminine wiles
The Age
Friday April 1, 2011
Myer's $300m glam makeover is all for women, says the CEO. Especially the 'very nice' loos. IT WAS all for you, women of Melbourne: the gorgeous frocks and pretty girls, the handsome dancers, vintage champagne, even the carefully picked VIPs. At yesterday's rehearsal for Myer's party for 500 celebrities to launch the sparkling $300 million refurbishment of its Melbourne store, CEO Bernie Brookes described the grand plan the real reason behind the undoubted glamour."It's for women," he said. "Women make the decisions about household expenditure, women have that aspiration for glamour and fashion and beauty, it's women who'll be watching. Fashion is the 'bird caller' for us."The sales of TVs and picture frames are the add-ons."Hours before last night's chic black carpet was unrolled, Myer's production crew was working flat-out for that glamour, drilling a company of dancers and an orchestra for their parts in a spectacular "fashion moment" that would crown a night hosted by Bert Newton and starring a galaxy of Melbourne icons of stage, screen, TV and fashion.A steeply stepped black stage had been constructed in the legendary sixth-floor Myer Mural Hall and production staff were arranging Myer's stable of high-profile designers most flown in for the party into a kind of "class photo" tableau.Wayne Cooper and Dom Bagnato perched like naughty schoolboys above the elegant Toni Maticevski, the texting Charlie Brown in diamante sunglasses, the honey-tanned Jayson Brunsdon, distracted Arthur Galan, the sweetly grinning Yeojin Bae, a bemused Nicola Finetti and Kym Ellery, with Leona Edmiston seated primly on the end.At a signal, the tableau would be revealed behind a giant shopping bag; the Myer version of 20 people 17 designers and a trio of supermodels including Kris Smith, Jennifer Hawkins and Jessica Hart jumping out of a cake. Ta da!Bernie Brookes watched as the designers and models jostled, joked, hugged, air-kissed or shuffled uncomfortably past each other then, suddenly, were gone, off to prepare for their "black carpet moment". This would be a nerve-racking stroll for most, up the broadloom in their black-tie best, with a public gallery and paparazzi snapping at every step. Media trucks were already circling outside the store by lunchtime and curious onlookers mostly women, of course peered at the satellite dishes and camera equipment being unloaded into the mall. It seemed Melbourne itself was mobilising."More than 70 per cent of our customers are women." Brookes was now talking over the orchestra belting out a jazz tune for a dozen athletic young men thumping rhythmically around the stage."Seventy per cent of our staff are women and this store was designed by a team of six five women and one token man for them."The refurbishment, based around a spectacular diorama of stepped escalators, is thrillingly glamorous but, according to Brookes, it also has "very nice toilet facilities, a big women's room for breastfeeding and to bring children and lots of places to sit down and have a break".This, Myer discovered long ago in the days of its founder, Sidney Myer, is because women appreciate comfort and convenience with their glamour. "And, that's what they asked for," Brookes said of several customer surveys."They asked, we gave it to them. That's what we do."
© 2011 The Age
