Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall will be the location of Flight Centre’s second hyperstore, set to become the retailer’s largest outlet in Australia when it launches in September.
It follows the Australian debut of the concept, devised by Flight Centre UK, in Perth’s Hay Street Mall last year.
The new hyperstore, to become the retailer’s flagship, will house up to 70 sales consultants across 580 square metres making it between 10 and 12 times the size of a regular store, executive general manager Tom Walley revealed.
“In basic terms, the hyperstore concept delivers cost effective access to prime retail sites because rental costs are divided across a much larger workforce,” he said.
Sales personnel will work from the store’s ground-level and mezzanine retail spaces with specialist businesses that operate primarily by phone and email to occupy the other levels.
“The Queen Street store will be designed in a way that allows is to showcase these specialist businesses to customers and will incorporate new features that create a more exciting retail environment,” Walley said.
More Australian hyperstores will appear as and when opportunities arise, but he stressed that Flight Centre will continue to roll-out its traditional format stores and will also continue to drive its “blended” model combining both online and offline channels.
The company plans to expand its sales network by between 6% and 8% in 2013/14 and expects to recruit 3,000 people in Australia alone over that period.
