No 1 Shoes Opens New Lynn Store

News release, 24 May 2007

No 1 Shoes Opens New Lynn Store

New Zealand’s biggest shoe retailer No 1 Shoes is delighted to announce that has officially opened a new store in the Lynn Mall AMP Shopping Centre, West Auckland today.

The opening of No 1 Shoes stores in malls, as opposed to stand alone destination stores, is a new concept for No 1 Shoes.

“This is a new strategy for us,” No 1 Shoes General Manager David Gabriel says. “We have typically opened large format stores in stand alone or mega centre locations, that attract customers specifically to our stores to buy footwear.”

By opening more stores in malls, No 1 Shoes is now attracting customers that buy footwear spontaneously. “This provides a good balance for the business and has proven to be a successful. We are now attracting not only the customers who go to our stores to specifically buy footwear, but also customers that buy on impulse when browsing past shops in the mall.”

Mr Gabriel says New Lynn has been on its location radar ever since the business opened in 2001 but no opportunities had come to fruition, until now. Sales were expected to match those of neighboring stores. “We do very well at St Lukes and Henderson and we are expecting similar performance in New Lynn,” he says.

In the past 18 months, No 1 Shoes has opened two stores in malls including West City in Henderson, Auckland and Eastgate Shopping Centre in Christchurch. Two more are planned, including a new store in the Manukau mall, and one in Westfield’s new shopping centre in Albany. This will take the total number of stores that No 1 Shoes has in malls to five.

Mr Gabriel says New Lynn is expected to attract a wide customer base. “We see ourselves as reasonably family orientated but we have strong brand recognition among females and younger age groups. We do very well across all age groups because we have affordable footwear with good quality, the product offering does appeal to a broad spectrum of people.”

No 1 Shoes carries a vast range and sells anything from rubber thongs to European fashions. “Having a broad range and something for everybody at an affordable price, which is a big attraction for our customers,” Mr Gabriel says.

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