How Sydney’s Chinatown Country Club is setting a new standard in retail

The rise of e-commerce has raised questions around the role of bricks-and-mortar retail but experiential retailers are still making a case for in-person shopping.

Often, conversations around experiential retail are limited to discussions of secret pop-ups, live tutorials, brand installations, private events and product giveaways.

But Sydney’s luxury retail boutique Chinatown Country Club is making a case for curation and community as a driving force for the return of offline shopping.

When Chinatown Country Club founder Oliver Li first opened the retailer’s doors, he set out to create an informal social club that would connect over a passion for design and fashion.

“The physical retail experience allows discovery of new brands and provides the opportunity to see the colour, cut, fit and texture of garments which cannot be fully articulated through a screen,” Harry Matthews, general manager of Chinatown Country Club, told Inside Retail.

“Whilst e-commerce operates on pricing and convenience, the nature of what we prioritise and sell will always lend itself to an in-person shopping experience,” Matthews added. 

The demise of department stores has given physical retail operations a bad reputation, but the new guard of multibrand retail boutiques is proving there is still demand for in-store shopping.

Independent boutiques like Chinatown Country Club are not restricted by the same limitations as heritage department stores.

“We are also not bound by extensive procedures or legacy, so we are able to be flexible in a lot of our decision-making,” said Matthews.

“This results in a more intentional and refined shopping experience, where each item is chosen with care and detail, appealing directly to the tastes of our customers who are seeking something beyond the mainstream offerings found in larger stores,” he explained further.

The curation

The power that multibrand retailers have over single-brand flagships is the ability to provide consumers with an edited collection of the current season’s fashion and accessories from a multitude of brands.

Consumers aren’t loyal to a single label and their wardrobes reflect that, with fashion lovers priding themselves on wearing both established and emerging labels. 

Chinatown Country Club stocks a variety of esteemed brands including but not limited to Jacquemus, Acne, Our Legacy, Coperni and Isa Boulder.

“The brands we carry are determined through a combination of our personal taste, what the market demands and the brands we believe are at the forefront and future of the industry,” said Matthews.

“Operating on a smaller scale as a boutique affords us more flexibility in choosing what we stock rather than catering to analytics and historical forecasts solely.”

Fashion analytics and trend forecasting is sometimes a race to the bottom for retailers since they have to offload stock that doesn’t sell as well as predicted.

“The brands that we stock do not have flagship stores in Australia, so we strive to provide the equivalent service that customers would get if they were to visit those flagship stores abroad,” expressed Matthews.

The space

Chinatown Country Club has successfully positioned itself as a premium shopping destination with its store premised on the juxtaposition between the exclusivity of country clubs and the welcoming familiarity of Chinatown. 

The space itself is designed to make customers feel comfortable and fashion feel approachable.

 “We have tried to infuse it in the design of the store itself with Asian elements, our designer developed a concept of ‘alleyways’ to divide and connect the zones. Made up of booths that were constructed in the traditional timber and stucco style, the alleyway evokes old Chinese ‘hutongs’,” Matthews described.

“However, it still ultimately presents as a contemporary, Western-styled space conveying fashion and luxury in new and subtle ways,” he added.

With high fashion sometimes regarded as an elitist industry, it was important for Chinatown Country Club to provide a luxury shopping destination without the sense of exclusivity.

“I think this is what we want to democratise at CCC, where those that enter our space can feel comfortable in expressing themselves and break this wall between the fashion retailer and the customer,” said Matthews.

The community 

Building a sense of community within Sydney’s fashion scene is still at the forefront of Chinatown Country Club’s mission as it looks to expand its experiential retail offering.

APT CCC, an appointment-only service with stylists and founder Oliver Li, launched in December as an extension of Chinatown Country Club, allowing both industry and customers to shop a curation of world-class vintage, unique archive and unreleased pieces.

APT CCC will not be limited to private shopping experiences, with the fashion community at large able to book the space for brand activations, events and photoshoots upon request.

“APT CCC will also develop a retail offering that is yet to be offered in Australia. An experiential, appointment-only destination where you can shop brand new and vintage whilst having a coffee, a place where you can stop by or spend an entire day,” Matthews mused.

While the ground floor of Chinatown Country Club is made to feel like a modern-day social space, APT CCC is designed to feel like a lavish apartment of a close friend – but both are still welcoming and familial. 

“I think fashion is often seen as intimidating and unapproachable due to its representatives, particularly when it comes to higher-end or fashion-forward products,” said Matthews. 

“I think at the end of the day, a positive in-person shopping experience will always be preferred by a consumer, particularly since the pandemic. Brick-and-mortar spaces bring vibrance and personality to a city, it provides people the small details they want that cannot be offered online,” he concluded.

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