High demand for quality in Newmarket

Broadway, Newmarket. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Despite reports of store closures in Newmarket, some stores on Auckland's upmarket shopping strip say business is good and luxury brands are holding their own in the tough economic times.

Brave, a retailer in Newmarket that sells Italian brand Diesel, Dutch brand Scotch & Soda and its female equivalent Maison Scotch, Denny Rose and others, is doing well, says regional manager Ramon Lledo.

"Things are going really well. The two weeks after the earthquake was a little slow but things [for Newmarket] are picking up.

"There are a lot more people. People are spending more. Brave is doing really well. Diesel is our big brand and then Scotch & Soda is very strong in the store," Lledo said.

Brave has another store in High St and a "pop-up" store in Newmarket that has been set up temporarily to sell discounted sample items to raise money for a Christchurch relief fund.

Lledo said brave hadn't decided which fund to donate to but was strongly connected to the city as it had a store down there that had since been closed.

The "pop-up" store will be open at 142 Broadway until the end of April.

Lledo said retail was "slowly getting back on its feet" but added it was hard to track the progress because "one month is up, one month is down. It's not constant but it is recovering."

Lledo said the reason brave had maintained good sales figure throughout the past three years was because it sold established European brands, such as Diesel, that people still valued when times were rough and because of the store's "very loyal clients".

"We're still here and strong, and growing," Lledo said.

A Herald story last month incorrectly stated that a Diesel store in the Rialto precinct was not renewing its lease.

No such store exists, brave is a stockist of Diesel in Newmarket and is open for business.