Jeweller - December 2020

Swarovski
is also interesting. Of the 19 brands in the 2010 report, only
six were watches; a decade on, that figure has tripled to 18.
And not all are Swiss! Japanese watch brand Seiko
selected Australia as an early location for its
expansion into brand-only stores.
In March 2016 it opened a store in Sydney’s Queen
Victoria Building and a Melbourne store followed,
opening in the CBD in 2018. Importantly, only last
December the company opened a new boutique for its prestige brand,
Grand Seiko, at Pitt Street Mall in Sydney.
Today there are 79 brand-only watch stores and, unsurprisingly, 81 per cent
of the outlets (64) are in Sydney and Melbourne. Of course, many jewellery
brands also offer watches.
Ups and downs, like-for-like
If we analyse the brand-only stores from 2010 to 2020 on a like-for-like
basis, we find some interesting results.
Swarovski is the standout performer, having increased its store count
by 14, from 32 in 2010 to 46 in 2020. Paspaley doubled it store count,
from four to eight – equalling Tiffany & Co.’s local store count.
Tag Heuer also doubled its store count to six, while Bulgari increased
its presence in Australia by four stores (from two to six).
Secrets Shhh has had a topsy-turvy decade. The 17-store retailer specialises
in cubic zirconia jewellery and was listed in Jeweller’s 2010 report with 18
stores, so it has declined by only one store in 10 years.
However, that’s not the full story.
Jane Meredith, along with friend Dietmar Gorlich, co-founded Secrets
Shhh in Noosa, Queensland in 2000. Under a franchise model, it quickly
grew to 26 stores across Australia and New Zealand before the 2007–2008
Global Financial Crisis took its toll, as it did on so many retailers.
By 2010, it was down to 18 stores – but more decline was yet to come. In
April 2017, the number of Secrets Shhh stores had fallen to only seven –
four company-owned and three franchised.
At that point, former Michael Hill International (MHI) CEO Mike Parsell
acquired a majority stake in the business and set about reinvigorating the
retailer. Parsell was well placed for the task; he had been with MHI for
30 years and was responsible for establishing the New Zealand jewellery
chain in Australia in 1987.
In October 2019, Parsell oversaw the opening of the latest Secrets Shhh
store at Robina Town Centre on Queensland’s Gold Coast, bringing the
total number of outlets to 17 – nine company-owned and eight franchised
– which is almost the same level as a decade ago.
Another interesting ‘story’ is that of APM Monaco, a silver jewellery brand
with seven Australian stores. It was founded in Monaco in 1982 but is now
headquartered in Hong Kong. US-based private equity firm TPG Capital,
which focuses on leveraged buyouts and growth capital, acquired a 30 per
cent stake in 2019.
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Many retailers might recall that Bolt International, the original distributor
of the hugely successful Ice-Watch, first introduced the brand to the
Australian market in 2012. Its first local brand-only store opened in
Sydney in 2016.
However, as a wholesale operation, the brand was not successful and
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