Incu is delving further into the womenswear market with plans to expand its women’s offering in its new look Sydney flagship. The fashion chain, owned by brothers Brian and Vincent Wu, first started in 2002. There are now seven Incu stores across Melbourne and Sydney, with the chain’s store network a mixture of men’s, women’s, and mixed boutiques. The strategic push to expand womenswear and accessories comes as Incu refurbishes its men’s and women’s flagships at The G
aleries in Sydney’s CBD. The new look stores are expected to be completed by next month.
Brian Wu, co-founder of Incu, told Inside Retail PREMIUM the company is aiming to capitalise further on the womenswear category in its soon to reopen new stores after seeing strong levels of growth.
“We’re expanding our women’s store at The Galeries in Sydney. We’re taking over the store next to us, so that will make it about 220sqm after it’s completed,” Wu said.
“We’ll be increasing our range of accessories, footwear, and denim, and also increasing the size of the collections.
“We’ve seen a really good level of growth in womenswear for our business, so we wanted to take advantage of that and try and bring more of a complete offering to the customer.”
Wu says menswear sales remain constant for the company.
Incu’s Sydney flagships’ “facelifts” will be based on the fitout of its stores at QV Melbourne.
“The new look is more in line with where we see the brand,” Wu said.
“It will look more like our Melbourne stores, a bit more sophisticated and a bit more in line with what we’re thinking of retail fitouts. It will also have the same offering as QV.”
No other Incu stores are expected to be refurbished.
“In terms of branding and fitout there’s no other plans to do another fitout. The two flagship stores [in Sydney] were just the ones that really needed it.”
As Incu prepares to focus on its newly opened A.P.C. store, and another earmarked for Sydney, Wu says the company does not intend to rollout further stores.
“We’re always interested and looking at opportunities. Our Chadstone store opened fairly quickly because an opportunity came up and it was too good to say no to, but at this point there’s no plans for any more openings.”
This story first appeared in Insisde Retail PREMIUM issue 1992.
