MECCA’s flagship store marks a new era for Melbourne retail
Australian retail beauty giant MECCA has unveiled its largest and most ambitious store yet, set within a historic Bourke Street building, which has played host to many well-known retailers over the years.
Located at 299 Bourke Street, the store, which opens to the public on August 8, spans 4000 square metres across three levels and has been thoughtfully renovated to pay homage to its historic past while offering a suite of luxury amenities for the modern shopper.
A Melbourne landmark
The site of 299 Bourke Street was once home to Cole’s Book Arcade, founded in 1883 by E.W. Cole, who created a grand bookstore within its walls. It wasn’t simply a bookstore, but a destination where shoppers could find music, fountains, talking parrots and a rainbow arch above the entrance. It drew literary icons throughout its years, including Rudyard Kipling and Mark Twain, who came to the store while visiting Melbourne.
It was also home to David Jones for over 35 years, closing its tenancy in 2020 when the building was acquired by Newmark Capital for about $121 million and later subdivided for tenants, including MECCA.
The legacy of the building continues through MECCA with a design that also offers a multi-sensory experience from a wellness studio to a perfumeria. Local architectural firm Studio McQualter was responsible for the project and is known for its sensitive restorations on heritage buildings. They thoughtfully brought the building’s historical features back to life by reinstating original terrazzo floors, arched windows, pressed metal ceilings and shopfront tiles. Even the mezzanine, which once gave shoppers a bird’s-eye view of Cole’s Arcade, was carefully revived.
MECCA has layered in contemporary creativity among the historical design, with a strong feminist perspective, including 20 works by female artists commissioned through MECCA’s M‑Power initiative, which are displayed throughout the space and range from grand sculptural installations to intricate murals.
The largest-scale retail store in Melbourne yet
MECCA’s new flagship is not just the largest beauty destination in the southern hemisphere, it’s Melbourne’s most ambitious retail project in recent years. Rising across three levels, shoppers can find more than 200 global beauty brands and 80-plus specialised services, and it is expected to attract 50,000 visitors per week. The space is serviced by a team of approximately 300 staff trained as makeup artists, dermal therapists, fragrance sommeliers, hair stylists and wellness practitioners.
Some of the store highlights include the Mecca Perfumeria, where unique fragrances can be sampled, Mecca Aesthetica, where you can find clinical skin treatments performed by nurses and dermal professionals, Mecca Beauty Atelier, which is a makeup, nail and hair services department, and Mecca Apothecary, which offers naturopathic consultations, acupuncture and breathwork workshops.
There is also a 200-square-metre auditorium hosting seminars, panels and live demonstrations, along with a cafe, a newsroom for broadcasting beauty news and trend forecasts, and a gifting studio where shoppers can personalise products with engravings, calligraphy and bespoke wrapping.
How the face of Melbourne retail is changing
MECCA’s Bourke Street flagship signals a broader transformation in Melbourne’s retail landscape away from traditional shopfronts and towards an experience-led environment that blends culture and community.
Where once department stores and arcades defined Melbourne’s retail, today’s leading retailers aim to offer more.
Other brands and precincts across Melbourne focus on experiential strategies that position the city as a retail capital of the southern hemisphere. Emporium Melbourne has curated a portfolio of tech-integrated flagships like Samsung’s interactive experience store and the immersive Dyson Demo Lab designed for customers to try, test and engage with technology.
Chadstone Shopping Centre is another prime example of retail experiences that embody more than just shopping, with the addition of Chadstone Hotel, allowing visitors to stay overnight and continue their shopping experience the next day.
On a smaller scale, local designers and brands have embraced this shift with brands like Alpha60 hosting talks, art installations and collaborations that extend beyond product. It’s expected that with the launch of MECCA’s flagship, more retailers will follow in its footsteps.
