The first new stores in The Pavilions shopping and dining complex at the centre of Britomart precinct have opened their doors for business.
Beauty and fashion stores Bobbi Brown, Juliette Hogan, Karen Walker and Taylor Boutique, along with designer shoe boutiques Kathryn Wilson and Lineage, have all opened.
The final two stores in the complex - new boutiques for Trelise Cooper and Trelise Cooper Boardroom - are due to open on Saturday 15 December.
The Pavilions will soon also be home to bistro Ortolana, dessert restaurant Milse and artisan bakery and gelateria The Store, the three latest enterprises from the Hip Group's Jackie Grant and Scott Brown.
Designed as a series of leafy, garden-focused spaces, The Pavilions development has been described as an 'anti-architecture project' by its creator.
"At The Pavilions we set out to design an experience, rather a building," says designer Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects. "We wanted the transformation to spread beyond the site, and begin infiltrating the lanes and squares that surround it. We wanted to do to Britomart's days what, collectively, we'd already done to its nights.
"As the lights are strung, the alleyways occupied, the flowers bloom and the stores throw open their doors, I feel we're in with a chance. People look surprised more than anything, as if offered a small delight. They seem to let their guard down, as if the city has given up some space just for them. I thrive on the hardness of the city, but this summer I think I will enjoy the softness of this garden and its incrementally overgrown pavilions."
Elsewhere in the precinct, a pop-up store for Republic Home has just opened at Atrium on Takutai, and Seletti Boutique will open on Friday 7 December on Tyler Street. Japanese shochu and snack bar Fukuko will also open on Tyler Street on 7 December.
