Cosmetics retailer Mecca expects floods of shoppers at Auckland concept store opening

Beauty retailer Mecca is today opening its biggest store.

The 508sq m Auckland concept store, which combines the company's existing Mecca Cosmetica and Mecca Maxima brands, is located on the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets and housed in the building of the former Topshop store.

It is around 100sq m bigger than any other Mecca concept store in Australasia.

The Australian retailer already operates a Mecca Maxima store on Queen St but the new store is able to accommodate twice as many people.

Mecca head of retail Maria Tsaousis said the company expected a large turnout of eager shoppers ahead of its 9am opening.

"We've already had over 10,000 people register interest," Tsaousis said.

"The opening of Mecca Maxima Auckland was one of the biggest openings the business has ever had. The reopening of Mecca Wellington a couple of months ago was also really huge, and we're expecting Auckland to trump that."

The store will stock over 100 high-end beauty brands and offer experiential retail through its perfumearia and beauty lab.

"We opened up Mecca Maxima in Queen St a year ago. The response has been so overwhelming but we knew the store was too small to be able to service the customers in Auckland," she said.

"We're really happy to back that up with another store."

Mecca opened its first New Zealand store, Mecca Cosmetica, in Ponsonby in 2007. Its first Maxima store opened in Christchurch in 2016. It now has 11 local stores.

It opened its Wellington concept store in Lambton Quay last month.

The brand will open a new store in Sylvia Park and Bayfair shopping centre, Mt Maunganui, before the end of year. It has more openings planned for 2019.

It plans to open between five and eight stores in the next 12 to 18 months.

Alongside opening more stores, Mecca is gearing up to hire support staff for its New Zealand network spread across its Auckland distribution centre, retail stores, education, marketing and human resources teams.

The site of the former Topshop Topman store on Queen St has been empty since October last year when Top Retail closed its doors for good.

Retail analyst Chris Wilkinson said the Mecca store would be offer competitive shopping for consumers with stores Farmers and Smith & Caughey nearby.

"The new Mecca will be an asset for the city - both in filling that very visible gap, but also in strengthening the 'cluster value' of having a number of large-scale beauty offers in the area," Wilkinson said.

"Auckland's large Asian population and visitors are significant shoppers for beauty products. The scale of the new store will deliver the experiential shopping environments that this market looks for and enjoy."

Mecca employs 300 people in New Zealand and has 90 stores spread across New Zealand and Australia.