Image: Nick Chiu from Apartment boutique, 2018.
Retail with Soul
Brothers Nick and Ben Chiu have been fashion pioneers in their home city of Brisbane, Australia. They opened their first Apartment boutique in 2006, bringing New York street and sneaker culture to Brisbane.
This year, 2018, they opened in a new larger location and joined with womenswear boutique, Violent Green.
Apartment is a mecca for streetwear connoisseurs, stocking brands like Comme des Garçons PLAY, Visvim, WTAPS…
Ben and Nick bring a lot of soul to their retail business. Visitors are welcomed with warmth and are inspired by their beautiful products and space.
The brothers believe in creating community and experiences in Brisbane. Their work extends beyond fashion into music and records, and burger restaurants! All delivered with the same quest for quality and attention to detail.
In this episode:
- Nick became interested in fashion in high school. His first casual job was working in Australian department store, Myer.
- He and his brother Ben enjoyed the local boutique scene in Brisbane.
- After studying for 6 months in New York, Nick was inspired by the sneaker and streetwear culture. He decided to open a New York-inspired streetwear shop in Brisbane.
- Together with his brother Ben, Nick took over the lease of a friend’s store and the brothers opened their first Apartment boutique in 2006.
- Work ethic is very important and also learning from your mistakes and working hard to correct them.
- Apartment recently joined forces with womenswear boutique, Violent Green, opening a larger store in a central location. Their stores have always been a little hidden & hard to find.
- Nick and Ben are always inspired by Tokyo and Japanese style and streetwear.
- Apartment’s core-clientele consists of Asian students and travellers who are dedicated fans of the brands stocked in the store.
- Ben and Nick travel to Paris to buy their collections. They have to buy what they know will sell well, and decide when they will take risks on lesser known or more avant-garde products. It’s a balance between what the market wants, and what they personally love.
- Brand marketing has become all powerful today. This has changed the way people shop. It is not easy to stock emerging brands today when the customer wants big names.
- Nick and Ben work harmoniously and efficiently together — naturally complimenting the other in their business operations.
- While they plan to further develop their online presence and e-commerce, Apartment today is very focused on the in-store experience.
- Around the time of the Global Financial Crisis, a difficult time for retail, Ben and Nick began developing other activities and business ventures – including music events and records, and burger restaurants.
- In this age of fast visual communication, fashion is an important means of communicating about yourself to others.
- Self-expression, being creative and not conforming is important.
Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer.
See more from Apartment >> aptmnt.com