The Department Store

Finally a one stop shop for Auckland. Karen Walker, Stolen Girlfriends, Simon James, Stephen Marr & Lucy and The Powder Room, Top Shop & Top Man. Great cafe in store so when the girlfeind is upstairs at top shop I can keep my self entertained with a flat white and a walk around top man. Auckland has needed something like this for along time, hopefully the open one in town soon. 

I've popped in here a couple of times mainly to check out what the latest arrival are at Top Shop.  Which is unfortunate because I have to negotiate the huge spiral staircase to get to it, actually boing up is fine its coming down when I get a bad attack of Vertigo ! Whilst I can appreciate the concept of the store I think it has been over hyped, I still feel there is something lacking which I can't really put my finger on.  Will let you know when I work out what it us.

The colab between Stephen Marr and Karen Walker has injected life back into the somewhat tired Takapuna retail district. It boasts Stephen Marr hairsalon and Topshop on the top floor, Lucy & The Powder Room on the 2nd, and Simon James design, Black Box local and imported labels, and The Tearoom cafe all with Karen Walker and Topman on the ground level. The interior is a blend of industrial and organic, seen most clearly in the "living wall" of lush tropical plants in the very cement-y Stephen Marr hair salon bringing new meaning to "concrete jungle." Both hair and beauty salon areas soften the hard architecture with natural materials in the fittings; wicker chairs and woolly sheepskins in amongst the cold hardness of the stations and marble table. Now the best thing about Takapuna isn't the beach volleyball, or the fact you can always get a park. It's The Department Store.