Zara

ZARA. The name speaks for itself.
This international clothing conglomerate has taken over the world & had women, men & fashionable tweens & toddlers go nuts when they opened their first flagship store in Sydney Australia. I hate to say but i’ve fallen victim to their quality fabrics, bang-​for-​buck fashion & constantly changing range.
Only downside is the long waits to try on clothing but for me its all part & parcel with the fickle industry of fashion and can be enjoyable if you’re not in a rush. Leave the partner & kids at home so you can browse & try at your own leisurely pace.

Stylish clothes at an affordable price point. Definitely geared towards the European physique, skinny arms etc, so can be difficult to find a good fit for the more robust Australian physique.

If I worked for a brand with overly hyped products made predominantly of artificial fibres I would probably try to compensate for the obscene prices by delivering the most spectacular customer service. Sadly, the chatty lollipops that work here are not of the same mind. After asking at least 4 times where a certain skirt on a mannequin was kept, I insisted that the clerk is spoken with before actually walk me to the exact location. Obviously annoyed that I’d interrupted her gab fest, she stomped over to find that they’d run out. No apology for wasting my time and back to talking.

ZARa is a huge disappointment. The clothes look as if they are the left over stock from Europe, and the Adelaide resembles looks more like an outlet. I think it appalling that the executives of ZARA are treating Australians with such contempt by ensuring we that we not stocked with the same range of clothing as Europe and the USA. As for shipping costs that is a poor excuse to rip Aussies off.

If you’ve ever been to Europe then you’ll know about Zara. Actually, even if you just know somebody who has been to Europe then you’ll know about Zara. Zara is a cult fashion store that has FINALLY hit our shores and man did it hit in a MAJOR way. I heard that when it opened in Sydney six months ago 80% of the stock was gone in the first three minutes! This Zara frenzy hasn’t seemed to slow in the last couple of months. Only recently have I noticed you no longer need to queue to get inside.
Zara stocks excellent basics at reasonable prices — like a classic black blazer will set you back $ 100 or so. There are also trend pieces you can get on the cheap.
Avoid trying to shop at Zara on Thursday eves, Saturdays and Sundays — the store is manic at these times with queues for the change rooms. Don’t even try to see if they have a size that isn’t on the floor — the answer is always no which is not always the truth. If you do fancy a trip to Zara see if you can take a mid-​week lunchtime break or give yourself an early mark from work.

Ever since living in Europe, I have deplored Australian shopping. «It’s SO much better over there,» I’d enthuse. «You’ve got H & M, TopShop, Pull & Bear, Zara…»
And now, so do we. Zara has FINALLY landed on our shores, and I was really excited to go and check it out.
When I made it in, I was happy to see European-​sized stores — ones that take up multiple levels with their beautiful beautiful clothes. Having been in Europe the previous summer, I was unsurprised to see the same stock that’d been over in Oslo and Paris last summer. But all the stuff I loved the most I couldn’t find in Sydney. Maybe it was already gone? Or maybe it was so successful in Europe that it couldn’t be sent to Australia because they’d run out? Regardless, Zara Sydney has some great stock — but not much.
I was also incredibly disappointed to see the pricing structure — a jumper that I bought for 20 euro in Amsterdam (admittedly on sale from 30) was marked $ 70 in Sydney — kind of outrageous, right? Obviously shipping down under is expensive, but I wouldn’t have thought the margins were THAT huge.
The stock isn’t great, but it’s a damn sight better than most places in Australia; I’ll be back, that’s for sure.

The first Zara store to open between Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney is now ahead of Melbourne on the shopping front, clearly. It was so special to see this establishment opening (at last, we just had no choice but to be patient, and before I moved to Melbourne too) and at the new Westfield’s at Pitt Street Mall as well. The crowds were just insane at first getting sucked into the Zara hype.
There was still great quality clothes to browse through and enjoy; although the same clothes seen in Europe a year earlier which was disappointing to many Sydney Zara fans. The great thing about Sydney’s Zara is that it is located in a newer building, and the chain upmarket Target feeling is lost in comparison to Melbourne’s Zara store on Bourke Street Mall. The Sydney store has more space to work with, an abundance of it.
The common trend is that although Zara is still popular and has not lost it’s vogue and finesse; it is just that the crowds have backed off and it is now easier to get in and out on any given weekend here. Definitely wanting to come back for more if my wardrobe ever needs it.

There was so much hype about this store before it opened. Creating fast fashion and the ability to get new product into stores with a staggering two to four weeks turn around time from design to store rack. The company delivers about 11,000 items annually with half of those products being manufactured in Europe (specifically Spain where they are based) so there is always something new on the shelves of their retail stores. The strategic planning into opening up stores in Australia was documented in the media and press prior to their launch. They didn’t want to distribute the same fashion they put in their other stores, understanding that Australia’s fashion taste, trends and the seasons (which are the opposite of all of their European, Northern American and Asian stores). Though I appreciate the innovative business ideas that have come out of this retail brand, I had bigger expectations due to the publicity build up. When the store launched there was a line outside of the store on Pitt Street with security ushering in only a select number of people at a time. I’ve shopped at Zara many times before overseas (in the U.S. and Philippines), and never had to wait in line behind ropes and stachions I get that you want to create a spectacle for the first couple of days, but after a couple of weeks it got old. It discouraged us from checking it out. When we finally did, the fashion was average and the prices were by no means «low cost». We are used to being able to find quality items that we like and can use right away for a reasonable price. Hopefully Zara will be able to figure out the Australian market and start to provide us with better products and even better prices.

Wow! The furore that engulfed this place when it finally opened was amazing. Queues that didn’t seem to move for a couple of days and madness inside once the burly security guards finally let you in (I waited a week before going in — not in the queue — but even then the place was rammed).
For those of you who don’t know about the Zara phenomenon, it’s a fashion store that started in Spain back in the 70s and is now one of the biggest retail outlets in the world. It has managed to do this without the aid of advertising, instead trading via word of mouth. This has also meant that it’s able to keep costs down, resulting in affordable clothing for us.
Now there was a lot of excitement for the, long overdue, Sydney opening, and having been to stores in London and Spain, I was optimistic that it would live up to my expectations without being overly fantastic. I was right. It’s not as good as the London stores, but the thing with Zara is that they change their range so often, that you never know what’s going to be in stock, so maybe I just found that particular display underwhelming. I look forward to the summer collections coming in though!
Now they just need to open an H&M!

Morgan is spot on, Sydneysiders went more than a little nutty when Zara finally came to town. The queues were ridiculous!
Thankfully, things have quietened down, and these days you can (mostly) wander around the store without being cheek-​by-​jowl with other shoppers.
But what of the stock? Well, it was never going to live up to the hype, nor its overseas siblings (as anyone who has visited one will assure you), but there’s still plenty to like about our Zara. The range goes from classic to totally frivolous and moreover, it’s seemingly fast-​changing, which makes it worth popping in to see if anything takes your fancy.
And now the insane crowds have abated, I’ll definitely be stopping by to say Hola to Zara.