Boots on the Ground: Merry People Has Opened Its First Store

Over the weekend, Merry People opened up its first-ever bricks-and-mortar shop. It’s a full-circle moment for the gumboot label – though it’s been a long time coming. It launched back in 2014 in regional Victoria, when founder Dani Pearce began selling Merry People boots at weekend farmers markets. 

“I’d meet people and … be able to solve a problem for someone in their life, like ‘I have a dog [or] I’m a teacher, I need these boots for yard duty’,” Pearce says. It’s that ease of assisting a customer in person and watching them “walk away feeling really good about their purchase” that Pearce has been missing in the decade of successful online sales that followed. 

In that time, Merry People has carved out a waterproof niche for itself, crafting colour-blocked gumboots, sandals and clogs. It’s taken a farm staple and translated it into an all-weather, modern boot. 

In 2023, Merry People held a two-day pop-up in Richmond with lines wrapping around the corner. Now, the brand has settled into its new home in Melbourne’s Manchester Lane. “Being able to give consumers a physical [space] is really exciting and really authentic, and I think it really helps bring the brand to life.”

Opening up a permanent store was always at the back of Pearce’s mind, but juggling motherhood alongside her business pushed the decision back. She kept her eye on commercial real estate listings and knew she had hit gold when the Manchester Lane site opened up. “I was like, ‘That is the spot. That’s where I can see it’.”

Pearce prefers to keep Merry People “brand agonistic” – it’s why it chose to move into the CBD. “I think a lot of people might have thought that we would have opened a store in the north, but I felt like I wanted to be quite neutral in terms of where we were … We’re not trying to be too sexy or too cool or too this or that. The brand is centred around happiness and joy.”

The heritage-overlaid, 100-square-metre shop was designed by Tess Carpenter from Techne and built by Trust Projects. Carpenter, who helped design Lune’s Armadale outpost and July’s QV store, has infusing the space with a mixture of the indoors and outdoors. 

From the outset, Pearce knew she wanted Merry People’s footwear to be the centre of attention and for the store to be an “earthy” backdrop. A two-metre-tall ficus tree stands proudly in the middle of the store. High, ornamental ceilings contrast with the timber benches, made of locally sourced recycled spotted gum, cork counters and shelving. 

Of course, there are accents of Merry People’s signature mustard yellow throughout the space, too. Now, customers can try on the full range of Merry People’s offering in the comfort of its new digs. “It feels warm, inviting [and it] sparks joy,” Pearce says.

Merry People Manchester Lane

2/11 Manchester Lane, Melbourne

(03) 9000 0806

Hours:

Mon to Thu 10am–6pm

Fri 10am–7pm

Sat 10am–6pm

Sun 10am–5pm

merrypeople.com

@merrypeople