First Look: July’s Biggest – and Last – Australian Store Opens in Melbourne

Every July store in Australia is designed to reflect a sense of place. “We wanted to have each store represent a city or a moment of travel,” explains brand co-founder Athan Didaskalou. “Good design draws people in.”

Nowhere is this more evident than in the brand’s QV flagship, now open after undergoing a complete redesign and an expansion from 80 square metres to 250 square metres. “This one is special to us,” says Didaskalou. “We like to muck around a little bit with retail, because we’re not retailers traditionally. We wanted to double down and make an amazing store.”

Over the last three years, Didaskalou has launched 30 different retail executions and 15 permanent stores, working with architect Ana Ćalić McLean of In Addition and builder Nick Karas from Trust Projects. For Didaskalou, there’s magic in putting complete trust in their creative abilities. “I like hiring people who are 10 times smarter than me and letting them be their best selves,” he says. “That’s July as a business.”

Ćalić McLean’s remit was to draw on elements from all the previous July stores and bring them together into a new design vocabulary. She also introduced new materials unique to the QV store, such as natural stone and marble moulded into organic shapes. “We looked at different sculptures and sculptural elements, and there's a beautiful softness that comes through,” she explains. “Every element is slightly bull-nosed or rounded – there’s probably not a 90-degree angle in the whole space.”

In laying out the store, she looked to European meeting places like town squares and ancient agorae for inspiration. “We referenced a lot of historical floor plans to see what it is about the architectural geometry that brings people together.”

The space feels more like a gallery than a traditional retail environment, inviting visitors to linger and explore over three distinct areas. The first chamber is wrapped in neutral tones, employing traditional Italian marble, warm terracotta tiling and plaster finishes reminiscent of Moroccan tadelakt. Grounding the space is a circular counter, upholstered in deep brown leather, while underfoot is a mosaic of tonal terrazzo, radiating out in concentric circles.

Moving to the middle of the store, the palette changes to sunnier hues, evoking the golden light of summer. “All of these tones reference the idea of being transported and a sense of discovery,” says Ćalić McLean. “Melbourne can be dark and gloomy, so we wanted the store to feel like a retreat.” A pair of semi-circular seats, handcrafted from walnut burr, sit at the centre of the store as an invitation to pause and rest.

The final chamber houses the brand’s expanding range of soft bags and leather accessories, set against velvet-lined walls in deep forest green and mosaic tiling in mint, while a recessed window provides a glimpse out onto Lonsdale Street and the life of the city.

The space is tied together by a series of semi-abstract ceiling frescos by Sydney-based artist George Raftopoulos, which tell a story of migration and travel. “He didn’t want to make it political, he just wanted to talk about how we’re all immigrants, how we’ve all come from somewhere and we’ve all got our own story,” explains Didaskalou. Handwritten on one of the Raftopoulos’s frescoes is a simple statement: “never a tourist, but always a traveller.”

Three years after it originally launched, the QV store represents the fulfilment of one journey and the beginning of another. Next stop for July is Asia, with the brand’s first international stores – in Malaysia and Singapore – due to open by the end of the year. Looking further ahead, the US beckons.

For Didaskalou, this expansion offers an opportunity to test the strength of the brand. “Selling good quality product in physical retail, where people can pick it apart straight away, is extremely difficult,” he says. “We’re all about the risk. It’s the last cool thing I’ll do in my life. Why not go for gold?”

“This is our last store in Australia,” he continues. “It feels very symbolic that we’ve come back to the QV store: our biggest, our best, our flagship, our last.”

july.com