Sportswear retailer JD Sports is headed for Casuarina Square

One of the world’s favourite sportswear brands is headed to a Top End shopping centre – making the soon-to-be-opened store the 63rd of its kind in the country. Find out more.

Casuarina Square will become the first shopping centre in the Territory to boast global sportswear giant JD Sports when the sports-fashion retailer opens its doors in August.

The British brand was founded in 1981 from a single store in Bury, Manchester, and has expanded into 3400 stores in 32 countries, including its first in Australia in 2017.

The business has secured a 414sq m tenancy on the ground floor near Mecca.

Sentinel chief executive Warren Ebert said Casuarina management were excited to see JD Sports preparing to open their first Northern Territory store after securing a seven-year lease at the centre.

JD Sports Australia and New Zealand Managing Director Aaron Faraguna at the company’s Hobart store which opened in 2023. Picture: Chris Kidd

“This is a tremendous outcome for Casuarina Square, Darwin and the Territory that one of the world’s biggest sportswear retail companies has come to the Top End,” Mr Ebert said.

“It’s a tribute to Sentinel’s leasing team and the Casuarina Square centre management that we have been able to bring the world’s leading retailer of sports fashion to Darwin.

“This will be the 63rd JD Sports store to open in the country since the brand first arrived in Australia in 2017.”

Casuarina Square Centre Manager, Polly Lamond, said she expects long queues of sportswear fans when JD Sports opens in August.

“There is tremendous excitement around the opening of JD Sports at Casuarina, and we anticipate hundreds of customers to visit the store over the opening weekend,” she said.

Sentinel Group’s Warren Ebert is rapt at JD Sports’ pending arrival at Casuarina.

Aaron Faraguna, JD Sports chief executive for Australia and New Zealand, said the company will bring a world-class retail experience to Darwin.

“What our consumers will see is a curation of fantastic footwear, apparel and accessories that they haven’t seen before on the local market,” he said.

“We will also ‘extend the aisles’ in store with a digital kiosk, providing in-person shoppers with access to thousands of additional products available to order, with free delivery.

“Previously sold-out sneaker releases including Nike Dunks, Retro Air Jordans and Adidas Original’s Sambas will line the store’s shelves on opening day. Hundreds of exclusive products, ranges and brands will be ranged to show the best of the best JD has to offer and give the NT consumer a fantastic experience.”

Established in 2010, Brisbane-based Sentinel Property Group is an Australian property investment firm focused on commercial and industrial property trusts.

Sentinel’s trusts are consistently ranked as the best performing of their kind in Australia.