Blow for Queen St Mall as coffee brand Nespresso shuts CBD store

Our caffeine-addicted spies tell us George Clooney’s favourite coffee brand is closing its flagship store in the Queen St Mall just as Myer gets ready to shut up shop.

George Clooney’s favourite coffee brand Nespresso is reportedly closing its flagship store in the Queen St Mall to concentrate on new outlets in the suburbs.

Our caffeine-addicted spies tell us the Nespresso outlet at the Wintergarden, which has been in that spot for a decade, is in the process of winding down its operations but new stores will open at Indooroopilly and Carindale shopping centres in the next couple of months.

Comment has been sought from the company about the moves. Nespresso’s newly appointed managing director of Oceania Stefan Vermeulen said earlier this month that the brand is eyeing a number of avenues for growth, two of which include professional offices and the hospitality sectors and its popular Vertuo product.

Retail visitation to Nespresso’s 22 shops across Australia and New Zealand was “getting back to pre-Covid levels,” according to Vermeulen, while online retail remains strong. “Retail is still a very important channel for us. We saw that during Covid and right after, there was a big shift to online sales. But that is also shifting back.”

The departure of Nespresso from the Wintergarden is another blow for Brisbane’s Queen St Mall which has suffered from a reduced number of shoppers with many office workers either working from home or only coming into the city a couple of days a week.

Myer’s flagship store in the mall will close its doors on July 31 after being unable to reach “appropriate and reasonable commercial terms” with its landlord.

George Clooney in a Nespresso commercial,

HOT TICKET

The hottest ticket in town next month is likely to be ANZ boss Shayne Elliott’s appearance at the QUT Business Leaders Forum on August 29.

By then we should know whether Elliott’s audacious $4.9bn offer for Suncorp Bank is for the penthouse or the outhouse, having cleared regulatory approvals or been rejected.

Earlier this week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) delayed its decision on the planned deal to Friday, August 4, blaming lengthy and last minute submissions. We hear the good folk down at Suncorp are preparing for the worst with the upper echelon of the group bracing themselves for a possible “D (Denial) Day” from the ACCC, which has already raised red flags about the deal.

Shayne Elliott

Elliott has told the ACCC the Suncorp acquisition will help the fourth-placed ANZ be a “more effective competitor” in the Australian banking market.

Both ANZ and Suncorp can appeal to the Australian Competition Tribunal or the Federal Court if the watchdog does give the thumbs down but that is likely to delay even further regulatory approval of the deal that was announced a year ago. Lawyers’ picnic anyone?

GO1 LISTING?

Brisbane-based unicorn education start-up Go1 is bolstering its executive team as it ramps up an international expansion and plots a potential future stock market listing.

The company, which was most recently valued at $3.5bn and offers 80,000 online courses, has hired Daniel Hayward, Arnauld Mitre, Shannon Tatz and Tony Ward as chief customer officer, chief content officer, chief financial officer and chief revenue officer respectively.

“Our new executives bring decades of collective experience in scaling high-growth, international companies that have achieved market leadership,” Go1 co-founder and co-chief executive Chris Eigeland says.

“As we empower even more employers and learners around the world to reach their development goals, Dan, Arnauld, Shannon and Tony will help us lead the charge in upskilling the global workforce through personalised content, industry-leading partnerships and best-in-class support,” he says. “Their passion for lifelong learning and care for our customers are an asset to our team, and I couldn’t be more optimistic about Go1’s future.”

Go1 co-founders Chris Eigeland, Vu Tran, Chris Hood, and Andrew Barnes. Picture: Liam Kidston.