Culture Kings to open its first US store at Las Vegas’s famous Caesars Palace casino

Despite many retailers struggling during Covid, the hip sneaker and clothing chain is planning to open its first store in the US on the famous Las Vegas casino strip.

Culture Kings, known for its hyperactive stores with DJs and basketball courts, will open its first store in the US at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Culture Kings, the Australian sneaker and streetwear chain known for its hyperactive stores featuring DJs and basketball courts, plans to make its US debut by opening a store on the bright lights of Las Vegas’s casino strip.

The retailer has signed a lease for a two-storey store within the luxury shopping centre attached to the famous Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas, marking the beginning of a global expansion for the business founded on the Gold Coast 14 years ago by Simon and Tahnee Beard.

Culture Kings will sit at the heart of Caesars Palace casino’s shopping mecca, the Forum Shops, which in terms of sales per square foot is rated as the highest grossing mall in the US to even outshine Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

The sneaker and streetwear chain has been dubbed the “future of retail” by US diversified apparel business a.k.a Brands which bought a controlling 55 per cent stake in Culture Kings last year for around $300m, with the US group also unveiling this week ambitions to take Culture Kings to Japan and South Korea.

The launch in the US will take place later this year with its first store opening in Las Vegas and that to be complemented by a distribution centre that will also soon open.

Culture Kings will open its first store in the US at the luxury shopping centre attached to the Caesars Palace casino later this year. Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images/AFP

a.k.a Brands chief executive Jill Ramsey revealed this week that it had also purchased a print on demand business in the US that will help produce fast fashion apparel for Culture Kings stores, and that the Culture Kings print on demand business was the fastest growing part of the fashion group.

Ms Ramsey said recently Culture Kings was able to use its print on demand capabilities to pump out fashion based on the hit Netflix television series “Squid Game” within just a few hours.

Culture Kings is one of the hottest concepts in retail at the moment and although it only has seven stores in Australia and one in New Zealand it has proved incredibly successful, pumping out around $100m a quarter in sales from its fast-growing fanbase of customers.

The stores are potent mix of retail, theatre and nightclub where DJs mix tunes, people play basketball, celebrities drop in and shoppers line up around the corner to get a chance to purchase rare or collectable sneakers and streetwear.

Started by Gold Coast couple Simon and Tahnee Beard who began by selling “schoolies slippers” and then moved into sneakers, it has attracted huge attention and sales in the US with that market one of its strongest regions via online and even before it opened a single store there.

Now Culture Kings will sit alongside some of the world’s most famous luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Valentino and Gucci at Caesars Palace which as Covid-19 eases and tourists return to the gambling strip is once again enjoying strong foot traffic.

Ms Ramsey said the two-storey US flagship Culture Kings store in Las Vegas will offer features from its other stores as well as new elements.

“The Culture Kings stores offer a truly incredible experience, and we are excited to introduce this one-of-a-kind retail concept to our customers in the US,” Ms Ramsey said.

“The stores have proven to be very successful in driving brand awareness in international markets, and we anticipate that the first US flagship will become a must-visit destination in Las Vegas where there is high tourist traffic.”

Ms Ramsey said a.k.a Brands was confident that the Forum Shops and Caesars Las Vegas will be the “perfect location to introduce this brand to the US” given the heavy tourist traffic of 18 to 35 year olds and robust traffic that has already rebounded from pandemic lows.

“The Culture Kings store in Vegas will leverage the best features from their other stores, as well as offer new one of a kind in store events and content that will create buzz and viral hype on social media to build awareness and traffic both in store and online.

“The Culture Kings store format serves as a powerful customer acquisition tool and provides shoppers with a unique, immersive streetwear experience. We are confident the store will be instrumental in accelerating Culture Kings’ growth in the US market.”

Culture Kings stores are a heady mix of theatre, nightclub and hot retail as shoppers line up for its sneakers and streetwear.

Culture Kings co-founder Mr Beard said since opening the first store in Southport they had seen incredible success with the unique retail experiential concept.

“The stores have proven to be highly effective marketing machines with lines spanning blocks at each store opening. We are very excited to expand the concept to the US and we look forward to bringing Culture King’s streetwear lifestyle to new consumers while deepening our connection with our existing fans.”

Later at an briefing for US analysts and investors, Ms Ramsey said she believed Culture Kings had the potential to expand into other regions, backed by its strong presence on social media and other digital platforms that drew in its core customer base.

“We will continue to target markets that demonstrate strong social and digital media usage. We identified several markets in which we believe we can introduce one or more of our brands, such as expanding Culture Kings in Korea and Japan.”