Williams-Sonoma brings its objects of desire to Australia

A LEADING American retailer of high-quality goods for the kitchen, home and garden has opened its first store outside the US - in Australia.

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"I think the era of the mega-store is coming to a close," says Laura Alber, president and chief executive of Williams-Sonoma.

The San Francisco-based company founded by Charles E Williams in 1956, which includes the furniture and homeware brands Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, West Elm as well as the cookware brand Williams-Sonoma, recently opened its first Australian stores in Bondi Junction in Sydney, the company's first directly operated stores outside North America. But instead of opening a series of large flagship stores to function like a beacon for the individual brands - as the company typically does in major cities in the US - it opted for a series of smaller stores here.

"In parts of America we would have a single brand in a space this large and here we have all four brands," says Alber over coffee in the company's first cooking school, situated in the Williams-Sonoma store in Bondi. "Retail real estate is expensive and I think it's better to have a smaller store with great service than to have a big flagship store. Oftentimes 'flagship store' is just another word for 'money-losing store'. People will say that those stores are about marketing, but I believe that as we become more global all our stores should make money, and the way to do that is with smaller footprints."

The company reported more than $US4 billion in net revenue for the 2012 financial year - a record - and, with 576 stores in the US, global expansion of the business to Australia and Europe will be a major driver of further growth. Williams-Sonoma has a West Elm store under construction in Chapel Street in Melbourne and is looking for space for its other brands in Melbourne as well as more in Sydney. That is great news to the ears of shopping mall developers and real estate agents, who have wooed Alber on her brief visit to Australia after the opening of the stores. "Retail is theatre and people love the experience we are bringing and the high-service model, and it makes sense that mall developers would want to have the newest brands because they bring excitement to their malls."

"I'm very focused on the Australian market and I think we can really build a great business here. Australia is far away [from our home market] but it seems so familiar and there are so many similarities in the culture," says Alber. "We spent a lot of time studying this market and we're still learning about how to modify our assortment for this market to give people what they want. People here love their houses and they love food and the food culture is excellent; therefore what we do is really appreciated."