Adelaide CBD event wear Binti Boutique shuts bricks-and-mortar store, explores new opportunity

Another Adelaide retail store has announced its closure. But its owner is turning hard times into opportunity – and is set to embrace AI.

When the cost of running a brick-and-mortar formal and event-wear boutique became unsustainable, owner Nicole Opeya made the decision to shut its doors.

But in the face of hard times, the 25-year-old also found opportunity.

Ms Opeya announced the permanent closure of Binti Boutique on social media last month but she said the move was a long time coming, with the store operating by appointment only for the past year.

Binti Boutique owner Nicole Opeya is in process of closing her bricks and mortar store in Pulteney St. Picture: Brenton Edwards

She said the cost of running a physical shop, including supplier, rental, utilities and staff costs have increased, making it “harder and harder to sustain a storefront”.

At the same time, Ms Opeya said the cost-of-living crisis has also affected shopper behaviour, making customers more reluctant to spend on luxury clothing.

“When we kind of gauged the traffic that we were getting in-store and the cost of actually keeping the store open, it wasn’t making sense,” she said.

“The economy was tough for everybody. Everybody was holding on to their purses a little bit tighter.

“I chose to not raise costs. We ended up swallowing a lot of them … but over time it’s not sustainable.”

Instead, Ms Opeya decided to divert the resources into the online store.

“We’re having to rework that and rebuild that. It’s taking a while to get to the level of traffic that we would have liked but definitely the cost of maintenance is a lot lower,” she said.

Binti Boutique owner Nicole Opeya is in process of closing her bricks and mortar store in Pulteney St. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Ms Opeya said those lower maintenance costs would now be helping her expand the business.

“We’re looking at designing our own pieces now and moving away from just being a retailer,” she said.

“We’re trying to explore different ways we can use the tech now, with AI, so we can speed up the process of designing and producing.

“Our goal is to do a lot more inclusive fashion and add a lot more plus-size into the Australian market.”

Ms Opeya said she has engaged designers in Australia and Nigeria to help create plus-size design with the use of AI.

She added the technology was still new and had not “reached the other end of inclusivity”.

“It has been really difficult to have 3D model rendering for plus-size,” she said. “We’re hoping to break that frontier.”

Originally published as Adelaide CBD event wear Binti Boutique shuts bricks-and-mortar store, explores new opportunity