As of 30 October 2026, Inside Retail Australia reported that beauty retailer Mecca has almost doubled the size of its store at Sydney's Macquarie Centre, replacing a 297 square metre Maxima format with a 570 square metre site and adding 40 brands including Victoria Beckham Beauty, Byredo and Crown Affair. The refurbishment also adds eight makeup artist stations, semi-private skin beds, a dedicated Beauty Lab and a perfume area. The numbers matter less than the structure: the store grew by trading service space for shelf space, which changes what a store is for.
From 297 to 570 square metres in one site
A store that doubles its footprint has to justify the extra rent. In beauty retail the usual answer is range: more brands per square metre means more chances a shopper finds something she wants. But range alone is easy to copy, and every competitor can list the same international labels. What is harder to copy is the service layer, because it depends on trained staff and on space that earns nothing directly.
The Macquarie Centre refurbishment leans on that second answer. Eight makeup artist stations and semi-private skin beds consume floor area that could have held shelves, and a Beauty Lab plus a perfume area add consultation space rather than stock. The bet is that shoppers who book time with an artist spend more than shoppers who browse alone, and that the spend repeats.
Why a Maxima format was retired
Maxima was Mecca's smaller, more accessible format, built to fit into suburban centres where a full-size store would not pay back. Replacing it with a larger site at the same centre is a statement about the trade area: Macquarie Park and its surrounds now support a bigger beauty destination than the format assumed when the store first opened.
Trade area logic cuts both ways. A centre with strong daytime population from offices and universities behaves differently from a centre that relies on weekend family traffic. If the catchment has shifted toward higher-income, service-seeking shoppers, upgrading the format is rational. If it has not, the extra 273 square metres become a fixed cost that compresses store potential rather than expanding it.
The brands that come with the space
Adding 40 brands is the visible part of the change, and it is the part that gets measured. Prestige labels such as Victoria Beckham Beauty and Byredo signal positioning, while Crown Affair signals hair care, a category that pulls shoppers into repeat visits more reliably than colour cosmetics. The mix is doing as much work as the count.
For brands considering the same shelf, the useful question is not how many labels a retailer carries but how much of the floor is devoted to consultation. A brand placed beside a skin bed is sold with advice; a brand placed on a wall is sold on price and packaging. The same product can behave differently depending on which of those two positions it lands in.
| Element | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Store format | Maxima | Full-line Mecca |
| Floor area | 297 sqm | 570 sqm |
| Brand count | Baseline range | 40 brands added |
| Service space | Limited | 8 stations, skin beds, Beauty Lab |
| Category depth | Colour and skincare | Adds hair, fragrance |
What store selection should weigh now
Store selection models usually rank sites on catchment income, footfall and co-tenancy. A refurbishment like this one suggests a fourth variable deserves weight: the share of shoppers willing to book a service. That share is not visible in footfall counts, and it is not captured by spend per visit until the service is actually offered.
For retailers running multi-format portfolios, the practical step is to test the service layer in one site before rolling it out. Mecca is doing exactly that: one centre, one format change, then a decision about whether the model travels. The risk is that a single flagship succeeds because of its specific catchment and the result is read as a general rule.
Verification steps for store teams
The point of these checks is to separate the opening effect from the steady state. A refurbished store attracts curiosity traffic for a few weeks, and that traffic flatters every metric. Only after the curiosity fades does the service model show whether it converts browsers into booked appointments and appointments into repeat purchase.
The evidence base here has limits that should be stated plainly. The public report supplies floor area, brand count and the service fit-out, but it does not disclose sales, conversion rates or the rent paid for the additional space. What follows is therefore an argument about what a format change implies for store networks and for store selection, not an assessment of how this particular store is trading.
FAQ
Why replace a smaller format with a larger one at the same centre?
Because the trade area is judged able to support a full-line store, and the smaller format leaves service revenue uncaptured.
Does adding 40 brands guarantee higher sales?
No. Range is easy to copy; the service layer and the catchment are what make the extra space pay.
What should other retailers take from this?
Test the service layer in one site first, and measure bookings rather than footfall alone.
Which metric reveals whether the bet worked?
Sales per square metre split between service space and shelf space, tracked after opening traffic fades.
