Vitamin and supplement company Blackmores opened its first Australian store this week at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney.
The innovative store offers a complete “wellbeing experience” with rooms for private consultations with qualified naturopaths, a modern ‘Mindful Ocean’ system to assess mindfulness, the Wellbeing Bar for food and drink tasting as well as offering the comprehensive Blackmores product range.
“As the most trusted name in vitamins and supplements, Blackmores aims to provide evidence-based information about natural healthcare to our consumers,” Blackmores Australia and New Zealand Managing Director David Fenlon said.
“Our new flagship store will provide a personalised experience for our customers to take control of and further invest in their health. We know there’s a lot of confusing information out there, which is why we want to personally help Australians on their journey to wellbeing through advice and education.
“Featuring human, digital and tactile experiences, the new flagship store is a unique prototype that takes retail into a new health space, offering the next generation of interactive retailing whereby consumers are treated to an integrated offering of service and product.”
One of the hero features of the flagship store is the ‘Mindful Ocean’, designed in consultation with scientists at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology. Using sensors that detect brain activity, the Mindful Ocean will provide a four-minute personalised session “showcasing how the mind interacts between levels of relaxation and calm versus active thinking”.
The store also provides zones for personalised conversations and advice, including an interactive ‘B Bottle’ feature with weekly wellbeing questions for customers to answer, and a Wellbeing Bar for them to sample food products, beginning with the newly launched Blackmores Superfoods range.
Speaking at the store opening on December 1, Blackmores CEO Christine Holgate said the company was not proposing to become a retailer.
“We really respect and value the relationship that we have in pharmacy in Australia, and in other stores too,” she said.
“We’re really aware that as Australia’s most trusted brand [in vitamins and supplements] we have to live up to that expectation from consumers and what we wanted to do was provide one more opportunity for consumers to come in, learn about our brand and get that advice personally. For us as an organisation, we get invaluable knowledge by talking to our consumers directly. It really helps to shape and grow our business.”
The store is staffed by qualified naturopaths and provides an opportunity for customers to seek evidence-based information and book a 20- or 45-minute private consultation. With its changeable layout, the store can also be used for health seminars, workshops and small yoga classes.