Cover Story
Harrolds: A Year in Review
Our signoff for the momentous year that was, and a look ahead to ‘22
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The remarkably challenging, limits-pushing, resilience-building year of 2021 is coming to a close. It’s with a sigh of relief for most, but our Harrolds family has seen its fair share of triumphs between the madness.
Here, Managing Director Mary Poulakis officially signs off for the year, and looks forward to the future of Harrolds.
We’ve seen solid rebounds upon the reopening of our stores in Melbourne and Sydney and momentous leaps in online retail and expanding our in-house ecommerce creative studio team to generate an instantaneous and high-calibre creative production has been remarkable.
The beating heart of Harrolds is, of course, its family and friends
The expansion of our product repertoire to cater for the world we now live in and the arrival of designers with intrepid new ideas of dressing without boundaries, to welcoming the Provençal-chic brilliance of Jacquemus, and the introduction of rare luxury watches –
these past last few months of 2021 have been the biggest, the boldest, and the best.
Collaborating with local art gallery Discordia, our expert team of designers and visual merchandisers filled Harrolds’ Collins Street windows with a flurry of impactful artwork, paired with the new and trending fashion statements of the season. It’s with great anticipation that we plan and plot the forthcoming activations in our stores and iconic windows, in an ongoing series of ways to enliven and enrich the Paris End of Collins that we love (and have missed so dearly). Our retail spaces in Westfield Sydney received equal love and reigniting, to offer a truly wholistic approach and new experience level to the business.
The Harrolds Spring Art Fair, Melbourne
The Harrolds Lounge, Sydney
The Harrolds Spring Art Fair, Melbourne
The Harrolds Lounge, Sydney
The beating heart of Harrolds is, of course, its family and friends. Our stellar stylists, creatives, partners and collaborating talent are the lifeblood of our longstanding brand. A highlight moment of 2021 had to be the Harrolds family ‘Zoom dinner’ — a lockdown soirée, complete with personally delivered homemade pasta al forno and 100 of our dedicated staff. The wine flowed, and we cheers’d to our webcams while waiting (impatiently) to reunite again.
While our internal family bound close in challenging, remote-working times, other relationships worth applauding were those forged with our loyal clients and new customers — albeit from afar. In both cities, personal same day delivery unfolded and were undertaken by store managers and departments heads in a ‘do whatever it takes’ ethos of best servicing the clientele.
2021 was also a significant year in that it marked our final innings at Crown Casino and Entertainment complex after a 23-year tenure. Alexander and Ross Poulakis cut their retail baby teeth at this store, often spending their school holidays doing the daily walk back with the store takings. After a five year journey at Pacific Fair, Gold Coast, we decided to close that store due to the uncertainty around business in Covid times. So many achievements and stories were born from both of these stores, for which we will be forever grateful.
Harrolds Crown, Melbourne
With saying goodbye comes new beginnings. The Poulakis family will even be welcoming their third grandchild (another girl!) to the world in February 2022.
We wish you and your family a safe and joyous Christmas. Thank you for your ongoing support and patronage — it really does mean the world to us, and then some.
Mary & Ross Poulakis
