The wait is over. Faradays opens its doors at 1pm on Saturday 26 September at 131 Queen Street, bringing more than 220 of the world’s most exciting names in fashion, beauty, fragrance, design, home and more to the heart of Auckland.
The opening of Faradays will reveal three stunning levels and almost 3,000 square metres dedicated to fashion, beauty, fragrance, wellness, jewellery, art, books, technology, childrenswear, home and, naturally, very good food.
More than 220 brands will be represented at opening, including some of the world’s most recognised names alongside emerging designers, cult discoveries, New Zealand favourites and a significant number of brands available to shop physically in New Zealand for the first time.
It is the culmination of more than two years spent reimagining what a contemporary department store could be.
A new chapter at 131 Queen Street
There is something fitting about the address. The building at 131 Queen Street was once home to Milne & Choyce, one of Auckland’s great department stores. Faradays returns department-store retail to this historic site, but with an entirely new expression.
Designed by acclaimed New Zealand architects Fearon Hay, the store has been conceived not simply as somewhere to shop, but as somewhere to spend time. Fashion sits alongside art and design; fragrance and beauty alongside wellness; books alongside objects for the home; and upstairs, Lottie’s offers a place to settle in for breakfast, lunch, afternoon drinks or something in between.
“We love the circularity of bringing a department store back to a building with such an extraordinary retail history,”
“There is something incredibly powerful about looking backwards and forwards at the same time. We are respecting what Queen Street was, while making a very clear statement about what we believe it can become.”
For Creative Director and co-founder Constance von Dadelszen, discovery has been central to the idea from the beginning. “It was essential to us that Faradays felt generous rather than transactional,” says Constance. “Somewhere you could browse without an agenda, the way the great department stores always understood themselves to be social hubs as much as retail spaces. You might come in for a dress and leave having discovered a book, a fragrance, a piece of art, or simply having stayed for lunch.”
More than 220 reasons to explore
The Faradays world brings together the familiar and the unexpected. In fashion, international names including Jacquemus, Pucci, Chloé, AMI Paris, Maison Margiela, BOSS, Barbour, Diesel, AMIRI, Casablanca and SKIMS sit alongside Australian favourites Viktoria & Woods, St. Agni, Posse, Baina and Scanlan Theodore, and New Zealand names including Kowtow, Dadelszen and Nature Baby.
Footwear brings together Repetto, Axel Arigato, Norda, Saucony, Maison Margiela, Jacquemus, Chloé, AMIRI, Salomon, Diadora and Paris Texas.
Beauty introduces another world entirely. La Mer, La Prairie and Helena Rubinstein join a wider collection of beauty, skincare and wellness discoveries, while the Farmacia offers Faradays’ contemporary interpretation of the traditional European apothecary – a place for everyday essentials, exciting products from around the world, and things you may not have known existed until you found them.
“The Farmacia captures the spirit of Faradays as well as anywhere in the store. It holds things you need alongside things you never knew you wanted. Playful, beautiful, a little unexpected.”
Fragrance deserves time of its own. Discover houses including Creed, Penhaligon’s, Loewe, Trudon, Memo Paris, Xerjoff, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Marc-Antoine Barrois, Who Is Elijah, Atkinsons, Brunello Cucinelli and Goldfield & Banks.
For the home, Ginori 1735, Georg Jensen, Seletti, Sophie Lou Jacobsen, Helle Mardahl, Stories of Italy, Alessi, Aarke, Assouline, Moleskine and Lexon x Jeff Koons are among the names waiting to be discovered.
And for little Faradays visitors, there is Bonpoint, Bonton, Chloé, Tartine et Chocolat, AMI Paris, Steiff, Konges Sløjd, Maileg, Diesel Kids, Stella McCartney Kids and more.
“Every brand that’s part of the world of Faradays earned its place. For us it was always curation first and foremost, never ticking boxes – we wanted people to feel that in every corner.”
Stay for lunch
On Level One, the experience continues at Lottie’s, the new 70-seat all-day restaurant from Josh and Helen Emett.
Named for Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Milne, one of the founding sisters of Milne & Choyce, Lottie’s takes its cue from the great tradition of department-store dining rooms, interpreted through an Auckland lens. Open daily from 10am to 6pm, it moves easily from breakfast meetings and long lunches to afternoon cocktails and light supper.
Come for Faradays. Stay for Lottie’s. Or perhaps the other way around.
See you on Queen Street
Faradays arrives at a remarkable moment for downtown Auckland.
After years of transformation, the city centre is entering a new chapter – connected by the City Rail Link and shaped by new public spaces, hotels, restaurants, cultural destinations, events and international retail. Faradays is proud to become part of that story.
But after more than two years of designing, building, curating and imagining, there is really only one thing left to do. Open the doors.
Faradays opens at 1pm, Saturday 26 September 2026.
131 Queen Street, Auckland.
We look forward to welcoming you.
