Canberra Centre welcomes new stores ahead of Christmas (there's one we're most excited by)

The Americans might not pronounce ‘herb’ correctly and become easily baffled by dry humour, but there’s one thing they do like no one else.

Doughnuts (yes, Americans also spell this incorrectly).

Think Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, Doughnuttery, and the list goes on. And now another has come home to roost where Donut King used to stand on the first floor of the Canberra Centre, opposite Coles.

Brooklyn Donut and Coffee Co isn’t technically American. The franchise was co-founded by Adam Sharvell and Dennis Chen, both Queenslanders through and through. But they took inspiration during a food tour through Brooklyn in the US, where they came across the wonder of sweet-stuffing dough.

“They looked at the market and thought Australia needed a really premium doughnut brand,” Chief Operating Officer Chris Mavris says.

“A lot of doughnuts you eat are sickly sweet, sugary, over the top, whereas we have tried to create a product that’s more balanced. It’s sweet and we don’t hide from that, but we don’t want you to take three bites and not want another one.”

So far, all of the stores have been based in Queensland, but in late 2020, the company began talks of expansion, with Canberra on the cards.

It’s taken three years of mostly paperwork, but Saturday (16 December) came around as the first day of business.

“We’ve been buoyed by the reaction and the excitement of people wanting to see what Brooklyn doughnuts is about,” Chris said.

“Sales were very promising over the weekend.”

Earlier this month, two other stores opened in Sydney, and already different tastes among buyers are apparent.

“We’ve seen in Sydney – and I’m expecting the ACT to be very similar – customers have gone for our fancier options, like the ‘White Biscoff’, cookie butter-filled goodness with a classic Lotus treat on top.”

Chris’s favourite goes to the ‘The Boston Cream’, a ball doughnut glazed with 55 per cent pure Belgian dark chocolate and filled with vanilla creme patisserie from their manufacturing plant in Brisbane.

“It’s pretty special.”

Elsewhere in the Canberra Centre, fashion outlet Seed Heritage has moved and grown to fill the 900-square-metre space left vacant by Muji, after the Japanese retailer closed in July.

It’s the brand’s largest store in Australia, with the full range of women’s, men’s, baby, child, teen, and home offerings.

“We are incredibly excited to be opening our largest footprint Seed store,” Seed Heritage head of retail Kylie Cameron said.

“The fit-out will display our latest store design concept and will offer our full lifestyle range across all departments, including an in-store embroidery station for product personalisation, along with a host of convenient and elevated services.”

Seed Heritage has had a place in the Canberra Centre since December 2006, but to celebrate its reopening, customers who purchase before 24 December can sign up to go in the draw to win a $500 Seed Heritage gift card and a $500 Canberra Centre gift card.

Another that opened its doors last Friday, and is just a few doors down from Seed Heritage, is Fine-Day.

Fine-Day specialises in sleepwear, bed linen, home, loungewear and pet accessories. It’s a new brand, launching nationally in April 2022, and the Canberra Centre store is its first outside of Victoria.

Both Seed Heritage and Fine-Day are owned by Brandbank Group, which has 500 stores across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. More than 260 of these are Seed Heritage stores, including concessions in David Jones and Myer. The brand has also recently launched on online shopping site The Iconic.

Original Article published by James Coleman on Riotact.