Inside Sabyasachi’s New Mumbai Emporium: An Immersive Sensorial Experience
A dynamically sensorial experience has opened its doors in the form of Sabyasachi's Mumbai Emporium. A foray into building a retail experience like never before, the new emporium spells numerous shifts in the way people experience and buy luxury in India.
The moment you step into the majestic heritage site housing the Horniman Circle, each building from the Hermes and Christian Louboutin stores to the Asiatic Library looks straight out of a Parisian painting. Sabyasachi’s new 25000 square feet emporium grounded in Indian maximalist traditions is a crowning glory to the expansive stretch of awe-inspiring structures in the area. Walking into the store is a sensorial experience that will be etched in your memory forever. Light music, bright chandeliers, carpets with traditional Indian Motifs, rare Art Nouveau French Cabinets, Tang Dynasty Pottery, and other precious antique decorations lend themselves to the unforgettable retail escapade.
The astronomical store replaces Sabyasachi’s two old stores in Mumbai and is located in the British Bank Of The Middle East, a structure of significance in the Colonial era. As mentioned by the founder to Laure Gilbault in a Vogue article, the structure being a bank made it easier to establish the emporium as they did not have to build vaults to store jewellery- the brand’s fastest growing category along with accessories, and also the reason behind the making of the noteworthy emporium.
In Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s own words, as quoted from a Vogue article- “This brand right now is probably at its pinnacle. It deserves a larger space. We are building new categories. We are going to launch beauty [and] perfumes soon.” This reflects the fashion magnate’s belief in taking conscious steps for his brand without being influenced by the idea of grandeur, which doesn’t mean that the store is nothing short of breathtaking. The spectacular establishment opened its doors to people on 18th April 2023 among a savoir-faire of the biggest names in the film and the fashion world including Christian Louboutin, Linda Fargo, Fern Mallis, Rani Mukerji, Ram and Gautami Kapoor, Simi Garewal, Shobhita Dhulipala, Roshni Chopra, and Diipa Büller-Khosla.
Along with sartorially savvy attires and jewels, the store houses artworks from across the world. The three-storey store encompassing all the categories of the brand from bridal wear to crockery also encloses a tearoom for private meetings with Venetian chairs. The state of art experience is heightened by the placement of each article in cabinets, making the place look like a living museum, and giving each product a place of pride of its own.
Like the designer’s other inspirations, the point of influence for this idea is Kolkata. Each book, each sculpture, and each painting in the emporium has a sentimental value attached to it which comes from the Bengali way of decorating a house. This idea is very much in sync with the ideologies of the biggest luxury brands across the globe which believe in building a brand story and imbibing a sentimental value in each item they craft. Sabyasachi also echoes this sentiment, as per Fashion Network, the founder expresses the need to craft attires and jewellery that are not cookie-cutter or could be found in a duty-free airport shop.
As Sabyasachi looks to expand its market in jewellery, this emporium is a remarkable branding foray. Each carefully selected artefact, strategically placed pillar and piece of furniture, and the hyperphysical store that urges people to visit is a giant leap towards the brand's vision to become a global powerhouse.
