Auckland’s Queen Street is set to enter a new era of luxury retail, with Faradays announcing it will open a landmark department store at 131 Queen Street in mid-2026. The $30 million project will span three levels and 3,000 square metres, combining international design excellence with a distinctly New Zealand sensibility.
Set within the heritage-listed Milne & Choyce building – once home to one of New Zealand’s earliest department stores – the space will be reimagined by Fearon Hay Architects, blending historic grandeur with contemporary design.
The opening comes as welcome news following the closure of DFS Auckland and Smith & Caughey’s Queen Street store, which shut its doors in July after 145 years in operation – an event that marked the end of an era in New Zealand retail.
Yet, CEO Edward von Dadelszen doesn’t see Faradays as a replacement for Smith & Caughey’s, but rather a reimagining of what a department store can be from the ground up.
“Faradays will be a next-generation department store,” says von Dadelszen. “What that means to us is an ever-changing curation of the best, most interesting brands from New Zealand and abroad, alongside a world-class digital offering that makes the online ‘experience’ just as dynamic and fluid as the physical one.”
The store will unfold across three distinct levels: a ground floor dedicated to discovery through contemporary brands, a first floor offering a world-class luxury experience complete with valet and hospitality, and a basement conceived as a cultural hub – a space for coffee, music, and creative activations.
“Modern Auckland needs places worth the journey,” says von Dadelszen. “Places that respect your time and taste. Places built by people who genuinely care about getting it right, not just getting it open. That’s what Faradays will be – not a department store trying to be everything. A destination that knows exactly what it is.”
Announcements regarding the Faradays Queen Street brand line-up are expected to begin in the new year, while the former Faradays Parnell site will be re-imagined by a new team.
