NZ Visual Diary - entry 310

K Road storefront series1

With today’s blog entry, I begin an occasional series on the storefronts of Karangahape Road, most often abbreviated as K Road.

K Road has a long history as a retail, and notably fashion, centre of Auckland. I offer an overview of that fashion history in a previous post. A century ago, the K Road fashion focus coveted elegance, decidedly upscale clothing. Today, while one can still find trendy and elegant clothing stores along K Road, the district may be better known as a second-hand (aka ‘op shop’) clothing centre.

In a recent ad campaign, the K Road business community branded K Road as an (it would say ‘the’) eclectic, if not eccentric, retail and entertainment corridor of Auckland Central. And its ‘First Thursdays’ event cultivates an aesthetic of a K Road joie de vie.

My series attempts to highlight that ‘K Road vibe’, underscoring the span of visual impressions as represented in the storefronts of the business district. Those storefront statements range in expression from minimalist elegance to counterculture grunge . . . and everything in between.

Indeed, there is nothing predictable about the K Road look, except its penchant to eschew boring.