Pardon My French: Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s Glou Glou is a bit bloody fancy.
Named after the French onomatopoeia for “glug glug”, Glou Glou cafe has popped up in the entranceway of Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s Exchange Building. Claiming a chunk of the foyer for its timber bar and velvet banquette seating, the space was designed in collaboration with hospo-fitout veterans, Millé. “The brief was sleek, modern and moody whilst not taking itself too seriously”, says Glou Glou director Mike Ny. “And they hit the nail on the head.”
Specialising in contemporary croissants in standard, circle and cubic form, the team spent six months perfecting the base recipe, which they serve alongside decent coffee and those ambiguous purple and green lattes you see on Instagram. They’re currently working on plans to open as a bar after hours and stage two of the fitout is almost complete, with recipe testing and development well underway. “One thing we know very well is that opening dates never go to plan,” says Ny. “It will be this year, maybe sooner, maybe later. But this year.”
Glou Glou
17a Allen Street, Te Aro
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
Well Bread: Get in early at lunchtime hotspot Gloria’s.
After a year spent building a recipe bank, customer base and serious sandwich rep on Tāmaki Makaurau’s Karangahape Rd, Gloria’s has upped sticks and shifted to Commercial Bay. Created by the team who brought us Bar Céleste, the takeaway joint serves up artisan sandwiches, pizza al taglio (AKA by the slice), cookies and coffee, as well as take-home deli staples like fresh focaccia, cheese and charcuterie. New on the scene but already a firm favourite among inner-city workers, the downtown deli is known to sell out, so best be snappy if you’re craving a slice or sandwich come lunchtime.
Gloria’s
Commercial Bay
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Design Outpost: Città presents its most expansive offering yet in a former mail-sorting centre in Grey Lynn.
When Città opened its new Grey Lynn, Tāmaki Makaurau flagship a few hundred metres across the way from its previous store, it was an opportunity to create something expansive and generous, but intimate and welcoming at the same time.
The new store is the biggest Città has ever built. A former NZ Post sorting centre, its bones were good: steel framing, high volume, a big kind of gutsy industrial thing. That aside, the existing building had multiple and confusing level changes: hardly the ethereal, large-format space they were looking for.
Città worked with Buster Caldwell, of The Wonder Group, to rethink the space: clearing out almost all the walls, laying a new floor and punching through walls with floor-to-ceiling windows to let in the light. Into the newly rationalised space, they installed lines of cabinetry to create a more domestic feel, with various rooms and setups, and plenty of storage inside oak joinery. “It has incredibly high ceilings and a slightly industrial feel,” says Emmett Vallender, chief operating officer at Città, “but we’re lucky that the textiles and softer products really soften the space.”
The bigger space means more room for more pieces, and more room around them: it’s able to display Città’s full range of furniture and homeware. But it also means more room for other brands it represents – including the iconic Swiss furniture maker Vitra. “Because it was a redevelopment, we were able to dictate the size of the showroom, which you don’t always get,” says Vallender. “Big showrooms can be a scary prospect commercially, but we really wanted to do it justice.”
Città
274 Richmond Road, Grey Lynn
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Brick by Brick: A Parnell institution is reinvented as Residium.
When the “biblical” floods of 2023 swamped the shopping precinct around The Strand in Parnell, Tāmaki Makaurau, the former Home Ideas Centre was already in a state of transition. After three decades in the same warehouse, the brand was slowly evolving into an experience centre – until the floods destroyed the space.
From such tragedy comes a silver lining. Owner Hugh McKellar took the opportunity to reinvent and rename the space Residium, drastically reducing the number of brands and increasing the size of each one’s space, while bringing in new brands including Samsung, Bremworth and Powersurge.
Over the course of a year, the entire building was overhauled, and the space rebranded and renamed, with a focus on experience – and not just for the home. Highlights include a warm, woollen space by Bremworth and a sleek new zone by Australian hardware brand ABI Interiors. There’s also a particularly lovely brick-lined area by Stellaria, which brings in low-profile European bricks.
“Residium is more than a showroom,” says McKellar. “We are creating a place that inspires creativity, collaboration and community.”
Residium
165 The Strand, Parnell
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Power Moves: The new home of Tim Webber is cool, calm and convertible.
The bones of designer Tim Webber’s new space were impeccable – a former warehouse on Nugent Street in Grafton, Tāmaki Makaurau with a stripped-back feel, now painted a soft white. But he felt the space needed some softening, and designed a set of acoustic wall panels. Moveable, or even removeable, they make the space quieter, but also make it easy to change the position of wall lights, power points and paintings. The new space is also much bigger than his old premises in Grey Lynn, allowing him to showcase more of his range, which includes his own designs and European brands such as Hem and Bensen.
Tim Webber Design
12 Nugent Street, Grafton
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
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