Shades celebrates four decades in the sun
An icon of Adelaide retail this year celebrates its 40th birthday. CityMag caught up with the sunglasses shop’s founders and went back in time to the 80s when it all began.
The founders of Shades, Marina and Dennis Karamalikis, were just 23 and 25 respectively when they opened their first store: a shoebox of a space in City Cross Arcade.
The lot came complete with some Grecian columns, which became an enduring part of Shades’ identity in Adelaide over the next 40 years.
“The funny thing about [the columns]; people thought, because we’re Greek, we did all that,” laughs Dennis.
The columns were actually leftover from a previous tenant who bailed on the lease but inspired the pair to design the Shades logo in a Grecian style.
This year marks 40 years since Marina and Dennis first started Shades; a retail success in the Australian sunglasses space founded by two people who had little business experience or knowledge of eyewear.
They transformed their little City Cross Arcade store into a national brand. At the peak, there were 13 Shades stores around the country.
It has a smaller footprint localised to South Australia now, but remains successful in Adelaide thanks to 40 years of personal service and a range of sunglasses that are hard to come by at other retailers.
The sun rises on Shades
Before Shades, Marina worked in the fragrances section of John Martin’s and Dennis was selling European wines.
But they both loved sunglasses.
On a work trip to Sydney, Dennis stopped by a boutique and bought a pair of sunnies for Marina and himself – and they still have them.
“I just said, ‘Why don’t we do something like that?’ We couldn’t afford it, but then I was on the road all the time, and my car broke down in Penola. It was pissing me off – I couldn’t spend the rest of my life being a rep,” Dennis said.
You might like
“So when I got home I said again ‘Why don’t we do the sunglasses shop?’, and we found this little shop in City Cross which was really bizarre because the columns and the pediment were there.”
Shades’ first store in City Cross Arcade came complete with the now-iconic Grecian-style columns. Photo: Supplied.
This was 1984, so the duo poured over the Yellow Pages and magazines to source their first stock of sunglasses.
“We looked up ‘sunglasses’ and we rang them and said we’d like to come and get some glasses and they said ‘Sure’,” Marina said.
“That’s how we actually found our supply, it was very organic. There was no other way to do it back then – no agents or anything like that.”
Marina said part of Shades’ early (and enduring) success was music and colour in store.
“We thought that yellow was a happy colour, so one weekend we asked permission if we could colour the store – it was grey – we never told him what colour,” Marina said.
“So Monday morning he storms in and goes ‘What the hell is this?!’. It was bright yellow. It made people happy!”
There was no complicated business plan or secret ingredient to the early success of Shades, but the duo was recording major sales growth; up 300 per cent in its first and second years.
“I remember being so young – 23 – and getting taken into a meeting with a whole lot of executives,” Marina said.
“I went in there and they asked me what the strategy was for this phenomenal increase in business and whether we would consider opening stores Australia-wide, and I said ‘no, we don’t want to do that’.
“They said ‘So what’s your strategy?’. And I said ‘Oh, we play music that I really like, and painted the shop yellow, and I really just buy what I like’.”
Marina and Dennis with Alexis – Shades’ first mascot who was accessorised differently every day. Photo: Supplied.
Success continued for the pair.
The second Shades shop opened at Burnside Village, they moved into the Rundle Mall store in 1991, and eventually, the duo realised they could take Shades national.
At its Peak, Shades had stores in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Noosa and Adelaide. One store at Chadstone in Melbourne was open for 27 years.
Like their approach to selecting sunglasses, the pair were particular about the sites they opened stores in. Each was also remarkably different and designed to suit the vibe of the precinct they sat in.
A couple of the stores were franchises, but that didn’t work well for the pair.
Subscribe for updates
“I think if you can do a cookie-cutter thing with franchising that’s great, but I think when you’re emotionally invested in your business it doesn’t work as well,” Marina said.
“I remember someone using this terrible pen one day in store and I said ‘That doesn’t look good’. To them, it was just a pen, and it sounds ridiculous, but it was all part of the whole ethos of the business. We realised franchising wasn’t for us.”
The interstate stores were progressively shuttered, and the Shades brand lives on with its flagship Rundle Mall store and in the Adelaide Airport. Their third shop, Opt Shop, is an optometrist and glasses store that only stocks the best in eyewear, also in Rundle Mall.
Marina and Dennis in their Rundle Mall store. Photo: David Simmons.
Shades: For beautiful people only
A commitment to eye-catching advertisements and friendly in-store service is one half of the Shades formula.
The second is simple: good taste.
From the get-go, Marina and Dennis said they were fussy about the range of sunglasses in store, and knew that they were never going to be “everything to everybody”.
“You’ve got to pick your land and your target and stick with it,” Dennis said.
“From day one, no one has ever chosen a pair of sunnies in the store unless we’ve chosen them ourselves,” Marina added.
Eye-catching advertisements were part of Shades’ success. Image: Supplied.
High-quality sunglasses are key for the duo, who pride themselves on offering shades that Adelaide shoppers can’t get anywhere else.
Their current stock ranges from luxury brands like Dior, Loewe and Prada to accessible brands like Ray Ban and Le Specs, alongside cult brands Dita, Persol and AM Eyewear.
That doesn’t mean that Shades is immune from the whims of consumers, especially from shoppers who want the latest trend instantly.
“Everything’s on social media so quickly; they want it straight away,” Dennis said.
“We always try to have relevant styles. Not everything works. Sometimes you see something online but it doesn’t always look good in real life.
“They can look really good on Instagram but it’s not always great for everyone.”
But as a traditional brick-and-mortar offering (plus an online store to boot), Shades’ commitment to service translates well in the current retail landscape.
“Retail and people in general haven’t really changed; people still want to feel welcomed when they come into your store or when they come onto your website,” Marina said.
“They still want to have the feeling of being looked after, of taking an interest, the friendliness, knowing what you have to offer.
“Also coming in for aftercare service – we offer for people to come in and get their sunglasses or opticals adjusted for as long as they have their glasses.”
The pair is set to celebrate turning 40 in December, and thanked their loyal customers.
“They’re why we’re here today. Without them there’s no business,” Dennis said.
“And it’s really important that people support local businesses.”