Universal Store Holdings Limited is an Australian fashion retail company. It operates stores under the Universal Store, Thrills and Perfect Stranger names. The company was founded in 1999 by brothers Greg and Michael Josephson. It was purchased by private equity investors in 2018 before going public on the ASX in 2020. , there are 80 Universal stores, 8 Perfect Stranger stores and 10 Thrills stores around Australia.

History

Universal Store was founded in 1999 by brothers Greg and Michael Josephson. They opened their first store in the Brisbane suburb of

Carindale Carindale is a suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located by road south-east of the Brisbane GPO, and borders Belmont, Carina, Carina Heights, Mackenzie, Mansfield, Mount Gravatt East, and Tingalpa. In the , Cari ...

. In 2018, the business was purchased by a consortium of three private equity investors for an estimated $100 million. The company floated on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

(ASX) on 17 November 2020. In September 2022, Universal Store acquired Cheap Thrills Cycles – the company behind the brand Thrills – for $50 million.

Stores

Universal Store

Universal Store sells clothing aimed at 15–34 year olds. It stocks products from brands such as Herschel, Wrangler, Converse, Abrand and Kiss Chacey. It also sells its own

private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

brands which include Perfect Stranger, Luck & Trouble, Common Need and Token. , there are 80 Universal stores.

Perfect Stranger

Perfect Stranger is a womenswear brand founded in 2014. Its first retail store opened in 2020. , there are 14 Perfect Stranger stores.

Thrills

Thrills was founded in 2011 by Brooke McGregor, Tabitha McGregor and Ryan Collins. The brand sells vintage-inspired apparel with a focus on sustainable fabrics and production. The company started as a vintage motorcycle import business but the popularity of their first T-shirt collection led them to shift to fashion. The company's first retail store was opened in 2014 in

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah'') is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of New South Wales, Australia (in Bundjalung Country). It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjac ...

. In 2020, the company expanded to Japan with a store in Tokyo and in 2021 the brand was made available through stockists in the United States. Thrills was acquired by Universal Store in September 2022. , there are 8 Thrills stores.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.universalstore.com/, name=Universal Store website
Perfect Stranger website

Thrills website
Australian companies established in 1999 Retail companies established in 1999 Clothing retailers of Australia Companies based in Brisbane Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange