Brisbane's James Street shopping precinct has cemented itself as Australia's version of LA's famous retail hub, The Grove.
The Grove is an entertainment, shopping and dining destination for LA's fashion forward that was launched in 2002. It is famous for its celebrity spotting and social media savvy marketing and promotion.  
While celebrities may be thin on the ground in downtown Brisbane on regular weekends, the thirst for fashion and yearning for a creative hub is strong.
The second annual Resort shopping event held over three days had all the razzle dazzle one would expect from the colourful Queensland capital, with Lorna Jane hosting healthy living sessions to Easton Pearson's turban styling workshops and matcha tea mojitos. The street was busy and so too were the cash registers. Organisers said attendance numbers for the event were doubled from the inaugural event in 2014.
MAC cosmetics quadrupled their regular late night shopping figures during Friday's Resort After Dark according to a spokesperson, while fashion boutique Gorman turned over about $20,000 of sales in a little over three hours.
Gorman creative director Lisa Gorman travelled to Brisbane from Melbourne for the event and transformed her store into a pop up disco space before appearing on a trailblazers panel alongside fashion influencer and Shine By Three founder Margaret Zhang.
Zhang, who has worked as a creative consultant for Louis Vuitton, Nike and Uniqlo, was impressed with the cultural, commercial and community vibe of the event.
"Sydney could really benefit from an event like this. I love the community feel of it and how it has attracted a wide demographic of people. And even though the products are so varied, with fashion, beauty and homewares, the energy and intrigue of customers is great to see for local retail," she said.
In the twelve months since the inception of Resort, founder of Molten Store - a fragrance and jewellery brand - Jessie Cameron, has increased her staff from one to 11 and has expanded out into a small temporary space in Westfield.
"During After Dark, we did the same sales we would usually do in a long weekend," she said.
GLITTER CRITTERS: Last night with @margaret__zhang on @jamesstbne for #RESORTjst ??????? xJ #moltenstore #thetrove #yinandyang
A photo posted by MOLTEN STORE (@moltenstore) on Oct 16, 2015 at 5:14pm PDT
Cameron's work with crystals, bespoke fragrance and fine jewellery caught Zhang's attention and dominated her popular social media accounts over the weekend. Zhang, who at 22-years-old is also studying law full time at Sydney University, is considered one of the most important people in fashion since starting her blog when she was 16.
The taste maker posted a photo of Molten Store's intergalactic wares and merchandising to her 600,000 fans on Instagram and tagged - the internet's equivalent of an elbow nudge - the head of global public relations for luxury online boutique Net-A-Porter.
Yo Brisbane, what's good!? ????
A photo posted by Margaret Zhang ?????? (@margaret__zhang) on Oct 16, 2015 at 3:24am PDT
The writer travelled to Brisbane courtesy of Resort.