Five of six shops to open in the Meridian mall by Christmas are part of Australian chains.
Home entertainment store JB Hi-Fi officially opens its first South Island store at the mall today.
It will be followed by shoe store Rubi Shoes, clothing store Factorie, jewellery store Lovisa, and The Coffee Club.
Meridian manager Michael Porter yesterday said the Australian-owned mall was making the most of its reputation for consistent foot traffic in a competitive leasing market.
Some already had links with the mall: Rubi Shoes and Factorie are owned by the same company that owns tenant Cotton On Kids, and Lovisa has the same owner as Diva.
"Retailers are spending a great deal of time looking for the best sites for their stores, so getting retailers with links to our partners and with JB Hi-Fi, a brand relatively new to New Zealand, shows there's plenty of confidence in our site."
JB Hi-Fi southern regional manager Karl Cremen said it made sense for the Australasian retailer to move into the second biggest city in the South Island.
He acknowledged there were many established New Zealand and Australian-owned electronics retailers in the city, but was confident his company could carve a niche.
"Dunedin is a key location, and we don't go anywhere to fail, and we don't go anywhere without doing a lot of work first.
"We're confident this will be a good first move."
A store was planned for Christchurch, and regional centres Invercargill and Nelson were also being considered, Mr Cremen said.
The 1400sq m store employs 40 people and is the company's 12th in New Zealand.
Granny Annies, the New Zealand company that sells sweets, will open its new store beside JB Hi-Fi next month.
