London was supposed to be the second location for a MAAP LaB concept store, but it turned out to be the eleventh.Sitting in the store on Great Pulteney Street in Soho, MAAP co-founder Jarrad Smith tells me that the brand originally had a retail space under its office in its hometown of Melbourne, Australia. But after MAAP shut the store it went back to the drawing board to decide how to approach retail.It took time to develop what is a really robust environment for a MAAP store, Smith says. Whats the culture? Whats the community? What are the rides?The answer to those questions was LaB, which is short for Life around Bikes. That includes coffee for the visitors, room to hang bikes and turning the stores into hubs for rides, plus the opportunity to get up close with and buy MAAPs latest cycling kit.A big community The store was designed by Clare Cousins Architects. MAAP MAAP opened the first LaB space in Melbourne in 2024 and, with an office in the city already, London was next on the list. This is our global hub outside of Australia, Smith explains. We already had a really big community here.But in a tale that many Londoners will find relatable, MAAP suffered at the hands of the spaces landlord, who took it off the market.We started looking again and we just couldnt find a space we liked as much as this, Smith says. Thats partly because of its location in Soho, but also due to other requirements such as having room to store bikes, to serve coffee and with enough space in the street to meet before group rides.This meant the London LaB was paused and MAAP began looking at other locations. After Melbourne, the second LaB opened in Amsterdam in 2024. Since then, MAAP has built stores around the world, including in Sydney, Berlin, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.Smith says that when the space on Great Pulteney Street came back on the market last year our eyes lit up. Once MAAP had negotiated the lease, everything happened quickly, with the store being fitted out in three months. London's MAAP LaB has a faux cobblestone floor in a reference to the city's streets. MAAP Like all LaB stores, the space was designed by Clare Cousins Architects. Clare Cousins is the sister of MAAPs co-founder Oliver Cousins. Each LaB store has a unique design, and for London that means a zingy interior with silver walls and rails, a faux-cobblestone floor in reference to London streets with a huge, green sofa in the front and changing rooms with matching green curtains in the back.For Smith, having dedicated retail stores is a key part of building a brand. On the one hand, this is to give people access to the products, and advise them on what to buy and how it should fit, but also to activate and reach the community.Despite the official launch taking place on 10 October, the London MAAP LaB store has already garnered the attention of Londons cycling scene. Since its soft launch in September, more than 200 cyclists turned up to one group ride, and sitting across from Smith on the green sofa, a few days before the official opening, there was a steady stream of customers milling around us. One MAAP employee said a group of architecture students showed up one day to look at Clare Cousins work.From builder to model A green sofa and green changing rooms tie the front and back of the store together. MAAP Smith adds that MAAP probably always wanted stores because of how he wanted to start a clothing brand 20 years ago, when retail was more important.He says he was very entrepreneurial growing up. My dad always had his own business an alcohol distribution company with its own wine label so I wanted my own business.After school, Smith became a builder, which helped him fund a cycling team in Melbourne called Invert Racing. Smith worked with a factory in Italy to produce the kit because he wanted Invert Racing to be dressed like a WorldTour team.He was also a volleyball player which, after modelling for his sponsor, led to a career as a model for more than 16 years. Through this he met Cousins, who was the design director for the skate company Globe. The store enables you to get up close to MAAP's kit, and it also hosts rides and events. MAAP When it came eventually to starting a clothing brand, Smith says he realised it had to be cycling because he was effectively doing it already through his team. Cousins was passionate about the idea, and the duo also saw a gap in the market. When they founded MAAP in 2012, Rapha was arguably the only brand operating in the cycling and fashion space.The pair wanted to do something similar but drawing on their own aesthetics and style. This included streetwear, but they also thought they could try to make cycling more approachable and cooler in the way they saw with surfing and skating growing up.Soho neighboursThis origin story makes it hard not to compare MAAP and Rapha. Another reason is the location of the Australian brands latest shop. Not even a five-minute walk away is the Rapha Clubhouse on Brewer Street, which also combines retail with coffee and group rides.Yet MAAP is arguably more aligned with current trends, moods and styles than Rapha, which recently saw its CEO leave and continues to make a loss. Whereas Rapha continues to tap into cyclings history, MAAP appears to look at whats happening around the sport.MAAP has collaborated with the Australian streetwear brand Perks and Mini four times and released trainers with Hoka. When I meet him, Smith is wearing MAAPs latest collaboration with Public Possession. Added to all this, MAAP is the kit sponsor for Team Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco, giving it the performance credibility that comes from being in the WorldTour something Rapha no longer has.But Smith won't be drawn when I ask him about the other cycling clothing brand in Soho, saying MAAP has never really focused on Raphas exploits.Weve just been so busy doing what we do, he says. It takes up a lot of your enthusiasm and energy to drive the brand and the passion we have around just bringing awesome things to life.Smith says that going forward MAAP will continue with what its doing, from opening stores to sponsoring events and coming up with ideas like skydiving into Paris Fashion Week this year. Or, in his own words, just having fun and pushing the boundaries of what cycling can do.