Selfridges opens world’s largest shoe department

There are shoe departments and then there are The Shoe Galleries at Selfridges, which take customers on a retail journey of six ‘galleries’, 11 shoe boutiques and 4,000 pairs of shoes on display over a whole floor.

It's a shoe wonderland and beats the recent 'biggest shoe department' record over at Saks in New York hands down.

The Shoe Galleries was designed by architect Jamie Fobert to be a place of exploration within Selfridges, recently voted the world’s best department store. Actually it's like there are layers of shoe rooms to discover and explore from high-street to designer to what I would call uber-designer.



‘Imagine you are in a gallery,’ says Selfridges’ director of accessories Sebastian Manes. ‘From the entrance you see a succession of doorways and at the end a huge window flooding the space with daylight. Your journey begins at the front, with shoes from the best of the high street. Slowly you begin to travel through different galleries until you reach the end – the couture designer gallery, flanked by Chanel and Louboutin, and a vision of Eden – the new suspended garden at Selfridges.’



I hunted out some serious Alexander Wang heels, some great grey Givenchy booties, those Balenciaga op-art pumps and the must-have Celine courts for this autumn. I hear Selfridges has negotiated plenty of exclusives with designers for the various rooms. Meanwhile there are shop-in-shops for the likes of Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin and Repetto that are designed to reflect the homes of each of the designers.


What I also heard on the industry grapevine was that because D&G didn't get one of the designer boutique 'rooms' flanking the main designer floor they had a bit of a disagreement with management and pulled out of selling to Selfridges completely. That's £1m revenue in shoes alone! Hissy fit or what!!!

Swedish fashion house: Acne creates London studio store

Swedish fashion label Acne has opened a studio store in a former gallery on London’s Dover Street, and it's curated more like a tall townhouse with departments and artworks on each of the four floors.



The four floors not only display men’s and women’s fashion, but also art works by Helmut Lang, Jeremiah Goodman and Katerina Jebb. When entering, customers pass a piano that will be used for live music at weekends. A roof terrace adds to the feeling of being in someone’s home.



‘The studio will offer more than just clothing, it will be a house of different creativity,’ says creative director Jonny Johansson.








I particularly like the interpretations of Jeremiah's artworks - with wallpaper designs on the walls of the store very much leaping off the page of his book to mingle with the carefully merchandised collections hanging artfully on rails and mannequins.

Anthropologie is retail magic

At last! Anthropologie has finally opened on London's Regent Street. As a seasoned US Anthro customer I was beyond excited at the prospect having a good look around at the press preview on Wednesday - and they added a sumptuous tea party spread to boot!





So the real secret of Anthropologie's success Stateside is the clever VM and eclectic product display that mixes fashion, homewares and lifestyle with a certain je ne sais quoi that sews it all together. It's retail magic that makes you want to buy everything! Each store has two dedicated VM experts that change around new product all the time and are responsible for the story telling aesthetic Anthropologie is known for. From wardrobe to bedroom to kitchen table to pantry and even to garden (with sister retail brand Terrain) it's all there to be discovered.

When I asked visual manager Camdon Richardson what was his secret he told me the devil is in the detail: "It's all down to the little touches I put in the nooks and crannies to catch people's attention. Some of our shoppers are used to Anthropologie displays (and love us for it) but others are captivated when we add the little related product ideas and special props we find from our travels around the world. It's about inspiring people to follow our style in their home so I like to show them how to do it for themselves." He added that the London store has been his favourite so far because the UK - and Europe provides such a rich cultural melting pot of ideas. "It's a huge first step for us here in Europe."

James Bidwell is MD of the Urban Outfitters owned new Anthro UK. He told me: "We're all about experience and we exist to provide our customers with a journey of discovery in-store. The secret of the store is the merchandising. Average dwell time per customer is an hour and a half and it's because there's so much to discover. It's like layering different product stories for the customer." He added that the creative visual team take a completely different approach to each store - they're based in each one and take inspiration locally. So London means Union Jack wall hangings, quilts and throws - with one even styled on a mannequin as a skirt to throw the different departments together.

Other quirky highlights in-store include the giant lifesize Narwhal hanging above the laden tabletop display (made from all the plastic packaging from the products shipped in for opening, and covered in paper mache), the Magpie chandeliers made by South African artist communities, the Christmas room complete with snowy clouds (check out Anthro's wonderful ornaments selection) and last but certainly not least is the 2000 sq ft growing plant wall complete with over 80,000 plants, created by UK based company Biotech. "It's like a green oasis on Regent Street". If you look closely the plants are arranged in a plaid check formation and are supported by their very own sustainable irrigation system from the roof. The wall together with the three storey staircase (made from reclaimed wooden frames), stitches the building together. Oh and I nearly forgot the stunning circular hanging window display made from hundreds of dip-dyed used tea-bags. Very British!






I also had a quick chat with head of buying Olivia Richardson who said she wanted to bring over what was relevant from the US and translate it for the UK market. "We had our London customer firmly in mind and wanted to source the local market to make the Anthropologie offer right for Europe. So we're doing a number of collaborations with both the interiors and fashion offers including a capsule range with Eley Kishimoto and several items from the boutique Beyond the Valley. We have also worked with French artist Nathalie Lete to create some one off home pieces and British interior designer duo Clarke and Reilly have created a line of hand crafted furniture exclusively for us."







She added: "Our customer encounters everything from textiles to home accessories, as well as decorative antiques and vintage objects that are literally found by our buyers who travel the world in search of originality that's right for Anthropologie."

Wow 'buyer at large' sounds like my dream job!

As usual I didn't hold back snapping away inside, here's my selection of pics for your visual delight!

Anthropologie Regent Street