LONDON — Burberry has reopened its flagship on New Bond Street with a razor sharp focus on the high-end customer, and luxury interiors and services that could rival those of a five-star hotel.
The store, located on one of the hottest retail strips in the world, has been under refurbishment for the past two years and reflects a more modern and minimal design concept, which Burberry unveiled in its Knightsbridge store in 2021.
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With a new chief executive officer and chief creative officer in charge, the store concept has been evolving in order to accomodate a bigger focus on accessories and a fresh approach to color and branding by Daniel Lee, who made his debut for the brand in February.
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The look of the New Bond Street store also reflects the swanky Mayfair location and the high-end clients that Burberry, like so many luxury brands and retailers, has been cultivating in recent years.
“It’s Burberry’s anchor store and a destination, and because of the location the focus is really on elevation, service and luxury,” said Burberry’s CEO Jonathan Akeroyd during a walk-through of the space, which opens for business on Thursday.
He described the store as a place to host clients, adding that the company will be increasingly focused on developing “our elite customer base, which has really been growing strongly over the last year or so.”
Akeroyd’s comments echoed those of luxury fashion retailers such as Mytheresa, Net-a-porter and Neiman Marcus, which have all been channeling their energy into a small group of big-spending customers.
Akeroyd argued that in-store customer traffic is becoming less important. “Now, it’s about spending time with the customer. We’ve got our [personal shopping] teams fully focused on clients, and we’ll have dedicated people here, too, for a more premium experience,” he said.
He described the store, which spans nearly 22,000 square feet over three floors, as a showcase for British luxury.
The space is bright with wide open floor space and fixtures designed to make the clothing and accessories pop. The design is pared back, and the star of the show is the merchandise.
There are white walls with matching floors, which are interrupted now and again with shiny, Art Deco-style tiles arranged in a checkerboard pattern.
Flashes of color and texture appear across the space in the form of chubby chairs or swirling rugs covered in intense cobalt blue, Burberry’s new color. A soft bouclé sofa is made for lingering, while gold-tinged fixtures add another dash of Art Deco.
Sculptural wood furniture dotted around the space adds a midcentury modern touch.
The ground floor is dedicated to accessories, a primary focus for Burberry. When Akeroyd laid out his brand strategy last November, he talked about taking Burberry’s revenue to 5 billion pounds in the long term, fueled by a much bigger accessories business.
Akeroyd has said he wants the brand to be “desirable and relatable,” with product sitting front and center in the stores, and a renewed focus on underdeveloped categories such as footwear.
The New Bond Street store fulfills that vision with solid, check and logo handbags dotted along open shelves or placed on top of curving tables like works of art. Soft accessories, such as brightly patterned scarves, glow from under shiny glass counters.
Street-facing windows let even more natural light into the space, which offers womenswear on the upper level and menswear on the lower one. Both areas have ample, plush VIP areas [with small bars for butler services] that can be closed off with concertina panels.
Similar to the Knightsbridge store, and Burberry’s other newly refurbished units, there is also a trench “library” that showcases the brand’s broad offer and bespoke options. The coats are displayed on tall, shiny racks that pull out vertically.
Akeroyd said the new store will light up even more in the next weeks as Lee’s colorful designs start to land on the shop floor.
His imprint is already clear on the store’s façade, which has been restored in smooth Portland stone, and which is adorned with new, cobalt blue Burberry knight flags.
“Daniel has a 360-degree approach to branding, and it’s been fascinating partnering with him. He’s really excited about how the stores look and feel,” said Akeroyd.
Lee’s fall collection was vibrating with color. There were pairings of purple and green; orange and pink; burgundy and white in the shape of checks, diamonds and roses.
There was even a bright Donald Duck yellow the mix, which the designer described as being “very British. It makes me think of the park. Burberry is an outdoors brand associated with the rain and protection,” Lee said earlier this year.
As reported in May, Burberry plans to invest about 120 million pounds in fiscal 2024 to accelerate its store refurbishment program, and is planning to have updated 50 percent of its network, roughly 55 stores, by the end of the fiscal year.
So far, 30 percent of the stores have been given the new design treatment, including Shanghai’s Plaza 66; and Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.
Many of the refurbishments have already taken place in Asia, and the focus is moving to Europe and the U.S., Akeroyd said. The New York City and Los Angeles boutiques, located on 57th Street and Rodeo Drive respectively, will both be redone this year, as will the Omotesando unit in Tokyo.
The new Burberry store template was unveiled in 2021 by the company’s former CEO Marco Gobbetti, who worked with Burberry’s former chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci and the Italian architect Vincenzo De Cotiis. At the time, Gobbetti said he wanted the space to have a polished, timeless feel.
Akeroyd described New Bond Street as one of “the most amazing” streets in the world, and he’s not alone. Burberry’s site, which is on the corner of Conduit Street and next door to the Westbury Hotel (which is also getting a facelift), is a covetable one.
New Bond Street is the fourth most expensive street globally, and the second most expensive shopping street in Europe, according to a report published by Cushman & Wakefield late last year.
Cushman described the street as “by far the most expensive street to locate a shop in the U.K.,” with average prime rents standing at $1,361 per square foot, more than double that of Sloane Street at $607.
Many of the properties on the street are directly owned by the big luxury groups, including Richemont, Kering, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Chanel.
In the report, Peter Mace, head of Central London Retail at Cushman & Wakefield, said New Bond Street recovered “exceptionally well” in 2022 despite COVID-19 putting the stops on international tourism.
Mace said the street attracts luxury shoppers, “who have proven to be less impacted by previous recessions.” He added that newly favorable exchange rates and “slightly lower” rents may also attract new luxury brands to set up shop on the strip.
As reported, Gucci will be moving from its longtime corner site on Old Bond Street to 144 to 146 New Bond Street. Gucci’s new 16,000-square-foot home is owned by Trophaeum Asset Management, which purchased the site in 2020 from a firm controlled by the banker Joseph Safra.