Gucci opens London flagship with Europe’s first Salon concept
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The new space covers 15,000 sq ft at 144-146 New Bond Street, and is closer to the heart of one of the worlds top luxury shopping thoroughfares compared to the previous location at 34 Old Bond Street.
It’s in a historic listed building that previously housed an art gallery and is a key indicator of how Bond Street as a whole has become much more luxury fashion-focused recently. It also highlights the movie northwards on Bond Street by many of the biggest luxury names and how demanding the works to develop modern flagships can be: the new Gucci location has been developed over a period of two years and that follows the recent Burberry reopening that was also a multiyear upgrade project.
This new store comes as owner KeringAlessandro MicheleMilan Fashion Week
The new flagship suggests that the reignition will come from a focus on the ultra-luxury consumer. And a clear indicator of this is that the top floor of the new store features the first Gucci Salon in Europe. Having been introduced in Los Angeles earlier this year, the Salon concept targets VIP customers with made-to-measure and made-to-order items.
Access is by appointment only and it’s more than just a hub for couture/bespoke as the aim is to convey the creativity of the brand and also keep those higher-spending customers entertained and inspired. For instance, the Salon will also feature artworks available for purchase (in fact the company is putting a strong emphasis on art throughout the store, reflecting the building’s history).
As for the main body of the flagship, the ground floor is all about bags, shoes, fine jewellery, silks, and women’s ready-to-wear.
Men’s ready-to-wear, watches and small leather goods are in the lower ground floor space, and above these two levels, shoppers can find fragrances and timepieces, as well as the brand’s Valigeria travel collection. There’s also an area displaying archive pieces from the label dating back to the 1930s.
What’s particularly interesting as well is that the overall interior design of the flagship is understated. It’s a world away from the maximalist approach that might have been expected under Alessandro Michele and which, for most of the years he was creatively in charge of the brand, was an extremely lucrative strategy.
The feeling in the new store is that discretion and understatement are the watchwords, even if specific collections may still be as OTT as ever.
