Good Retail Bad Retail — a tour of new retail in Covent Garden
Covent Garden has been through a retail renaissance in the last couple of years. In an area where you used to have to dodge tourists and street performers, there are now a plethora of beauty brands and new concept stores; everything from The Ordinary (buzzing on a weekday morning, with as many male as female customers) to The Shop at Bluebird (beautifully merchandised with an amazing sense of light).
Petersham Nurseries’ first venture beyond a TW postcode includes a very carefully curated concept store — more weighted towards lifestyle products such as books, homeware and bath & body than the plants and vintage-style furniture of the original — as well as two restaurants and a deli (I can highly recommend lunch at La Goccia in the courtyard). The catering outposts have the same attention to detail as the store, with bespoke glasses, furniture and art. It reportedly took over two years for the family owners to convert the entire retail and restaurant space, and I hope this investment pays off.
Next to Charlotte Tilbury’s eponymous temple to make-up looks ranging from The Ingenue to The Bombshell is Tiffany’s latest offering: a pop up shop focused on younger customers.
It’s a big departure from a normal Tiffany store, with bold décor, Instagrammable features and even a vending machine for fragrances.
There was an area that looked like an events space, or even for co-working, inside the entrance, and another at the back with striking visuals. Overall the store felt fresh and modern for a Tiffany store, albeit with a slightly overwhelming use of their signature colour.
On the downside, whilst there were a few customers browsing, I didn’t see brilliant service. Whilst the decor felt very different, some of the simple fixtures didn’t quite gel with this, and most products were still locked away (Of course I understand why, but with the number of salespeople standing around, this could have been rectified without too much risk). And I’d have loved to see more explanation about the store — why / how long it was there, how to use some of these more flexible spaces, and more information on how to personalise the products.
I couldn’t help thinking that the store was really for brand-conscious tourists rather than the domestic market; this is partly borne out by the location chosen and partly by the execution. British millennials are probably too busy sitting in cool cafes buying things on ASOS or seeking out pop up shops in Shoreditch (or wherever the next Shoreditch is — I’m probably too old to know) to care about visiting this store.
Other highlights of my Covent Garden trip include pop up shop The Basics Store on Monmouth Street (again, a cleverly curated concept store, although I’m not sure those prices are “basics” for most people), BEAST London (a male-focused beauty store organised by solution rather than by brand) and Floral Street (a beautifully instagrammable fragrance store, where — unfathomably — I was told I couldn’t take photos).
So there you have it; a whistle-stop retail tour round some of the excitement in Covent Garden at the moment. I’ll be back there soon!
