Luxury retailer Harvey Nichols has unveiled their new menswear department today at their Knightsbridge store.
Occupying the two lower ground floors of the iconic store, the space has undergone a major 9 month refurbishment and marks the first stage of an ambitious 4 year plan to renovate the entire store.
The newly designed space will feature 270 brands from the world’s most exciting designers (over 50 of which are new brands for launch many offering exclusive collections available only at Harvey Nichols), a luxurious Style Concierge suite that offers complimentary personal styling services, a contemporary café and bar serving a delicious menu of food and drink and a traditional barbers offering an array of grooming services and treatments.
Spanning 28,000 square feet the space features the brands new design concept which moves away from the traditional shop-in-shop format and instead features a ‘collection of specialised boutiques’, where rooms are treated as a gallery of eclectic fashion and art installations, creating a sophisticated, individual and modern retail environment.
Dedicated menswear entrances on both Sloane Street and a new entrance on the corner of Knightsbridge and Seville Street, improve access to the department from street level. Inside the department, moving from room to room the customer will encounter different collections – Contemporary, International Designers, Off-Duty, Denim, Tailoring and Accessories, each and every one of them a boutique in its own right. Improved connectivity and an organic flow between departments has been carefully considered, to ensure that the customer journey is fluid.
At the core of the experience, is exceptional service. Highly trained style advisors are on hand to offer expert advice on product, seasonal trends and styling. Technology is introduced to enhance the customer experience, from mobile payments through to the app digital loyalty programme, Rewards by Harvey Nichols, which rewards customers for every pound spent in store.
Revolutionising traditional merchandising techniques further enhances the shopping experience to make it quick and stress free. The Denim room is merchandised by product type; categories such as white t-shirts, denim shirts or leather jackets, will appear together on a rail regardless of brand. The Tailoring room will be merchandised by end use; day suits, formal suits and tuxedos will be merchandised together, providing a seamless and effortless shopping experience for the customer.
New to the space is a vast Style Concierge suite with multiple interlinked large dressing rooms that allow the space to be either compartmentalised or used as a grand space where customers can hang out with friends and enjoy the private area. Vast mirror surfaces, generous fitting rooms all fitted with modesty cupboards, mobile phone charging points and interesting pieces of contemporary furniture and art, as well as a private bar, ensure that customers are treated to a 5*customer experience.
Also new to the menswear department and offering a variety of lifestyle products, is Project 109 which will open in early May. This innovative new space will house the very latest in gifts, technology, sunglasses, fragrance and grooming, plus an installation area, which will showcase a series of pop-ups and immersive experiences offering customers inspiration at every turn. The curated edit of brands and continuously evolving retail space, will be complemented by a new range of services, including a barbers which will operate early morning till late to suit the busy male customer. A contemporary café, which will serve breakfast, lunch, coffee and juices during the day, then in the evening transforms into an intimate bar, where customers will be able to enjoy cocktails, wines and beers, and a selection of light dishes.
Stacey Cartwright, Group Chief Executive Officer of Harvey Nichols, said: “We are incredibly excited to re-open our menswear space in our flagship store, where customers can expect an unrivalled experience in luxury retail. This is a milestone moment for our brand as it marks the first unveiling of our 4 year plan to refurbish our iconic Knightsbridge store. It’s a hugely exciting time for the menswear market and we couldn’t have picked a better time to create the ultimate shopping destination for menswear in London.”
