Juicy Couture Opens Flagship Store in London
July 23, 2009 By: Jena Tesse Fox
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Fashionistas have a new reason to hit London: After years of wholesaling its designs to top-tier department stores throughout the city, Juicy Couture opened its first flagship store in the über-trendy Mayfair district last week. Described as “fun, eclectic and homey” by co-founder and co-designer Gela Nash-Taylor in an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, the store is a 1793 townhouse that was renovated with help from The London Heritage Society. The building has 4,200 square feet of retail space and 2,800 square feet of office and showroom and stockroom space.
Classic meets post-modern: Many of the building’s original features, including eight fireplaces and the black-and-white marble flooring in the entrance hall, have been reconditioned and integrated into the design scheme.
The store carries women’s and children’s apparel, sleepwear and accessories such as handbags, jewelry, sunglasses and shoes. The flagship also stocks the label’s high-end streetwear line, Bird by Juicy Couture, as well as cute exclusives like key rings and bracelets with charms. (We hear the charms are collectible, and the London store’s specialties will include local icons like red double-decker buses, phone booths, royal crowns and Wellington boots.)
Juicy Couture has 61 stores in the U.S., and plans to open another five by the end of the year. There are also stores in Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Dubai. A further 10 international doors will be opened in Asia by 2010, taking the number of stores worldwide to 93.
Mayfair is, of course, London's fashion center (or centre, as it were), and few hotels in the area are as as fashionable as The May Fair, which served as the official hotel for London's Fashion Week earlier this year. After a day of shopping, hit the InterContinental London Park Lane for some late-night drinks in the lounge.
