The world-famous department store Harrods has launched an outlet store in Westfield White City in London, where it will host end-of-season sale items.
The move is an unusual step for the iconic London store, which only has its Knightsbridge location and a few airport stores, but the decision has been taken as a result of the recent pandemic and lockdown, which has left plenty of stock to shift!
Harrods has rented an 80,000 Square foot space in the shopping complex which was formerly occupied by Debenhams.
So, as you can image there was quite a lot of excitement in the media about this Outlet store. On visiting the store, I did find it disappointing. While I appreciate that social distancing measures are paramount, the whole store was just a bit too clinical with no retail theatre to excite customers. The staff greeted customers at the door and Security guys said “Thank you for shopping with us” as I left.
I couldn’t help feeling it was a case of “stack it high, sell it cheap” in the Food, Gifts and Beauty section. In fact, the Beauty section reminded me of shopping in an airport duty free store with everything “on offer”.
I am sure that the fashion-conscious customers will be hunting for bargains in the high-end fashion brands, but sadly the store was not for me as I left empty handed.
During my many years as a Visual Merchandiser at the store in Knightsbridge, I remember with fond memories the buzz and excitement of the first day of the Sale. With the crowds waiting eagerly outside Door 5 and Mr Al Fayed with a guest celebrity counting down to 9am. There was much excitement and anticipation as to the huge number of customers who would run to their favourite department to grab the bargains as soon as the doors opened. Now that’s what I call retail theatre. Sadly, those days are long gone.
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