To think store designer shouldn't get paid.,

[RecallRecall]

Ok.name changed.
This is really annoying me. My local department store ( House of Fraser) Chichester had a resign a year or two ago, Obviously someone was paid a fortune to redesign it because that the rate for people that do design. Lots of shop disruption.
So shop windows reflect ground floor layout. Used to be ; Men's, Jewellery, Paperchase, Shoes., There used to be a lovely window display of shoes ( always tempting but great at sale time ) and I often would run into Paperchade to buy cards and wrap being right by the door .

Now new store design is " Mens , Make Up and Jo Malone where shoes used to be.

Its shite. No one looks in a store window and thinks "ah I must look through all those plastic lipstick samples to find a red" And Jo Malone is lovely but it's not " god, I must have those boots in the sale "

Chichester town is heaving. The department store is dead. It never used to be. And they will blame Brexit or something when clearly someone in store design has been a tool.

Emmm, pretty sure Beauty is JLs most successful department in terms of sales and their outgoing chief exec has said the refurbishment and upgrading of beauty departments within the chain have improved sales figures.

They don’t spend huge sums of money redesigning these stores on a whim or because they’ve taken some odd notion to inconvenience you. Also franchises will bid for their space year on year (usually). Paperchase etc might feel their sales remain the same without paying a higher rate for a window unit etc. There is tons of things these redesigns are based on - research, focus groups, sales figures from other redesigns, market trends in consumer purchasing habits etc. They haven’t simply redesigned to inconvenience you because it’s not in the order you like anymore. So yes, YABU.

Make up is on the ground floor of JL and House of Fraser in Birmingham. I thought that make up and menswear where usually there are people buying that stuff are running in and don’t want to shop, so it needs to be accessible - ie men aren’t going to traipse to floor 4 to buy a shirt.

So Recall, according to you damn near every single department store in the country, if not world, has got it wrong because you don’t like it.

Cmon Hiding, don’t leave us in suspense - I assume they sold the shawl-like garment back in the day, but what was sold by that dept in your day. House coats?

Does any of this actually matter though? I'd love it if my biggest problem in life was that my local HoF had switched its innards around

I didn’t think anyone would ask, Are. They sold ladies coats. We were stockist for brands like Barbour and Drizabone. People would look all over for coats department, no one would think to look for ‘mantles’ in the store directory.
It was an odd place. Very very old fashioned.

(And I said JL but I meant HoF). Both experiencing huge growth in beauty sales. You may think makeup isn’t interesting to most people but sales figures are interesting to those high up in retail and the sales figures show growth in this area and therefore you’re a bit off the mark.

I don't think you understand the process, OP. Location of departments and their size depends on how much money they are making and are regularly review by management. The designer went in to design the space as told. Their big job would have been to think about access to utilities, choose the right surfaces,
(Portraying the right image and easy to clean etc).

It's also worth noting that high streets have been struggling as people do more and more shopping online.

Shops put stuff where they make the most money. Beauty gets people into store as it's a frequently purchasd item and the shop can charge the brand a massive "rental". It's a Science. No one locally had input. It's done nationally/globally. Jo Malone or who ever pays to be in the window. Just like the crisp company pays to go in the middle eye level shelves or at the ends of aisles. A local manager has little/no input in a department store/supermarket/garage etc.

Retailers make store changes based on research and projected sale following redesign
I find cosmetics hugely interesting,follow sail Hughes,Lisa Eldridge,most premium brands
cosmetics &perfume is huge business and when store gets it right v profitable

I think if you feel that strongly about it, then rather than post on here, you could perhaps write to the MD asking about their thought process and giving your views as to why it isn't working.

Er wasn’t Chichester always makeup/menswear/accessories on the ground floor as Littlebearpad said? Footwear off to the right (last 15 years or so anyway).

Also,shipfitters and designers don’t have a blank canvas ta-dah ,they have a costed and specific brief
That brief is usually a uniform look,with consideration given to which retailer has which spot
It’s a v specific and financially driven design brief to maximise profit in aesthetically pleasing environment

We have a House of Fraser and it's never that busy. i have never looked in their window. It's all a bit 'Are You Being Served?' for me.

Holy crap. Really? I thought it was only the ‘Designer Darlings’ that paid the slightest bit of attention to this boring shite. You need a different job or a hobby.

Maybe being shut for the refurb did for it?

I buy my Jo Malone at the airport (cheaper and can smell and test the scents) and shop online from my sofa for pretty much everything - so i’m probably not the target market.

This thread is marvellous for updating the old spreadsheet though. The “posts pedantic wankery” and “grammer police” [sic] columns are filling up nicely :)

I always feel there is a better place to buy whatever it is I want than HOF.

Also they had an eyebrow threading concession. It shut overnight with no warning. I had a gift voucher as a birthday present.

They'll have loads of research about customer flow and that sort of thing.

Men's is on ground floor because men won't go upstairs. They want to walk in, grab what they need and get out again. Women browse more, and the layout will be designed to encourage that.

I had to sit through, I don't know what to call them, they weren't training - information sessions maybe? on this sort of thing when I worked in retail. They really didn't pay enough for me to give a shit, but I remember the diagrams showing how the store was designed to encourage shoppers to walk round it using certain routes.

Unless you view shopping as a leisure activity, like my mother, there’s really very little reason to go to a department store in person these days beyond:

Bra fitting
Getting a make up tester
Emergency present buying
Checking out the handbags in real life (to then buy online).

I used to use the one in Richmond now and then but it always felt a bit sad and had quite a lot of that spongy, beige carpet that just seems grubby. The cafe was also shit.

So you've a retail marketing background, OP?

We have an independent department store, and the ground floor has been re-done and moved around. I hate it - it's white and plasticky and cheap looking now. Upstairs is carpeted, wooden bannister on the stairs etc. Admittedly some of the carpets were getting a bit worn, but it felt quite muted and luxurious, now it's clinical and very bright and gives me a bit of a headache! The upstairs hasn't been altered. I hope that stays the same.

Jenners in Edinburgh (HoF) has stopped selling cards at all apparently, which was a pain when I wanted one - no garden centres (my usual port of call for nice cards!) in central Edinburgh.

They will be watching the impact of the redesign carefully. If, in comparison to other stores with lots of other factors taken into consideration, sales for stores withthe new layout are less, they will change it back. Believe me, they are even more invested in making it succeed than you are. But it may also be that despite how busy it appeared to you, it wasn't doing well enough profit-wise and this was a bit of a last ditched attempt to see if something new would make it worthy gain. You don't know what the deal is. You don't know if all those people who used to go in bought enough of the high-profit items to be worthwhile. You don't know what impact this redesign has actually had. It may have been a mistake, but if it was, the store will be even more worried than you are.

I live near a big shitty town with a HOF. I aLso travel into London to shop in Knightsbridge and Oxford St. I couldn't ever tell you what the windows are like or what floor my preferred brand is on. I know what stores stock the product I am looking for and structure my trip accordingly.

OTH I do like a random Christmas shop occasionally and may be lured in by a beautiful window I mean you, Fortnum and Masons- but that would be more for food/treat items than for cosmetics.

Lol @ you op

The role you’re looking for is visual merchandiser - they organise the window displays and the store layout, based on store bestsellers and profit. Not the bloody builders. The layout the store has introduced is better for them/the majority of their customers - unfortunately not you darling.

I find it hard to believe that a Paperchase concession really brings in that much revenue to have it at such a focal location, most of their products are under £5. Its House of Fraser and jo malone / high end beauty suit HoF much better, it is supposed to be a luxury department store after all, not a card shop

Also google states that Paperchase’s stand-alone store on Chichester is in the same area as House of Fraser Chichester - a mere 5 minute walk in fact