Harvey Nichols Bites the Birmingham Bullet

When is the right time to refurbish a store? Do you wait until revenues begin to decline, or is there a sweet spot when a store is just on the verge of plummeting, before sales have yet to be adversely affected?

Clearly, there is a point that needs to be identified when sales are about to tail off owing to consumer ennui with a store's interior as much as with the product that is on offer (although the two frequently go hand in hand). But how to know when that moment has been reached? Sadly, the reality is that with retailers’ budgets being what they are, most stores become wise after the event – sweating the asset is another a familiar situation to most with a seat in a retail boardroom.

This brings us to Harvey Nichols. For those unfamiliar with the name, it’s a London-based department store group that offers luxury for those with very deep pockets, and a propensity to not worry too much about what the bank manager might think. The retailer has had a store in Birmingham (the U.K.’s second-largest city) for a little more than a decade in a development called “The Mailbox.” But it has, to an extent, always played second fiddle to the much larger outsize golf ball that is department store Selfridges’ outpost in the city.

This week, however, Harvey Nichols unveils a totally revamped design that aims to reinforce its fashion and luxury credentials and put it at the top of fashionistas’ lists in the locality. The renovation hasn’t been cheap, but on the other hand, at least something has been done.

Now look around and consider how many stores of this kind are refurbed on a piecemeal basis, a little bit at a time.  Surely it must be better to bite the bullet and get the shoppers beating a path to your door once more. Easier said than done.     

John Ryan is a journalist covering the retail sector, a role he has fulfilled for more than a decade. As well as being the European Editor of VMSD magazine, he writes for a broad range of publications in the U.K., the U.S. and Germany with a focus on in-store marketing, display and layout, as well as the business of store architecture and design. In a previous life, he was a buyer for C&A based in London and then Dusseldorf. He lives and works in London.

Don't miss John's session (“London’s Evolving Retail Scene: From the High Street to the Edgy East“) at IRDC this year, Sept. 9-11 in Austin, Texas! For more information about IRDC, visit IRDConline.com.