High-end fashion brands are seeking a new kind of retail space as they look to establish luxurious stores for their clients.
The opening of the Bremont shop on South Audley Street as well as the Louis Vuitton Store on Bond Street have started a trend in the establishment of brand “maisons”.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/df42ee68-f2ce-11e1-8577-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2CmB5zSGb
Walk into the new Bremont shop in South Audley Street, Mayfair, London, and it might take you a moment to realise this is the flagship store of a well respected British luxury watch brand.
Entering Bremont’s first shop, you’ll be struck by a second world war motorbike, a fighter aircraft ejector seat and an antique deep-sea diving mask before you come to notice the more familiar cases of watches.
These aviation-inspired timepieces with their highly engineered, masculine styling include among their fans Hugh Bonneville, the Downton Abbey actor, Graham Bell, the skier and Matthew Pinsent, the rower.
Beyond the watches there is a bar and, downstairs, what looks like something from the Cabinet War Rooms but is in fact a room for watch aficionados to learn more about particular pieces, as well as a regular meeting place of the Bremont Explorers Club.
In fact this retail outlet with its quirky collection of ephemera is not really a store at all, it’s a maison – and the difference is important. The maison ticks a number of boxes: it adds to the luxury experience companies are trying to create in their stores, it allows them to show off their artisanal skills, and it means top-end customers can shop discreetly.
