House of Fraser plans new stores

Department store chain House of Fraser is set to open a string of branches across the UK, with design concepts by London interiors and graphics group Kinnersley Kent Design.

An 11 000m2 Croydon store will be the first to open this autumn, with additional stores following in Dublin, Maidstone, Norwich, Belfast and High Wycombe by 2007.

The new stores come after House of Fraser unveiled impressive profit and sales figures for the year to January and ‘fit neatly’ into the 150-year-old retailer’s expansion strategy, says company retail director Richard Wayment.

The Croydon site, which Wayment says will be positioned as a ‘contemporary fashion-based store’, will feature new concepts for womenswear, childrenswear and TV audio, plus a World of Food environment, a Yo Sushi! concession and a café space.

Kinnersley Kent Design associate Adrian Warren says the key interior design challenge at the site has been determining how to ‘encourage customers to shop and circulate across a large floor plate’, which is accessed from a corner on its top-floor level.

Kinnersley Kent Design is responsible for all exterior and interior design at the Croydon store, including signage, shop front, floor layouts and department design fixtures, as well as interior architecture.

The group won the work on the basis of its longstanding relationship with House of Fraser. Consultancy partner Mick Kent, associate Paul McElroy and senior designer Amyas Wade are leading the project.

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