Vodafone calls on Fitch London

Fitch London is developing a new-look retail concept for Vodafone UK’s flagship store on London’s Oxford Street.

The overhaul, due to be completed in early 2005, comes in the midst of a ‘light expansion programme’ for Vodafone, and only one year after the Oxford Street flagship opened, with an interior by Checkland Kindleysides.

Elements of the redesign will be taken through the mobile communications giant’s entire estate.

‘The Oxford Street flagship store gets tired very quickly, because there’s a massive amount of traffic [through] there. We also need to change it to fit in with the way that mobile communications are going,’ says Vodafone development manager Stuart Turner-Cummins.

Though interiors will not be ‘vastly different’, Turner-Cummins says Vodafone is hoping that they will have ‘more of a wow factor. We’re trying to develop some kind of medium that can interact with consumers better. Our plan is to take elements [of the redesign] through our entire estate,’ he adds.

Vodafone’s chain of stores is burgeoning, with eight large stores and 42 smaller sites set to open across the UK by Christmas. ‘We’re trying to touch areas where we haven’t been before, such as quieter towns and railway stations,’ Turner-Cummins says.

All will conform to retail concepts designed by Checkland Kindleysides in 2002 and 2004. However, four sites, launching next week at Victoria, Paddington and Charing Cross stations in London and Piccadilly station in Manchester, have been ‘adapted’ by Creative Action Design.

In an effort to attract ‘time-poor commuters’, these stores will feature streamlined stock and self-service facilities such as E top-up facilities and customer service telephones, says group managing director Ian Silverstein.

Creative Action Design won the work, worth a five-figure fee, following a credentials presentation in March.