WH Smith introduces facia after trial period

High street retailer WH Smith is to introduce a new facia to its stores, following extended but low profile trials. Created in-house, with input from CDT and Davies Baron, the facia introduces a new colour palette and typeface.

February will see the new facia installed at stores in Poole and Slough, marking the first time that all the elements of the facia have been brought together. Different elements were trialled at separate stores while design was finalised.

Contrary to some reports, the facia will not include an exclamation mark, says the retailer, although that option was trialled in some stores.

A spokeswoman for WH Smith confirms that the new facia will now be incorporated in all new store openings and refurbishments. Its introduction forms part of a major restructuring of the whole WH Smith business being implemented by chief executive Bill Cockburn, which has included the selling of a number of “non-core” subsidiaries, rationalisation of product lines and staff redundancies.

Last year the group recorded the first loss in its 204-year history, and has just completed the first year of a four-year recovery programme.