Office Twelve designs Virgin Holidays flagship store

Office Twelve has designed a new experiential flagship store for Virgin Holidays which has opened on London’s Kensington High Street and features an augmented brochure concept.

Virgin Holidays
Virgin Holidays

The consultancy brought online brand Virgin Holidays to the high street in 2007, designing high street concessions for department stores and supermarkets in 90 locations.

For the flagship project it was asked to design a ‘fun, creative and experiential’ store according to Office Twelve managing director Gina Mula.

On entering the store, customers are greeted by a ‘wall of red hands offering brochures’ which when overlayed with in-store iPads, triggers destination videos.  

Virgin Holidays: ground floor view
Virgin Holidays: ground floor view

Wall-mounted screens and digital picture frames show moving images and ‘faux windows’ play movies of ‘almost still’ destinations, to give the impression they are on the other side of the glass, according to Office Twelve.

Zoned areas of the two-floor store also mark out an ‘iPad bar,’ gaming area for children and the sub-brands Hip Hotels, Cruise, Virgin Holidays Worldwide Journeys, and Virgin Holidays. 

Virgin Holidays: gaming zone
Virgin Holidays: gaming zone

Mula says there is an aspiration to integrate ‘more digital’ into the 90 concession stores next year.

Virgin Holidays’ flagship opens as travel agent Thomas Cook today published losses of £400m, announcing that 200 stores will close.

Virgin Holidays: ground floor view
Virgin Holidays: ground floor view

Commenting on this, Mula says ‘Virgin Holidays focuses on customer experience; the way people are seated isn’t face to face across a desk – staff sit next to customers on sofas, which gives them added value. They’re also willing to try something new.’

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