The fashion brand Club Monaco has opened a store in Sloane Square, using visual merchandising to introduce itself to customers and local retailers.

Club Monaco, the Ralph Lauren-owned Canadian fashion brand, opened a large, two-floor womenswear store on London’s Sloane Square in August.

The store has an impressive array of antique silverware, all of it used as props for an interior that relies heavily on the skills of the visual merchandiser for its pulling power.

It waited until September 13, however, to get up close and personal with the local Chelsea demographic when it staged a “neighbourhood day”.

This took the form of commandeering about half of Sloane Square’s central island, erecting a yurt where tea and cakes would be served and then putting stalls around it selling everything from pizza to oysters.

There was also a literary tent, with art and fashion books from publisher Taschen that has a standalone shop nearby. Everything had Club Monaco branding.

Although it seemed an ostensibly upmarket affair, it was relatively inexpensive and was busy from the off.

Club Monaco chose last Saturday to coincide with London Fashion Week and for those who took a break from eating in Sloane Square there was free champagne in-store.

The interior space of the former Gieves & Hawkes tailors has been almost completely transformed, with vintage display cabinets breaking up the more standard mid-shop and perimeter fixtures.

As an exercise in blending in, Club Monaco offers an object lesson and to the uninformed, in spite of the name, it might appear to be as English as a striped blazer and a glass of Pimms.