Desigual UK charge goes on despite tough London trade

Desigual, which made its debut in the UK on London’s Regent Street in June last year, has signed for a second London store at Westfield London shopping centre and wants a further five stores across the UK over the next two years.

Desigual marketing director Manuel Martinez said the Regent Street store is “not going as we expected”. He added: “We always thought the UK would be a difficult market for Desigual because this would be our first store and we are not really known in the UK.” The Regent Street store has a modest frontage, with a large sales floor in the basement.

Martinez said the design of the Westfield London store will be different to Regent Street and would follow the blueprint that has been established in its Amsterdam store. It will be smaller than the Regent Street store, at 9,150 sq ft instead of 8,610 sq ft.

Head of research at consultancy Echochamber Matthew Brown said Desigual might have experienced trading problems in Regent Street because of its sales floor being in the basement. The external fascia is “underwhelming” and does not relate to what is inside, he added.

Martinez said Desigual wanted to develop the brand in London and then look at other cities in the UK. He also said he would seek to use celebrities in its marketing campaigns.

Established by Swiss national Thomas Meyer in 1984, Barcelona-based Desigual has stores in Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, as well as the UK. It also has numerous department store concessions in Europe, the Middle and Far East.

Martinez said it plans to add a further 200 stores to its portfolio over the next two years.