The 1,400 sq ft (130 sq m) store, designed by London consultancy Pope Wainwright, features a cleaner window execution and a white interior, which replaces the green and gold scheme used in other branches.
Pope Wainwright founder and creative director George Wainwright said that the new look was based on a 12-store visual audit carried out during the summer, which provided ideas for a blueprint.
“In the old stores, there were lots of freestanding items, which tended to block the view into the store,” said Wainwright. “There was so much colour that the product itself tended to get lost.”
The design solution is a white box with marginally lower lighting levels than expected, which are delivered from a track, in order to avoid being too bright.
Wainwright said that the intention is that the shop should act “as a complete and utter backdrop” to the product.
The windows have also been given a minimal treatment; the window of the Derby store features ducks on spinning turntables.
Previously, store fit-outs ranged from£45 to£65 per sq ft (£485 to£700 per sq m), depending on location, but Wainwright says the new scheme has cost£74 per sq ft (£795 per sq m). The Derby store has recorded the highest sales figures of any Hawkin’s Bazaar branch since its opening and it is intended that the rebranding will be taken to other branches in the chain, which has more than 60 UK outlets.
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