Kitchen and homewares retailer and mail order operator Lakeland will unveil a new format when it opens a store at Liverpool One in mid-October.

Designed by London-based consultancy Caulder Moore, the branch will have a double-height glass frontage. Internally, the major changes will aim to capture more of the cooking and home entertaining market.

Lakeland director Julian Rayner said: “This is about refreshing the kitchenware part of our offer to make more of some of our key products.”

He added that the store is a trial and that a roll-out will follow if the project proves successful.

Rayner said the changes to the fascia were “to some extent dictated by the shape of the unit we have taken at Liverpool One. We were offered a number of different units and rejected them and this one meant that we have to make things slightly different”.

Caulder Moore designer Rachael Mayes said: “The brief was to create an environment that is recognisably Lakeland, but which is more interesting, warmer and makes the shopping experience easier and more pleasurable.”

She added that different colours were used to create clearer segmentation in-store, particularly with the way less expensive items are merchandised.

Privately owned Lakeland trades from 36 stores including Liverpool and is due to open a branch in Westfield Derby shopping centre this autumn.

The company’s flagship store is at its base in Windermere, Cumbria and is run by the Rayner family, with all positions on the board being held by family members.

In the year to December 31, 2006, Lakeland recorded sales of£122.7 million, up 3.1 per cent from the previous year. Pre-tax profit rose nearly 17 per cent to£6.3 million.