Moss Bros has opened a Simon Carter men’s fashion store next door to its Covent Garden flagship. Simon Carter is a range aimed at the same customer as Ted Baker, according to Moss Bros chief executive Philip Mountford.
Although there is a standalone store in Toronto, it is the first time that a shop bearing the English designer’s name has opened in the UK. Moss Bros has acquired the franchise to open stores in this country.
The 1,100 sq ft (100 sq m) space has a listed frontage and, although the store took about five weeks to fit out, preparing the site – a former Blazer store – took considerably longer, because an application to paint the exterior black took time to process.
Internally, antique tables have been purchased instead of off-the-shelf fixtures in a deliberated attempt to create a one-off feel for the store and as Simon Carter, the eponymous designer, observes: “Because it was actually cheaper.”
Overhead there are retro chandeliers from the 1960s and 1970s and the internal colour scheme is cinnamon. Above a dado rail that runs around the perimeter there are paintings, which will be changed every three months and are for sale.
Mountford said: “We’re going to invest heavily in Simon Carter. I would hope that we will open more stores by early next year. We’re already looking at two or three sites in quirky, old buildings. It’s a brand that needs to have a bit of heritage about it.”
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