Tie Rack is back with a bang with its refurbished Oxford Street flagship, which reopened last Friday.

Since 1999, the brand has been owned by Como-based Italian textile company Frangi, which now wants to raise Tie Rack’s profile with a new fascia and store interior designed by London consultancy JHP.

Tie Rack chief executive Corrado Colli, who has been with the retailer since leaving DSGi’s Italian operation last year, said: “We felt that Tie Rack as a brand was very 1980s and dated. This was an opportunity to refresh things.”

Women account for more than 50 per cent of Tie Rack’s customers and this is reflected in the store design. The left-hand side of the shop is devoted to female accessories, with hats, scarves and pashminas predominating. The individual bays on this side of the shop, formed of slat walls, have all been angled to promote greater visibility for shoppers staring through the windows. This also creates space behind each bay, allowing individual stock cupboards to be inserted behind them.

The men’s collection opposite has a more structured display, with brown wood framing the tie collections and accessories beneath them. In the middle of the shop, a red tableclothed fixture is home to more female accessories, the bulk of which are small clutch bags and purses.
Elements of the Oxford Street format, signage, graphics and the window treatment are due to be rolled out to about 60 per cent of the UK store portfolio by the beginning of October.