Cath Kidston’s new Piccadilly store showcases the British lifestyle brand in all its chintz-patterned glory.

Here’s a thought. Why not set up a shop that is essentially British, but in a retro way? Give it a 1940s take on things, with lots of polka dots and chintzy floral patterns in bright colours. If you presented this as the basis of a retail proposition to a group of money men, the probability is that there might be a few forced smiles and you’d be shown the door shortly afterwards, accompanied by the standard ‘We’ll be in touch’ phrase.

Yet almost exactly 20 years since it was founded, Cath Kidston trades on just this premise and there seems little let-up in the appetite for the Brit nostalgia embodied in the merchandise it sells. This is a retailer that plays well with the National Trust, tearoom and cathedral city set - and a quick look at its UK store locations reveals this to be largely the case, with Canterbury, Bath, York and St Albans all boasting a Cath Kidston branch.

The interesting point about the brand however is that, in spite of it being quintessentially British, there are more Cath Kidston stores overseas (143) than there are in the home country (68), and chief executive Kenny Wilson’s sights are firmly set on the Far East for expansion.

But two weeks ago the importance of the British arm of Cath Kidston was asserted when a flagship opened on Piccadilly.Grand surroundingsWilson refers to the site as an “iconic location” and indeed, with the Royal Academy of Arts and Fortnum & Mason as neighbours, it is easy to understand what he means.

The new store is very large by Cath Kidston standards. The average UK branch measures 1,680 sq ft, according to Wilson, and tends to trade from a single floor.

This one is 7,070 sq ft, is on the site of the former London office of SNCF, the French railway company, and is organised across a ground floor, basement and a modest gallery-cum-mezzanine above the rear of the ground floor.

With a trading area that is more than four times the size of the average UK Cath Kidston store, this is a branch that really does merit the flagship label.

For those standing and looking across Piccadilly from the Royal Academy side of the street, there is nothing to denote who the former occupant of the site might have been. Instead, the bright red Cath Kidston logo beams out at passersby.

Many of those walking down Piccadilly are tourists, both from the UK and overseas. They are probably in the mood for buying gifts - and Cath Kidston is well placed to fulfil this requirement.

Wilson says about 50% of purchases made in a Cath Kidston store are not for the buyers themselves. For this reason perhaps, the windows of the Piccadilly flagship are filled with small wooden packing crates in which there are brightly coloured products that would work well as gifts. In part, this has to do with the time of year but, more generally, this is what Cath Kidston is about.

The store stands out in its generally sober and somewhat grand surroundings, and 180 Piccadilly is hard for passing shoppers to ignore. Indoors, the Cath Kidston brand comes into its own, both through the product and the environment that houses it. And there is more to this store than just a Cath Kidston branch on steroids.

The ground floor is divided into two parts, with small gifts in the left-hand part of the shop and clothing accessed via a corridor, above which the mezzanine is located. The right-hand side of the shop is filled with Cath Kidston clothing, which Wilson says is one of the retailer’s fastest-growing categories.

Granny’s country cottage

The store is essentially a chintzy white box, made more homely by whitewashed brick walls rather than smooth, minimalist surfaces. In the mid-shop, white display equipment is mixed with reclaimed wood fixtures and vintage tables. It’s a bit granny’s country cottage, which is perhaps rather the point.

Certain elements have been created that are unique to the store, with he rear of the floor playing home to the Piccadilly Print Range, which aims to capture the “bright lights of the big city…paying homage to the Big Smoke’s icons including double-decker buses, black taxis and pigeons”.

The print, which has a blue background, is used as wallpaper in this part of the shop, adding colour to the area. For the most part, however, this is an interior where the product absolutely dominates, which is hardly surprising given the vivid nature of the colours involved.

Head downstairs, following the sign at the top of the staircase that states simply ‘Things for the home’, accompanied by a mural created from porcelain teacups, and the mood is the same.

The floor is something of a miscellany in terms of product mix and the display methods are broadly similar to those upstairs, but at one end there is an open-framed stable structure with a roof composed of silver-sprayed twigs. This is, for the next few days, where shoppers can access Cath’s Christmas Grotto.

It’s a flexible space according to Wilson and one that will morph into Cath’s Cafe at some point in early 2014.

All hands on deck

Cath Kidston herself was busy on opening day, talking to shoppers and helping out at the tills. As founder and the presiding creative force behind the brand, she still owns a substantial

percentage of equity in the business, although it has recently been reported that she may sell part or all of her stake for a figure around £50m.That is testament to a very successful enterprise and one that plays well overseas.

On overseas expansion, Wilson notes that, although the company has four stores in China, for instance, all of them are in Shanghai and “that leaves a lot for us to go for”.

The flagship on Piccadilly should act as a beacon for the brand, showing what can be done on a larger canvas than the small shops that have generally been the modus operandi for the retailer to date. This is a retro retail brand looking to the future.