The words ‘iconic’ and ‘unique’ are massively overused and rarely merited, but perhaps department store Liberty deserves to be described as such.

Since its inception, there has been a sense of the special about this five-floor store.

Now it has emerged from a makeover that confirms its status in the department store pantheon.

As anybody who has ever visited will know, the private equity-owned store is architecturally where the Arts and Crafts movement meets Art Nouveau, which means a lot of shaped wood and wood panelling, as well as staircases that would do the job in a murder mystery manor house.

The revamp, however, is about creating a shopping journey and keeping the stock that fills this emporium in tune with its surroundings.

Tweaking Liberty’s brand identity 

The project kick-started at the end of 2015, when the visual merchandising, brand mix and layout of the beauty and accessories department on the ground floor was examined and given a new look.

Liberty spokesman Mark Forsyth says that across the whole of the transformation there has been a sense of the need to reinforce the domestic feel of the interior: “Selfridges is about space. We have smaller rooms and work with that”, he says.

uncovered fireplace and panelling in menswear department

The fireplace in the men’s department

This means that the ground floor view is a highly edited offer and stress is placed on the fact that the overarching brand is Liberty and all that this represents.

Also on this floor at the Carnaby Street end of the store is Liberty London Food.

This is an area that seeks to mimic a Victorian pantry and is stocked with ‘artisan’ foods’ from British micro-producers.

It may not be a food hall, in the way that visitors to London’s other grand department stores will be familiar with, but it is a nod in the direction of the store’s domestic take on luxury retailing.

Upstairs, Liberty has two floors of womenswear; one for ‘contemporary’ and the other for ‘designer’.

In the previous scheme of things, the contemporary ranges were on the first floor, directly above the jewellery area on the ground floor.

This has been switched in order so that there is consonance in the shopping journey as the customer moves from jewellery to designer, according to Liberty.

Arthur’s is larger than the second-floor tearoom it replaced

It is hard to escape the thought, however, that the reason for the change may be that contemporary (now on the second floor) outsells designer and that this is about encouraging shoppers to head up to the store’s upper levels.

For those who do make it to the second floor, there is Arthur’s.

This is a restaurant that has been renamed after the forename of Liberty’s founder, and it is bigger than the tearoom/restaurant that it replaces.

This is, in part, owing to the fact that areas previously panelled over have been peeled back, revealing additional windows and more space.

Once more, Liberty’s Arts and Crafts credentials have informed the shape that this part of the store has taken, with the bar featuring a pastel harlequin pattern and rose pink metal garlands.

The summit of success

The tallest order for any retailer operating a multi-floor enterprise is attracting shoppers to the uppermost levels and the old adage that the number of shoppers inspecting a floor is inversely proportional to the distance from the ground still applies.

To overcome this, the home and gift areas, both of them destinations in their own right, are located on the third and fourth floors, as well as the haberdashery department, which is a major part of Liberty’s DNA.

From a visual merchandising perspective, this means vintage Singer sewing machines on workshop tables for the Haberdashery area and tables of items that are more or less one-offs in the gift area.

The third floor is also home to a semi-discrete ‘Sleep Lounge’, where those in search of brightly patterned dressing gowns and pyjamas can shop in a space that succeeds in looking like a posh dressing room.

The most contemporary floor in the whole of the revamped store is menswear in the basement.

This has no windows, but the dark wood used across the rest of the store also features.

It mixes this with a rather more severe materials palette, putting a plain, unadorned aesthetic is to the fore.

It is highly unusual for a store the size of Liberty to receive a top-to-toe remodel within a short time and the outcome is not so much surprising as it is a confirmation of what shoppers expect from the store.

It would almost be possible not to notice many of the changes, but a huge amount has been done and the store is better for it.

Liberty brings the changes in-store 

  • Arthur’s is an extended restaurant on the second floor
  • The womenswear offer on first and second has been reorganised
  • Menswear has been given a complete revamp in the basement
  • A strong sense of the ‘domestic’ has been brought into the interior