Kurt Geiger’s shoe shop at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 stands out as a beacon of design restraint and shows how a relatively simple blueprint can create substantial impact.

The primary red portal with the contrast white logo can be seen from some distance even in T5, where retailers have put their best format feet forward and the visual noise is hard to blot out.

However, it is the mirrored shelves in the middle of the entrance that are the real showstopper. Constructed from a series of enamelled cubes lined with glass and then piled on top of each other to create a larger oblong shape, they form a glamorous setting for the mix of men’s and women’s footwear.

Look beyond this and the store is an exercise in economy, with simple white, back-lit recesses providing the home for shelves of shoes. On the lowest level there is a run of chunky-looking leather handbags. Now add grey terrazzo floor tiling to this mix, a plain cash desk at the rear of the shop and a grey upper perimeter and the store is more or less complete.

Impressively, Kurt Geiger and the team at Found Associates, responsible for the overall look of this shop, have steered clear of elaborate graphics - in fact, there are none. Even in a small space of this kind, which measures just 1,200 sq ft (110 sq m), there is a temptation to fill empty walls. The fact that this has been avoided is to the retailer’s credit.