"The idea that a store needs to be refreshed on a regular basis is as old as, if not the hills, then certainly the middle of the last century. The notion runs that, every so often, a store’s internal decor needs a bit of a facelift and that, if this doesn’t happen, like those of a certain age who have not enjoyed cosmetic surgery, things sag a bit and the cracks begin to show.
There’s been a branch of Inditex brand Massimo Dutti on Regent Street since 2002 and the road was, in fact, the first point of UK landfall for this retail format. Close to a decade later, it had reached the point where a number of minor alterations and mini-makeovers had been effected, according to Inditex UK and Ireland managing director Dilip Patel, but there had not been a full-scale rethink. Now the store has just emerged from a four-week revamp with a new look that Patel says is more in tune with the altered reality of Regent Street during the nine years Massimo Dutti has been in this country.
“The street’s changed a lot and there are a lot of new competitors,” he says. “There are still plenty of male shoppers, but now there are many female shoppers on Regent Street as well.”
It’s a view that signals a clear understanding of the gradual evolution of the street during the period. It has gone from a thoroughfare that for much of its length was filled with grand but somewhat timeworn shops that catered predominantly for men to a fully fledged fashion destination. And as such, the appearance of every retailer from Mango to Zara by way of, say, H&M has meant the gender balance of the shopper population along the street has also changed...."
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