Liberties shop report

Liberty’s

Libertys is another store that is ionic to the London fashion hub and is famously known for its traditional liberty prints featuring generally floral designs in a variety of colour ways. The store is one that has not been greatly changed within history and has a vintage feel to the place.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere within the store was good but didn’t hold the same qualities and exclusive feeling that Selfridges did when I went to visit it. The store to me unlike Selfridges (which even though is an old store it still feels very modern with its use of white marble and visual displays of the stock being modern and well maintained) seemed too old in its style with the dark colour of the creaky wooden floors and beamed ceilings creating this very dingy depressive feeling that I would link more with an old country house then a fashion store. The amount of wood in the store was one of the main things that really put me off this store as if I was doing to buy something of luxury quality I would want to buy it from somewhere that feels just as good as the product and not like your just in some houses living room which the wood really reminds me off (due to the way it’s always used in historic homes) to me the store has to be consistent to the brand and be of a modern expensive standard to make the customer feel like they are somewhere and someone special, that I just didn’t experience when entering the shop. What I also found to be less then appealing was the displays themselves, when you entered the shop the liberty prints where displayed on the walls and on the tables with staff around to help you out and show you some of the cosmetic products but when you went upstairs to view the clothing the situation was completely different. Except from the shoes (which were displayed neatly on shelves and tables with flowers and staff on hand to help) the displays and the way that the clothes where placed out was disastrous.  The space was empty except the wooden floors and occasional seated areas with the clothes on racks (like the sail racks of well known high street stores) giving the pieces are more cheaper uncared for feeling and that they did not appreciate you as a consumer as they didn’t want to make your shopping experience special (like they make you feel when you are in Selfridges who really take care with the way that they display their products) and therefore it gives this negative quality to all of it meaning that I wouldn’t go there to shop but instead go to others that are more modern and expensive (in looks, as marble is and looks a lot richer then wood and experiences like the retail theatre ect...) I don’t know if this was just a timing error (like maybe they where placing the items on the rails to move them to one location to another and it was just bad timing for my visit) but the store didn’t really impress me to the standards that the shop is held too by it being an iconic fashion store in London.

Retail theatre

When I looked around the store not only was the displays bad and unclear (as they were just on rails on the plain wooden floors, with no real clear designer name connected to the product meaning that I actually had to look at the garment label to see who they were made by) but there was no real retail theatre I could see (unlike Selfridges where they really play up to the fairy tale/mysterious theme and the open community feeling due to the way the brands are not boxed in) the shop was very plain without massive displays or dramatic lighting or anything really again I don’t know if I was just there at the wrong time but I can’t really place anything in this section as I didn’t see anything worth talking about which is a shame as such an iconic store I feel should posses something that keeps the store interesting and current to the modern market as other shops are moving up the ladder as they have elements to them that just add to the special feeling you want when buying something of expensive and really in any shopping experiences. They could really easily create this retail interest by playing up the stores history to make a theme and such and that would make me want to visit there again as it would seen more of a unique experience and not like the negative quality which I saw on my visit.

Why I fit into the store

My style of clothing would fit into the store due to the way that my look is inspired by the natural environment with floral designs being one the imagery I go to for my collections linking in well to the classic liberty prints that make the shop so iconic. And the vintage look of the store (with the wood and the balcony ect...) could really help and add to my collection to showcase how my designs are of classic style that are timeless (so fits into the vintage look like the store, but is still in keeping in the modern day like the way that Liberty’s is still around today)but instead to me it almost seems too old and not maintained to the designer status that is needed for a positive shopping experience when looking at luxury items and therefore gives this depressing, dull quality that makes me not want my product and name to be linked too, the only thing that I would want is the iconic name of the brand due to its power within the industry, but if you take that away you are only left with this wooden shell that is for me too dark to really show my collections feminine happy feeling (as the darker the colour the more masculine it feels and the more it draws away from the product as it is not the “blank canvas” needed to highlight the details and textures of the prints themselves) this mixed with the way that it has no real personality to the store due to lack of retail theatre and display work to build up desire for the items (like they do at Selfridges due to the way that they draw you into the stories that they build and the overall expensive feeling you get through the aesthetics of the store as explained in the analysis of the store) leads me to the conclusion that I would not currently want to place my work in the store, but in the future if the look and feel of the store changes to a more positive light I could easily place my work in it due to my style being in keeping to liberty’s due to the reasons above (florals, timeless style, vintage like ect..)

Location

The location of the store could not be in a better place with it being directly behind the main tube station for the shops on oxford street, but also a little away from the other high street store that are focused on fast fashion cheaper clothing separating it out and making it feel more exclusive as it takes a step back and is not engulfed by others but stands as an individual store (not merged into the fashion hub as much) but at the same time easily accessible as people do not have to go to great lengths to shop there making it a perfect location.

Conclusion

In conclusion when I went to visit this iconic store I thought that I would be amazed and absolutely love it, but instead I was left disappointed due to the reasons that I have mentioned above. One of the most annoying elements of this is that it could be very easy to changed to be so successful and appealing to shop at with a little work as it has some key elements that could really excel (such as the status of the name and the location of it) but I don’t know if I just visited it at the wrong time or not but currently I would not want my work to be showcased in that way but this may change in the future and due to the style of my work it would be able to fit into the look easily, so I feel to really see if this was just a onetime disaster or if it is always like this I need to go back and look around the store again and research its further to come up with a stronger feeling about the store and to note any improvements or changes in atmosphere that would make it more desirable to me as a designer and as  a customer buying the product it holds.