Couture Club's new Westfield Stratford store is a two-year pop-up

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Sep 17, 2019

Growing fashion brand Couture Club has launched its first store in London, but instead of committing to a long-term lease it has agreed on a two-year pop-up.

The move further underlines the caution of retailers as political and economic uncertainty continues to take its toll on the UK retail sector.

The Manchester-based celebrity fashion brand’s first outlet in the south of England has opened at Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, taking over a double-height unit on the first floor.

The space is not far from the former Missguided shop, which was forced to close earlier this year with the clothing brand claiming the “premature” opening had affected its performance.

Couture Club has currently two stores in Manchester and Newcastle, and there are plans for further openings in Birmingham, Glasgow and either Leeds or Sheffield, as well as internationally. 

Co-founder Scott Shashua said: “We learn an awful lot from physically seeing who shops our brand, right in front of us, because we can target that person and create products specifically for them.

“Instagram will tell you the gender, location and age ranges of the customers shopping with you - but we want that picture of who it is, from each area.

“And we take inspiration from them, because we’ll see our customers wearing our clothes different ways as well, and it influences our design process.”

The Westfield store has opened as a two-year pop-up shop, with an option to extend the deal afterwards.