VIU signs up for London store, will debut in Soho

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 21, 2019

The UK eyewear scene has witnessed plenty of interesting developments of late with Mulberry launching its eyewear offer in-store only this month, Alexa Chung debuting her line, Lily Cole’s Wires launch, and Korea’s Gentle Monster opening in the West End. Now Swiss premium eyewear label VIU has said it will set foot in London in May and has signed up for a Soho store.

The shop will be its UK flagship and will be located at 5-6 Upper James Street on the north side of Golden Square. It’s a first for the brand in Britain with its current 30-store network being focused on Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia and Austria.

The 850 sq ft store could generate plenty of attention as the VIU business model allows customers to take home up to four frames to test them before paying for them. 

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It comes at a time when Soho is seeing plenty of activity for smaller stores as the main West End shopping thoroughfares (Oxford, Regent and Bond Streets) increasingly become the domain of giant mega-flagships for mass-market names or luxury labels.

Soho, which has been transformed in recent years, offers more of a chance to ‘discover’ unexpected brands and find fashion stores nestling next to artisan bakeries and other quirky businesses.

And the opening of VIU shows that London continues to retain its appeal for international brands, even as the unknown impact of Brexit looms. 

VIU began life as an e-tailer in 2013 with a strong marketing message based around its affordable pricing.