Ask Alison

Ask Alison: How Browns Brook Street has recast itself as the new luxury omni-flagship



Browns Brook Street The Focus

There’s a new luxury retail destination in town and it’s a storied Mayfair townhouse that features a heady mix of culture, community and the latest personalised tech-led shopping services. DRG retail editor, ALISON FARRINGTON reports…

Apart from the appealing fact that visiting an actual store is somewhat of a novelty as we emerge post-pandemic, we are about to enter a new era of phygital retail. Phygital 2.0 plays to the strengths of being inside a physical boutique environment – all the trappings of tangible and joyous purchases plus social interaction – while having frictionless digital retail services at your fingertips.

Launching on 12 April, at a reinvented flagship location, Browns Brook Street is the manifestation of owner, Farfetch’s visionary ‘Store of the Future’ omnichannel strategy that we first heard about in 2017. (more…)



Ask Alison: Is it time for indie beauty brands to get in on duty free shopping?



Niche beauty Duty Free airport beauty Dezeen

Earlier this week, independent beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury made its airport retail debut at World Duty Free in London Heathrow. The week before, the eponymous brand was one of four indie beauty companies (alongside Anastasia, Hourglass and POLA) to be showcased within the DFS downtown store T-Galleria at Galaxy, Macau.

It’s about time these types of self-made or direct-to-consumer beauty upstarts joined the action within the travel retail space. (more…)



The DRG Retail Index: Jigsaw x Bluebird, Be More Karen, Boden Future British, J Crew x WeWork, Nyden



Welcome to DRG retail editor ALISON FARRINGTON’S new monthly retail round-up, celebrating experimentalism and innovation on the high-street. From the latest social campaigns to exciting new retail formats, we’re watching… and shopping.

The SHOP AT BLUEBIRD KINGS ROAD IS MOVING TO…FLORAL STREET, COVENT GARDEN
The Shop At Bluebird

Save the date for 20th April, when The Shop At Bluebird’s new department store style venue (complete with sunlit central atrium and rooftop terrace) will open in an old coach station venue, recently renovated by Covent Garden property management firm CapCo. The new Floral Street location called Carriage Hall will open with a brand new Jigsaw next door and count designer stores including Kent & Curwen, Agnes b and Paul Smith as upscale neighbours. (more…)



Wired Retail 2017: 5 future trends for digital shopping



burberry augmented reality app illustrated by Danny Sangra

Here’s the latest ‘Ask Alison’ post from DRG retail editor, ALISON FARRINGTON, as she unpacks five key takeaways from this year’s Wired Retail conference, and how they will change your future digital shopping habits.

I’ll take the world of visual-culture and discovery-commerce over voice-activated replenishment shopping – thank you. The former feels like a fun Instagram Stories fuelled shopping spree, while the latter sounds like a boring, but necessary automated shopping list. Both have a place in the current online marketplace (more…)