The Bristol Alliance – a joint venture between Land Securities and Hammerson – has this week unveiled what is destined to become one of Bristol’s signature buildings. The newly constructed House of Fraser store is a key part of the scheme and the 170,000 sq ft building will soon become Bristol’s equivalent of the Bullring.

Architect Stanton Williams created the building. Using large cast bronze panels, a three-storey high suspended entrance, a large display window at ground floor big enough to contain two double-decker buses and a light box with large-scale projected illuminations visible from beyond the city, the result should be impressive.

Views from inside the department store have also been carefully considered. A cathedral-sized glass window has been designed so light streaming in creates a constantly changing series of shapes and shadows on the interior wall. It also affords views over Cabot Circus and Bristol.

The new House of Fraser promises a lot and, with Baugur now at its helm, it will likely be executed to perfection. But the department store shows that retailers are paying as much attention to the design of the building they are in as the product they sell. And as much to the interior design as to the location of the site.

John Lewis is another example. It does not just rely on its service, product and pricing. In its new stores it seeks out the design that best suits that town. In Leicester, for example, its building has a hosiery pattern etched onto it to celebrate the city’s history and in Portsmouth its design looks like the sails of a boat.

This extends to smaller retailers too. Property searches don’t just focus on the top towns that a retailer needs to be in. They look at the position of the site, the construction of the building and, if they can make improvements, how best to attract new shoppers.

At Westfield’s Derby shopping centre, which opened last week, visitors were wowed by the design and by the effort that the retailers had made to make their stores stand out. There were many new-format shops unveiled, such as Faith and Ernest Jones and many of the guests on opening day pointed out that Next was looking its best ever.

Retailers are taking much more pride in their appearance. Competition is so tough that they can’t just rely on their product to survive. If shoppers have a choice and one environment is better, they will go there.

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