At a time of year when things are normally slowing down, the interiors pace seems to be heating up.

Tradition has it that at this time of year the mood is one of retrospection. It’s time for taking stock as work on new stores gradually slows and the retail focus is on selling merchandise at full margin ahead of the end of December/January markdown fest. Yet as Christmas looms and 2014 beckons, things show little sign of letting up.

With the store interior fest of EuroShop only a couple of months away, it’s highly probable that most large shopfitting and design concerns will have their eyes focused on the prizes that may be on offer for the diligent in Düsseldorf. And unlike Christmas, EuroShop comes but once every three years and therefore represents an outsize snapshot of all that’s out there and what is possible, if funds and imagination are available.

It is quite hard to overlook the seasonal reality, however, and we have therefore taken a stroll around London’s West End to assess this year’s crop of festive windows. Perhaps surprisingly, among two or three candidates, John Lewis sticks out as having done something really original. It would hardly have seemed possible just a few years ago that the department store would be in the visual merchandising vanguard.

Further afield, we look at The Galleria, Abu Dhabi’s first luxury mall, and the kind of place you’re only likely to visit if pockets are deep and splurging is on the agenda. That said, most of the retailers that have taken space in this new scheme have put their best design feet forward, which makes it interesting.

Closer to home, southwest London has proved a fertile stamping ground for novelty lately, with a Waitrose revamp in Kingston and the opening of a new Whole Foods Market store in Richmond. Retail Week Interiors has been to both to review what’s been done and the effect the stores are likely to have on both chains’ fortunes.

Finally, since small is supposed to be beautiful, we have taken a look at what’s out there and whether diminutive and jewel-like stores stand up to close scrutiny.

There is a lot to be said for celebrating Christmas, but when the man with the beard and sack has been and gone, there will still be retail interiors work to be done.

 

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