The achingly hip location was an inspired choice, designed to slot in with the retailer’s strategy to boost its fashion credentials.
Peacock Group chairman Richard Kirk, while flanked by his top team, including Peacocks managing director Tim Bettley, proudly announced that the retailer is set for a record year.
Gone are the days, he said, of Peacocks being known as the place to buy knickers for “fat, old ladies”, or of the threat of a visit to a store being enough to appease even the most ill-behaved child.
Indeed, in a move away from its commodity-focused past – and one that distances it from rival value retailer Primark – the retailer has ruffled its feathers to reveal a fiercely styled, trend-led collection for Christmas.
Fashionistas from an eclectic mix of publications including The Sun, The Telegraph and Glamour magazine cooed over items including a key tailored blazer, waist-cinching belts, animal-print shirts and sequinned trousers. All items range from£5 to£25.
In an effort to further boost its image, the retailer used Dolce & Gabbana and Liberty campaign model Rachel Alexander to present the range – a striking Burberry-esque look.
The collection may be picture perfect, but what about in the flesh? “Sometimes when you feel the material it lets the product down, but it’s pretty good quality,” said one style guru.
So, all boxes were ticked and no doubt Peacocks will attract the price-conscious consumer with aspirations beyond the smash-and-grab style of shopping at other value chains.
But is it the kind of positioning that will steer the retailer through the bumpy economic ride in the run-up to Christmas?
Kirk and Bettley are both confident that Peacocks can thrive ahead of the mid-market.
They are banking on big growth from the collection, in tandem with rising sales from its new fashion stores and its fledgling web site.
Now Peacocks is ready for take-off, it looks to fly high this Christmas.
Meanwhile, speculation that Baugur is courting US department store chain Saks was spurred on by reports from across the pond this week.
Baugur chief executive Gunnar Sigurdsson declined to comment to Retail Week on the reports, but a source close to Baugur told Retail Week that any interest that Baugur may have may not presage a full-scale takeover.
“Baugur has a history of building stakes in retailers. It owns speculative stakes and they have not always led to full bids,” the source said.
However, Baugur is not a company that sits still for long. It also has an eye on the historically tricky German market and is understood to have begun a venture with a German partner, with a view to testing the market.
However, while the US dollar remains weak, Saks must be the most attractive prey to the Icelandic hunters.
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