2024 brought a range of new and innovative bricks-and-mortar stores to each corner of the country. As the year comes to an end, let’s revisit some of the best new stores that opened their doors
Pure Seoul, Westfield White City, London
Pure Seoul expanded out from its original Soho location and opened a beauty haven in Westfield White City in February. The immersive store aims to give K-beauty fans a calming shopping experience, and over 1,000 fans lined up to attend the launch.
Pure Seoul, which specialised in Korean skincare, makeup and haircare products, has since expanded with new stores in Manchester and Birmingham.
Søstrene Grene, Westgate shopping centre, Oxford
After opening its central London store in Tottenham Court Road last winter, Danish homeware retailer Søstrene Grene launched a new store in Westgate shopping centre, Oxford in August.
The Scandi-inspired brand offers a range of craft & hobby items, lifestyle products and interior design items. The brand has lofty ambitions for the UK market, and this launch was part of its plans to reach 100 locations in the UK by 2030, with more than 300 stores worldwide currently.
Uniqlo, Princes Street, Edinburgh
For its flagship store in Scotland, Uniqlo chose to open in the historic capital city of Edinburgh.
The 15,000 sq ft site is inside a modernist purpose-built retail space designed by Johnson-Marshall and Partners in 1965, which features a natural stone staircase in the centre and offers views of Edinburgh Castle from the glass-fronted first floor.
It also features an in-store cafe in partnership with London-based Japanese tearoom Katsute100, a children’s play area and a personalisation bar, which kicked off the opening by offering shoppers limited edition embroidery in partnership with the nation’s other national drink, Irn Bru.
Go Outdoors, York
The new store, located on a former John Lewis site, spans more than 125,000 sq ft of retail space and is big enough to fit two football pitches and 25 five-a-side pitches.
The store houses more than 380 brands covering walking, camping and caravanning, watersports, running, fishing, horse riding, and climbing, with over 30 branded concession areas.
Brands include stalwarts such as Adidas, Dickies, Salomon, Merrell and Oakley, as well as a range of newer brands including Sweaty Betty, Under Armour, Regatta X Orla Kiely, Crew Clothing, Hunter, Spotty Otter, Thule and Kärcher.
Dunelm, Westfield, London
Dunelm made its debut in the centre of the capital in December, with a new smaller-format store in Westfield London.
The 4,500 sq ft store showcases Dunelm’s home and furniture categories through new visual merchandising and includes the retailer’s latest collections and collaborations.
NBA Store, Oxford Street, London
In April this year The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Lids, a Fanatics company and global leader in licensed sports merchandise, announced that the NBA Store in London relocated from Foubert’s Place in Soho to a larger location on Oxford Street.
The new store is nearly 9,000 sq ft and has three floors, with interactive and community space retail features.
The store offers “LED screens showing NBA highlights, interviews, analysis and social media content, as well as measure-ups and handprints of notable NBA players and legends.”
Pets at Home, Brentford, London
Pets at Home unveiled a ‘customer-centric’ new concept store in Brentford in August this year.
The store features a new health and wellbeing section, sit-down consultation areas, a new nutrition centre and even a premium pick-and-mix treat bar.
Aiming to “deliver a truly customer-centric experience for pet owners” the group invested over £1m in refurbishing and enhancing the new Brentford Pet Care Centre.
Sports Direct, Cardiff
Sports Direct opened a new 60,000 sq ft flagship store in February in Cardiff this year.
The store is the group’s fourth flagship store and contains the chain’s usual sportswear and a range of outdoor activity wear.
The new outdoor concept was inspired by an “appetite for outdoor adventurers”, with the group wanting to provide “consumers with an unrivalled retail experience through trail running, trekking, hiking and beyond”.
Marks & Spencer, Battersea Power Station
Marks & Spencer opened its first standalone clothing store in the London power station this December.
M&S said that the new shop, offers shoppers “plenty of style inspiration with the latest collections across womenswear and menswear, and dedicated, neon-lit areas to spotlight M&S customer favourites” including Jaeger and Autograph.
The shop is 8,400 sq ft, and part of a £30m investment in stores in London this financial year.
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