Opinion: Was Uniqlo's Oxford Street overhaul worth the wait?

It’s taken over a year to complete and has come at the expense of a significant sacrifice of turnover. Oh yes, and there is the little matter of the rent that will have had to be paid while the store was providing no return whatsoever.

That is the finely balanced equation that the management at Uniqlo have faced as they remodelled the store at 311 Oxford Street.

Now the job is done and the Uniqlo “global flagship” on London’s Oxford Street reopened early on Friday – at 8am to be precise – welcoming hordes of shoppers and sightseers who were handed flyers at Oxford Circus tube promising in-store goodies.

The shop was predictably busy. Well, why wouldn’t it be? For those working in the area the final removal of the hoardings outside was always going to be something of an event.

And for visitors walking through the doors, this was certainly a different interior from the last time they crossed the threshold. There is even a separate entrance to gain fast access to the top two floors, home to a new concept area called “Wearhouse”.

Scrolling red dot matrix displays, numerous light boxes and massive mid-shop glass cases showcasing mannequins were among the many changes.

And all this before shoppers reached the top of the shop where two new floors and a roof terrace had been added, offering something completely different from the Uniqlo norm.

Customer experience

Yet, the truth of the matter is that this is a narrow store that appears to have been made narrower by the relocation of the escalators to the middle of the shop, something that Primark has also done in many of its stores.

“Uniqlo’s “global flagship” is about giving shoppers reasons to come back, with change being a constant and a level of service that is above the mid-market norm”

John Ryan

But it is an experience and one that once encountered is likely to be repeated time after time.

The reason this is the case is that as well as a brand new interior, there was a fountain of Liberty print-covered boxes at the front of the store – part of a curtain-raising tie-up with the London department store set to appear across all Uniqlo stores this week.

This will be around for a short time only and then the store will move on to something else.

Uniqlo’s new “global flagship” may feature an impressive, shiny new interior, but it is also about giving shoppers reasons to come back, with change being a constant and a level of service that is above the mid-market norm.

It is egalitarian retail excitement, has been worth the wait and will repay the substantial investment.