Gymshark’s first flagship store is set to open on London’s Regent Street on Saturday and founder and chief executive Ben Francis says “it will be one of those days that none of us ever forget”.
Speaking to Retail Week during a sneak peek of the eagerly anticipated opening of the 18,000 sq ft store, the 30-year-old says the Regent Street location will be a success, despite the West End struggling to return to pre-Covid footfall levels.
“If you’re going to open up a flagship store anywhere in the UK this is probably the most brilliant spot you could pick,” says Francis. “We signed up to this store well over a year ago now, and our long-term ambition is to create one of the most iconic brands in the world. Regardless of whether footfall is up or down, I think this is going to be a continued iconic location in the future. And I think it reflects the brand that we want to build.”
Spread across two floors, the store houses its very own Joe & the Juice partner coffee and juice concession and has been designed from the ground up to offer customers more than just a physical retail location.
There is a dedicated “sweat room” and “pro bench” rooms, where on-site private trainers will lead daily, free exercise classes that customers can sign up for and book on the Gymshark app.
Virtually every part of the first-level retail space can be cleared to make room for classes and activities – the clothing racks can be converted into squat racks, while the flooring is gym matting. There is also a gym-standard, gender-neutral changing room for customers taking classes.
“The original brief was we wanted a store that combined community, conditioning and retail. That’s obviously difficult to nail all three things, but I think we’ve done a really good job of it,” said Francis.
However, Francis knows that the store will also ultimately have to meet revenue expectations in an increasingly grim economic environment.
“We want to be able to sell our products and you’ll see our product showcased in an amazing way. There are probably cheaper shops or streets that we could have had our first store on. And the obvious thing to do would be just to stack this place with 100% retail and try and squeeze every penny of revenue that we can from every single foot. But we wanted this to be a community hub that really demonstrates our brand”.
Upstairs, there is a dedicated events and brand activation area, changing rooms that feature customisable lighting and a bell for getting attendants’ attention, and a dedicated personal shopping area.
Until now a pureplay brand, the store has been designed to integrate seamlessly into Gymshark’s existing ecommerce ecosystem – customers will be able to make orders for delivery, return online orders and split baskets between store collection and delivery.
More to come
With the opening still days away, Francis is already thinking of the future. The boss says that he’d be “stupid” to not look for more stores if the Regent Street flagship exceeds expectations. However, he says the brand will use the store as a bed to test and learn before embarking on a property spree.
“Across our business, we work with a test-and-learn mentality. We need to try this, our first-ever flagship store. We’re well aware of the fact that certain elements we’ve incorporated into this store won’t work. They just won’t.
“If the store looks exactly the same after 12 months as it does today, then one of two things has happened. We’ve nailed every inch of the store, and got it perfect, which isn’t going to happen. Or, we haven’t listened to our customers and observed what does and doesn’t work.
“So it’s hopefully going to be a dynamic and changing place. We need to nail this and perfect this, but listen: if we’re standing here in the next few years with five, six, seven or even eight more stores across the world, that’d be a great position to be in.”
While Francis says the brand is dealing with the economic downturn in the same way other retailers are, he insists it hasn’t affected his long-term thinking for the future of the business he founded in 2012 while still at university.
“Brands aren’t built based on the short-term, they are built on the long term. I constantly talk about building a 100-year brand, and if we want to do that you have to invest during all the different cycles of the economy. You don’t just turn the taps off on your brand investment at times like this,” he says.
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