Store of the week: Simon Carter Accessories, Mayfair

Now the designer, who also creates accessories collections for the likes of Marks & Spencer’s Autograph brand, has opened a standalone accessories shop in the cosseted environs of London’s Shepherd Market in the heart of Mayfair.

The single-floor store is a modest 430 sq ft space that used to be a butcher’s shop and is typical of the small shops that fill this largely pedestrianised warren of small streets and alleyways.

Externally, this is a low-key shopfront: white with dark surrounds for the wooden windows. But within, this shop packs a punch. Clean, bleached wooden floors and white and stainless steel fixturing create an unobtrusive setting for the stock, with highlights being the tall, antique brass display cabinet that is home to watches and time pieces – a central part of the Simon Carter offer.

There is also considerable visual merchandising bravery in putting socks at the centre of this kind of environment.

The obvious thing in an accessories store is to put your more expensive merchandise in the centre. But perhaps owing to the flashy nature of the hosiery that’s on offer, cufflinks, flashy silk ties et al are found around the perimeter.

Mayfair remains one of the few places where booted and suited types abound and the casual revolution has yet to take hold. There are a lot of accessories and shirt offers in London, many of which suffer from being a mite ‘me too’, but it seems reasonable to assume Simon Carter will stay the course.