Hobbs Covet Garden

HOBBS, a London born and based contemporary fashion retailer, invited AB Architects to implement a holistic review and concept redesign of their Covent Garden location and examine methods and means to improve the customer experience inside the store. The HOBBS brand is inspired by the city of London and committed to capturing a modern yet classic metropolitan style, and as such, these sensibilities guided our work in our comprehensive review of their flagship store in Covent Garden. Set in the heart of Covent Garden, a major shopping and tourist destination, this showroom naturally experiences heavy footfall and reliable patronage from a loyal customer base. Due to this successful performance, HOBBS wanted not only to reconfigure the dynamics of the store to accommodate the now but to future-proof the location to secure space for further brand growth.

Following extensive consultation with the client, a strategy was conceived to rethink the layout of the store, as well as determine areas for continued work in the future. Our solutions to redesign the interior of the store according to the client's needs include improving the pedestrian flow throughout the store, re-allocating areas and creating special spaces for new uses. Our intention with these unique accents is to create an atmosphere for customers to fall in love with the brand through our design work­– to be invited in to shop with style and comfort.

Together with a specific design process aimed at improving in-store customer experience, we have also suggested opening up the windows to expose key parts of the floor from the exterior visually, thus generating interest on the street by creating a layered and intriguing perspective into the shop from the ground level.