British home stores has been a staple on the British high street since 1928 trading under the name BHS, However since the early nineties the company has become dated

and unappealing to a younger market that is so sought after by the rest of the high street. Yet the year 2009 was a major mile stone for BHS as owner Philip Green merged the

company with his other brand Arcadia, which would see the brand BHS benefit from all the aspects of Arcadia branding and promotion team.

BHS offers the customer, stylish clothes ranges and home ware at outstanding value. The household name has over 185 stores nationwide including a number of standalone home

stores.

The new 2011 concept for British home stores is to create a strong retail environment that will attract a younger customer base with¬out excluding the current clientele; the

main focus of this concept redevelopment will focus on attracting as younger male market between the ages of 25 – 35.

As Bhs is such a well known household name that has seen massive improvements in recent times. It seemed wrong to rename the company completely, so the idea is go back to basics

with the name back to the original, British home stores. A strong affective logo has been created which reflects back to the high street chains heyday.

The concept for BHS is to create a British heritage store, a store that can sit on the British high street proudly and stand out from its competitors. The store visual merchandising scheme

looks through the history of Britain and everything that has made it great! Looking at industries such as tailoring and carpentry have influenced this concept greatly. Using different accepts of British industry a unique and eye catching visual display for the brand has been

created.

The menswear department will be made up of rich colours and solid textures, such as wood and metal. The trends that will be sold will be displayed in their own unique environment within the department, the creation of a definition between the suiting and everyday es-sentials etc will lead the customer around the department as a whole and all will be focused around a central fitting area, where possible nationwide. The use of furniture, rugs and light-

ing will give this men’s wear department a unique feel and look.

The visual merchandising for window displays will require a 3 metre by 2 metre window space where possible, this is so that the new concept perfectly suited can be shown to its full advan-tage, and also the display will take up a prime window space with a high footfall passing by to ensure the maximum publicity. The British home stores menswear brand will take control of the prime window display area for 3 months before its handed back to the highest profit maker, woman’s wear. This will ensure that the new menswear within store has been seen by thousands of people passing by, engaging the customers with its exciting Styling, product ranges and unique personality. This will be reflected with the use of props relating to British

heritage, such as sewing machine and tailors mannequins.

In store visual merchandising will lead the customer around the department and engage the consumer with the products, which will be displayed in a unique style giving British home stores an exclusive look. This will also have elements of British heritage and consist of props

and styled mannequins.

Signage will be clear and will integrate the new branding name British home Store, the new name is bold and firmly lets the customer know that British home stores is back, bigger and better. However the colour scheme will accent the trends at the time and relate back to the original concept British Heritage the first menswear colour scheme is gold. The external branding on the building will play a massive part of attracting customer. The signage will stand out on the high street, the bold text will ensure to create some attention for the passer by.

The department will also become a technology haven, by installing the latest digital visual merchandising and unique personalized fitting rooms that will cater for all customer

personalities.

The introduction of technology into the department will create a certain buzz for the cus-tomer; the unique hanger system is something that has never been seen before on the high street. When the customer enters the teamlab area of British home stores menswear they will be met by a truly amazing experience. There will be plasma screens built into the panels on the wall. When a customer picks up an item from the rack, the hanger system will notify the store computer to immediately show a video of the corresponding clothes on a screen

that is closest to the customer.

The idea of TEAMLAB Hanger is to use common customer behaviour as an interface. Not only does the TEAMLAB hanger not obstruct with the normal shopping experience, but make it

informative by providing relevant informa¬tion on screen. The system aims to eliminate boring static mannequins, and create an interactive experience such as combination of light, ambient music and video. The system works equally well in small space. From the store’s per-spective, the hanger can collect valuable customer behavioural informa¬tion, such as number

of pick-ups per item, duration, location, etc.

The fitting rooms will tailor to each of its customer needs when they take the decision to try one of the fantastic fashion options that will be located within the new menswear depart-ment. Each of the fitting rooms will feature oversized dark wooden doors and will be located in the centre of the department where possible. When the customer enters the fitting room they will be met by a white room with three large full length mirrors. Lighting will be inte-grated into the white floor and ceiling that will allow the customers to change the lighting to accent the outfit to a time and place that they may wear this. The customer will control this

by a lighting pad system incorporated into the wall.

Fixtures and fittings throughout the menswear department will be made bespoke, the design of this department will have to allow for the development within the rest of the store, and so designing fittings such as wall panels that can be removed and placed elsewhere with ease is a high priority the design of the fixtures and fitting will relate to the new concept for British

home stores.

The launch of the new concept will go live into the British home stores Newcastle, this event will including a in store fashion show and launch party that will show¬case the best of the brand. Invites will be sent out to existing customer though the brand relationship with Mas-terCard. As each customer receives there monthly statement they will also receive an invite to the grand opening, also alone side this there will be a advertisement using clean graffiti to

promote the brand.

Advertising campaigns and product placement will run in local and national newspapers also campaigns will run through magazines such as, GQ and esquire for men’s wear, Red and Marie Claire for woman’s wear and lifestyle magazines for the home departments this will enhance

the brands awareness to the public.

Press releases will be used to communication latest trends and store develop¬ment within the media; these will be sent electronically via email. Customers who have chosen to be on the mailing list or social networking sites will receive a press release and look book to keep them

updated on the latest trends at British home stores.