The Greatest high street retail experience........ever?!

For those of you who can remember the Jil Sander store in Savile Row, London, you'll remember the beautiful classical lines of an elegant, grand white space with a graceful black curved wall slicing through the 3 storery high void reminiscent of its historical surroundings.

Walk pass the same building today and you'll have to fight through the frenzy of cool, trendy, early adopters eager to get there hands on the new range of Abercrombie & Fitch to see a space that is truly magnificent and waking up its established neighbours! Whoever designed this store, I take my hat off to you.

Once you've finished gorping at the beautiful people and stumbled across the giant moose head you realise what all the fuss is about. Huge 4m displays with internal lighting that animate the colourful products tower over you whilst staff dance on the newly inserted mezzanine to the banging house music depicting the very essence of the A&F customer. How on earth the designers managed to convince the local authorities to let them paint the classical white interior gun-metal grey I have no idea - but it works beautifully! Strangely enough, although the space is vast it feels incredibly personal - that could be because of the leather sofas and plants bordering on a jungle but just perhaps thats the welcoming and slightly flirtatious behaviour of the people who work there making every visitor feel a little better about themselves. Whilst standing a changing room queue long enough to rival a sell out gig you wonder if A&F every dreamt this store may have been sooooo successful but for what you receive from this wonderful experience you forgive them for.

Whilst starring at one of their many hand painted sporting scenes I find myself asking just one question; 'Has this American brand been so clever to have taken a quintessentially historic English way of life and sold it back to us at a premium price, palming it off as there own...........?'

Either way, a truly wonderful space that challenges all others retailers to step up to the mark.