Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Habitat launched its 35th – and largest – new Mini Habitat store last month.
The 5,600sq ft concept store in Chichester is the largest to be opened by the housewares chain, since it started rolling out its Mini Habitat project in Homebase stores in 2012.
The new space will showcase a new retail concept developed by Habitat creative director Polly Dickens, creative manager Graham Copeland and in-house designer Matthew Long.
With more than 1,300 products from the Habitat collection including furniture, upholstery, homewares, textile and lighting, the store design includes bespoke fixturing designed to enhance the sense of space and light. It uses digital technology which aims to create ‘an immersive store environment’ for customers by incorporating interactive touch screens and video walls. New design elements include checkerboard flooring, a statement chair wall featuring best-selling designs, and a large gallery space, as well as a new cash desk design.
Habitat managing director Clare Askem said: “The Mini Habitat project has allowed us to extend our physical presence across the whole of the UK, making us more accessible than ever, with 38 different store locations. These stores have supported strong sales growth for us and this year we’re looking to continue this expansion, meaning that customers are able to interact with Habitat products and staff more conveniently in locations stretching from Cornwall up to Scotland.”
She added: “As our digital business continues to grow, we’re seeing that there is still a demand from consumers for physical showrooms that allow interaction with product before purchase, and allow shoppers to immerse themselves in a Habitat environment. Chichester is a particularly exciting project as it offers us an opportunity to trial a new visual concept for these stores on a much larger scale and means that we can look to incorporate successful new elements from this design into our other Mini and flagship stores in the future.”
Mini Habitat Chichester is now open at Homebase in Discovery Park, Barnfield Drive.
