Selfridges opens its Christmas Shop

Selfridges unveiled its new Christmas Shop on the fourth floor of its flagship branch last Monday (July 29).

The retailer claims to be the first department store in the world to launch its Christmas Shop – 149 days before Christmas Day.

As in previous years, Selfridges launches its Christmas Shop in two phases. The first phase launched on Monday with 100 more product lines than in 2018, bringing the total choice to well over 600 lines.

Phase two is set to launch on September 2 with the complete, full-scale product offer of 3,500 lines across baubles, ornaments, decorations, Christmas trees and festive stationery. Most of the items from the Christmas Shop are either handmade or finished by hand, with some ranges made in the UK. There are also six new sustainable brands across categories that include decorations, gift wrap and Christmas cards.

The most expensive product sold currently is a 30cm tall ‘Santa Yoga’ figurine priced at £100. Come September, among the most expensive items sold from the Christmas Shop will be a pre-lit Bedminster fake Christmas tree at £2,000.

The Selfridges Christmas Shop will house a selection of contemporary decorations under six key themes:

Future Fantasy: This theme will include neon hues that contrast with silvers and icy blues. Decorations will range from twinkling stars to detailed planets. Exclusive decorations include neon paint-splattered baubles by Eat Pray Pedal (£35) which are made by hand, take over 20 hours to complete and are all unique. The small artisan London-based brand also produces hand-made crackers (from £12).

Celebrity: London and its iconic figures are featured as handmade decorations (David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and Prince Baubles from £5) and the Icon Crackers (£50) which include Anna Wintour, Audrey Hepburn and Elton John.

Feast: This colour scheme includes festive reds and golds, along with miniature food baubles such as glistening figs, aubergines, glittering garlic bulbs and a whole roast Christmas turkey (from £14).

Santa’s Day Off: This the largest decorations story. Comprised of 145 options, it showcases leisure pursuits that Santa gets up to when he’s not busy delivering presents such as, surfing, snowboarding and weightlifting.

Midnight Jungle: With Christmas parties in mind, the Midnight Jungle collection ‘oozes sophistication’ with emerald green and deep purple tones. The collection also includes gold leaves and glittered ferns as well as exotic birds, tigers and cheetahs (from £20).

Oyster: Inspired by champagne tones and pearlescent finishes, hero decorations include large silver and gold sequined icicles and a shimmering oyster with pearl (From £14).

This year, and for the first time, Selfridges will introduce its own Christmas themed range: a collection of bespoke baubles representative of the brand itself, with eight options including some items symbolic of the retailer such as Selfridges’ yellow shopping bag and a silver Pegasus inspired by Damien Hirst’s hanging sculpture located in Selfridges newest restaurant, the Brasserie of Light (from £17).

Selfridges said: ‘The on-going commercial success of the summer launch of our Christmas Shop translates into year-on-year record sales, driven by both domestic early Christmas shoppers and souvenir-hunting overseas customers, keen on taking home mementos of a London Christmas.’

Selfridges Christmas & home buyer Eleanor Gregory explained: “We’ve been opening the doors to our Christmas Shop during the summer for many years and our customers consider Selfridges a real destination for fans of Christmas and festive decorations within and outside the UK. Some customers return to us year after year, excited at the prospect of discovering the new ranges and adding to their collections.

“We have so many customers visiting from all over the world, eager to snap up festive decorations and souvenirs during their London summer holidays which they can’t buy at home. So, we make sure we’re ready to showcase Christmas decorations they will truly treasure.

“This year, we are excited to introduce the Selfridges decoration range and hope customers will enjoy taking a small piece of the store home with them after their visit to the Christmas Shop.

“Our summer Christmas shop launch simply addresses the growing demand for convenience Christmas shopping outside the traditional Christmas season from many of our customers – they include a large number of domestic customers who love to Christmas shop very early in the year to get it wrapped and taken off their to-do list. They also tell us that they like to be able to take their pick of the very best selection available, whilst the range we offer is at its most comprehensive.”

 

PHOTO: MATT WRITTLE/SELFRIDGES
© copyright Matt Writtle 2019