A NEAT CONCEPT
CONCEPT STORES
THE GOODHOOD STORE
East London brand Goodhood reinvents the department store set-up for the Shoreditch crowd. Everything it stocks – from sweatshirts to tasteful smellies, stationery to stylish slippers – showcases its knack for the niche. Once you’re done exploring every nook and cranny, the in-store café is on hand with flat whites for fatigued shoppers.
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151 Curtain Road, EC2A 3QE.
020 7729 3600
ALEX EAGLE
Former fashion journalist turned design golden girl Alex Eagle is as sharp eyed as her name suggests and her Lexington Street address is in the little black book of every arbiter of taste in London. Cottage industry design collaborations and Picasso plates sit comfortably with clothes from the likes of Lemaire, Vita Kin and Eagle’s own line of androgynous womenswear.
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6-10 Lexington Street, W1F 0LB.
020 7589 0588
DOVER ST MARKET
This ground-breaking retail playground is always full of surprises – the biggest of which came in 2016, when Dover Street Market relocated from its namesake street to the West End. The current DSM universe is roughly three times bigger and carries a wealth of achingly cool brands including Craig Green and Gosha Rubchinskiy, alongside an in-store bakery and ever-changing art installations.
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18-22 Haymarket, SW1Y 4DG.
020 7518 0680
UNTO THIS LAST
Tagged as a workshop in the city, this hyper-local homeware concept sits at the lesser-frequented tip of Brick Lane and is the hipster’s answer to Ikea. Sort of. Its USP is simplistic furniture solutions with a Scandi flavour – the showroom is decked almost exclusively in plywood pieces with white laminate accents – and the opportunity to watch its skilled carpenters create them on site.
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230 Brick Lane, E2 7EB.
0207 613 0882
OTHER/SHOP
Offering an antidote to the big brand chains of neighbouring Oxford Street and Regent Street, Soho’s OTHER/shop provides a platform for little known labels. Founded by former b Store directors Matthew Murphy and Kirk Beattie, here you will find wearable – but never generic – clothes from its own label as well as plimsolls by Stockholm’s Eytys and playful knits by Peter Jensen. They also have excellent taste in potted plants.
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21 Kingly Street, W1B 5QA.
020 7734 6846
MACHINE A
Run by Stavros Karelis and esteemed stylist Anna Trevelyan, Machine-A injects a jolt of creative energy into Soho’s increasingly homogenised retail horizon. The crème de la crème of London’s hot young fashion set – Christopher Shannon, Claire Barrow, Nasir Mazhar – find themselves in good company alongside insider heavyweights such as Raf Simons. But most exciting are the grassroots labels: Machine-A is not afraid to take a gamble on the next fresh-out-of-fashion-school star.
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13 Brewer Street, W1F 0RH.
020 7734 4334
THE SHOP AT BLUEBIRD
This iconic West London hotspot is a favourite with the Made in Chelsea crowd. But don’t hold that against it. A trip to Bluebird is rewarded with a sanctuary of well-considered pieces – from luxury labels to coffee table books – occupying an impressive 10,000-square-foot shop floor. Owners John and Belle Robinson (the brains behind British high street chain Jigsaw) also masterminded Mayfair’s chic shopping hub Duke Street Emporium.
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350 King’s Road, SW3 5UU.
020 7351 3873
SELFRIDGES
The great-grandfather of concept stores, Harry Gordon Selfridge’s dream was to create a shop which was more than just a place where you could buy stuff, but where visitors could be entertained while they part with their hard earned cash. More than 100 years on and this iconic department store is still pushing the retail envelope. Recent attractions have included a carpark service station with cult handbag designer Anya Hindmarch, and a gender-neutral clothing floor.
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400 Oxford Street, W1A 1AB.
0800 123 400
LN-CC
There are few boutiques in London that command as much respect among fashion’s inner circle as Late Night Chameleon Café. Having earned its reputation as a retail risk-taker with a sixth sense for the Next Big Thing, this exclusive place of brand worship requires you to book an appointment to walk its hallowed halls. Feel free to turn up on a whim, but there’s no guarantee that someone will answer the doorbell.
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18-24 Shacklewell Lane, E8 2EZ.
020 3174 0744
LUNA & CURIOUS
This independent shop on Shoreditch’s cool Calvert Avenue was opened ten years ago by a collective of young artisans – ceramicists Polly George and Kaoru Parry and jeweller Rheanna Lingham. Their stock, which includes witty English teacups and beautiful feathered necklaces, take pride of place in their miniature department store, alongside a melting pot of fresh talent. Architectural hoops by minimalist jeweller Jenny Sweetnam, made in England bags from M.Hulot and lotions from social enterprise The Soap Co., which employs blind and disabled people in its East London workshop, are just a handful of the brands which have been lovingly sourced by the trio. The boutique also recently introduced its own line of knitwear and home accessories, which includes bright baby blankets and handmade scented candles. In essence, it’s a gift-hunters dream.
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24-26 Calvert Avenue, E2 7JP.
020 3222 0034
