Habitat UK country manager Ruth Dangerfield said that the new-look store, which opened at Manchester’s Barton Square last week, would form the blueprint for the roll-out.
The 16,000 sq ft (1,485 sq m) single-level store focuses on Habitat’s core living, dining and bedroom furniture, as well as home accessories.
Dangerfield said: “We have three key furniture areas, but there has not always been space to see the full bedroom range,” she said. “We have created a shop-in-shop format where, for example, the bedroom section could stand on its own as a specialist bedroom shop would.”
The Manchester store has given greater space to furniture and increased the density of its home accessories area.
Habitat tested elements of the new-format at its Regent Street, Finchley Road and Cheltenham stores. Dangerfield said the new stores, which opened last year, are generating a 30 per cent rise in like-for-likes and the Manchester store shows “all the new elements under one roof”. She added: “We will take these learnings into the whole portfolio.”
Habitat will open at White City’s Westfield London scheme in autumn and plans to roll out a refurbishment programme to the rest of its 38-store portfolio.
* Furniture retailer Dwell, which also opened at Barton Square last week, wants to open in every major UK city. It has seven stores.
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