Playboy opened its first standalone European store this week on London’s Oxford Street.

Occupying three floors, the 4,000 sq ft (370 sq m) shop has been 18 months in the making and cost about£2.5 million to put together, according to Christopher Chronis, director and licence-holder for the brand’s Australia and New Zealand operation, where Playboy operates solus stores in Melbourne and Auckland. The London shop has been designed by Melbourne-based consultancy PHD and most fixtures and fittings were built in Australia and then shipped to the UK.

The store’s three levels are linked by a bespoke spiral staircase formed of stone, stainless steel and glass and cost£230,000 to manufacture and install. Chronis said that the intention was to have a feature at the back of the store with sufficient appeal to “compel” shoppers to visit the other floors. He added that the aim in the first year is for the store to take “about£3 million”.

The basement is used to display Playboy homewares and features an interlinked 40mm clear Perspex shelving system, based on the shape of the surround to the brand’s logo. Shelves are contained within internally-illuminated recesses around
the perimeter.

Chronis said that the store’s designers had attempted to create completely different atmospheres for each of the floors. A new range of sportswear, dubbed Physical, is displayed at the base of the staircase. The colour scheme for this area is “black magic” – a dark purple – while the flooring features high-gloss black-stained floorboards and a carpet with the Playboy logo set in the middle.

The ground level is stocked with men’s and women’s apparel and uses white pearlised metal as the principal colour. The floor is covered with cream terrazzo tiling with metal flecking.

Upstairs is the legacy collection – a range of merchandise designed to trade on Playboy’s heritage. Prices start at about£200 and run to£38,000 for artwork and two tickets to a Playboy “mansion party”. The floor is distinguished by the purple quilted walls that have been created from a series of soft, padded bricks.

The London shop is the world’s largest Playboy store. If it proves successful, Chronis said that he would be seeking to open further stores in Europe.

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