LONDON — Space NK plans to open a flagship in the beating heart of London’s West End on the site that was formerly home to Topshop.
The store, at 214 Oxford Circus, spans 4,600 square feet and is set to open in the second half. It will be on one floor and occupy what is now Hus of Frakta, Ikea’s cheeky pop-up that’s meant to mimic a high-end lifestyle brand.
As reported, a permanent Ikea city center store is set to open in the same building later this year.
In an interview, Space NK‘s chief executive officer Andy Lightfoot said that while the interiors will look familiar to customers, there will be a host of new features including a fully staffed fragrance bar and special areas that focus on single, high-demand categories where customers can play and experiment with products such as lip balms and body sprays.
“There will be interactive features and visual elements, all designed to engage and excite customers. We want it to be a social experience and to embrace this idea of people shopping with friends,” Lightfoot said.
“We want our customers trying products, but in a very Space NK way. We’ll deliver our expertise, products — and things that maybe they won’t have experienced before,” he added.
Andy Lightfoot
Image Courtesy of Jon Bradley Photography Ltd.
The Oxford Circus store is a big step up for Space NK in the West End. The brand currently has a small shop on Regent Street, which measures well under 1,000 square feet “and is working very, very hard,” Lightfoot said.
The move reflects the company’s growth, and ambitions.
Lightfoot said revenue is set to rise more than 30 percent in fiscal 2024-25. Sales at like-for-like stores are up 20 percent, while online is growing between 30 to 40 percent.
Space NK is a private company that does not disclose financial figures, but according to Companies House, the brand’s U.K. sales were nearly 200 million pounds in the year to March 2024, while profits were in excess of 7 million pounds.
Space NK plans to open 11 stores in the U.K. and Ireland this year. Even before it unveils Oxford Circus, it will open its largest store outside London, at the Bullring in Birmingham this summer.
That unit measures 4,400 square feet over two floors, and Lightfoot said it was a long time coming.
“Birmingham is our number-one e-commerce market where we don’t have a [physical] store, and it was the most requested location for a new store opening. Customers are going to be rewarded for waiting so long, and the store will offer all of our new concepts as well,” he said.
Oxford Circus in London.
Manuel Valcarce/WWD
Lightfoot added that by the end of the year Space NK will have a total of 88 stores, seven of which will be new, with four existing units moving to larger locations.
Lightfoot said he’s keen to continue opening stores “because the vast majority of people’s wallets is spent within a five-mile radius of where they live. When you’re looking to penetrate the U.K., you go where the customers are,” he said.
“We are in the big shopping centers, and now in Oxford Circus and the Bullring, but 60 of our stores are in premium neighborhoods and towns where our customers live,” he added.
The business is also being fueled by a shift in “the social currency of beauty,” according to Lightfoot.
He said there is “enormous demand” from a younger cohort of customers who want to own certain products — from brands such as Sol de Janeiro and Summer Fridays — even if they don’t plan to use them.
He added there is “significant demand across the spectrum for full beauty. Customers are looking for efficacious products and for personal, niche fragrances and unique smells that no one else has.”
