Which were the most outstanding new stores to open in the last 3 months? We asked store design expert, John Ryan, Managing director, Newstores, for his selection. 

RH (Restoration Hardware), Le Bon Marché, Paris 

What used to be Abercrombie & Fitch on Paris’ Champs Élysées is now RH, the upscale interior décor and furniture outfit. The latest “Gallery” (RH speak for a store), measuring 3,900 sq m, is located in a building created in 1983, but which looks as if it was part of the French capital’s mid-19th century building boom, complete with a long, greenery-flanked, path to the entrance. Within, the dark wood and moody feel that characterised the A&F interior has been replaced by a central void, criss-crossed by Belle Epoque-style staircases lending the thought that perhaps RH’s store design team may have visited Left Bank department store Le Bon Marché. Topped by a skyline restaurant with Eiffel Tower views, this one looks set to attract the rich, powerful and perhaps just those who want to enjoy a sense of the City of Light ‘s glamour. 

M&S Food Hall, the Pantheon, Oxford Street, London 

The latest available numbers about the state of the UK grocery market show that in spite of a cyber-setback, Marks & Spencer’s food offer continues to attract ever more shoppers. This is clearly evident in the newly revamped food hall in the basement of the retailer’s Pantheon store on Oxford Street. Given the nature of those who are likely to visit this one, it would be easy to label it an outsize ‘convenience’ store. Yet the 2,127 sq m (including a 325 sq m coffee shop) floor is more than this thanks to a raft of new finishes and treatments. These range from concrete-skimmed perimeter panels, serving as the base for modish graphics, to outsize food-porn screens at the Food Hall’s two street-level entrances, drawing shoppers down into the depths. All this and one of the largest in-store bakeries in the M&S portfolio. 

Country Road, CBD, Brisbane 

Times may have been tough recently for Aussie retailers, but this has not prevented Melbourne-based fashion and lifestyle chain Country Road from opening what is probably the best-looking new store in ‘Brisvegas’ to see the light of day in 2025. Housed in a large neoclassical building that used to be a branch of the Bank of New South Wales (Brisbane is the capital of fiercely state-proud Queensland) in the middle of the CBD, this store is an exercise in taking a piece of architectural heritage, keeping that sense while adding a neutral contemporary fitout that makes the stock, as much as the store, the star.  Marble and wood do service to make this a reality with clothing being on the ground floor, while the balustraded upper level, accessed by a grand central staircase, is the setting for the homewares offer.   

Zara, Calle Serrano, Madrid 

Flagship is a term that has been much diluted over the past decade, to the point where any larger than average store is given the label. Yet the multi-floor Zara branch on central Madrid’s Calle Serrano really is a thing that could be the proud leader of a retail fleet. The store has in fact recently emerged from a root and branch makeover and “El Apartamento” on the fourth floor, styled to look like a piece of Castilian architecture, is what really sets this swish interior apart from others in the chain. With repurposed wooden beams and artisan-style mats, this feels like a piece of self-conscious designer boho and the merchandise teams have been careful to ensure that the floor has a more aspirational appeal than the rest of the store. That said, the other floors are as swish as shoppers have come to expect from the fashion giant from Galicia.   

La Beauté Louis Vuitton, SoHo, New York City 

When is a pop-up not a pop-up? Well, it does rather depend on whether you view the terms pop-up and temporary store as being one and the same. La Beauté Louis Vuitton is the LVMH brand’s first, it does seem a little late to the party, foray into the world of cosmetics and as part of the launch it has opened a small store in NYC’s SoHo district in Lower Manhattan that will trade until the end of the year. Located on Prince Street, the store features curved walls, bright red and a high-gloss take on modernism. There is, in fact, relatively little stock, given the diminutive nature of the product range, but that said, the setting does make the most of what there is. It is also worth remarking that this one is not for the faint of wallet.  

House of H&M, Shanghai 

When does a retailer become a brand? In fashion, there are a lot of shops to choose from, but those that successfully achieve brand status are relatively thin on the ground. H&M is attempting to make the transition with its newly opened store in Shanghai, which has a more upscale feel and is dubbed “House of H&M”, functioning in some ways like a department store with a lot more than simply price-conscious fashion and a smattering of home products. Practically, this means there is an H&M Flower Shop, an H&M&SPACE for exhibitions, and an H&M Live-Streaming Studio, as well as the café and the ‘brand’s’ fashion and clothing offers. Worth noting too is that this store was the site of the first H&M in China when it opened in 2007. It closed during Covid and has now reopened, having been re-leased.    

Newstores delivers daily updates on new store designs and formats from around the world. For more information go to: www.newstores.co.uk