Selfridges to open members' club as battle for big spenders heats up

Times

2 days ago

Selfridges is set to transform its internal offices into a members' club for VIP shoppers as the battle for big spenders continues to intensify.
The department store on Oxford Street received approval earlier this week to turn part of the fourth floor, which currently houses staff, into an 'exclusive new shopping and social destination for its most valued customers and members'.
A current staff terrace will be given a glamorous makeover, including a retractable canopy.
However, noisy parties will be off the agenda: Westminster city council, the local authority, has banned amplified music in the new space, in case it disturbs the far from famous peace and quiet of the West End.
The move by Selfridges, reported by Bloomberg, is the latest example of retailers offering more than just shopping in their efforts to attract customers.
Many department stores are looking to re-energise their spaces with cafes, experiences and restaurants. John Lewis, a few hundred yards along Oxford Street, has opened a rooftop bar and kitchen and houses a Jamie Oliver-backed café, as well as a number of spas.
Primark, meanwhile, has opened a Greggs on the top floor of its own Oxford Street flagship.
Oxford Street itself is set for a transformation after Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, confirmed plans to push through the pedestrianisation of the street, from the western edge of Selfridges to the eastern end of the new Ikea, just off Oxford Circus.
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The mayor will deliver the scheme via a mayoral development corporation, which effectively means taking oversight of Oxford Street away from Westminster city council and into City Hall, a move the council fought tooth and nail.
Efforts are also under way to transform the retail mix of the area, with the sudden emergence of dozens of low-quality 'American candy stores' causing consternation amongst higher-end retailers on the street.
An initiative led by the retail consultancy Someday Studios and backed by Westminster has seen a host of emerging start-ups and creatives placed into temporary space on and around Oxford Street in an effort to increase footfall and create a more diverse collection of retailers in the area.
Selfridges' members' club would, the department store will surely hope, give the retailer a competitive advantage among the world's richest. London's luxury businesses have been hit hard by the removal of tax-free shopping by the last government. Previously, international travellers were able to claim back VAT on big-ticket purchases made in the capital.
That perk remains in place across the rest of Europe, and Paris and Milan's high-end retailers in particular are benefiting from the world's wealthiest choosing to make their most indulgent purchases on the continent.
Despite heavy lobbying and economic modelling which suggests the end of VAT-free shopping will in fact cost the Treasury £2.3 billion as tourists shop — and stay — elsewhere, the government seems so far unmoved.
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Selfridges, for its part, is entering an ever more competitive space, with a host of new private members' clubs emerging in London post-pandemic.
The Twenty Two has opened just a short walk away, the Maison Estelle is soon to open an outpost in Notting Hill called Celeste and in west London, the recently reopened Kensington Roof Gardens has become something of an A-list hangout.