Urban Outfitters opens its doors in London

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: MELANIE ANDERSON
Urban Outfitters opened its doors to Londoners on January 31. The front display is inspired by the ’90s, and offers a bohemian ‘free-loving’ feel.

With bright lights, large colourful displays and new spring fashion, Urban Outfitters welcomed Londoners into their new store. The 10,000 square-foot store opened on January 31, making it one of the biggest on Richmond Row. The company has been constructing the new store at the corner of Richmond and Oxford Streets since last spring.

Approximately 50 employees have been working around the clock for a week to unpack merchandise, fold clothes and get the store ready for shoppers. District manager Sarah Leising said it's pretty amazing to see the store go from a concrete box (which housed a Blockbuster store) to what it is now. “Urban Outfitters has a very intricate store opening process: there's a construction team that comes in and actually does the basic setup for the store. Display artists come in from all over the country and the U.S. and do the art layer, which you would consider any of the fun, pretty stuff that gets put up.”

The Oxford/Richmond area is very student-centric, with several popular bus routes departing from there. The youth-focused store will no doubt be popular among students, who, according to Leising, are hoping to be stand out.

“Just in general students tend to love the vibe of the store, the displays call to people who want to be a little bit different and not shop at the mall.”

First-year Early Childhood Education student at Fanshawe Megan French loves the store, but is worried that it may become too popular.

“One of the main reasons I like it is because not a lot of people here wear it since there was only one in Toronto. Now everyone in London will be wearing it, so I'm not thrilled about it opening in London. It's the same thing that happened with Forever 21; now whenever I go out, I see three girls wearing the same shirt from there.”

Courtney Stocks is doing her Masters in Kinesiology at Western. She said that living nearby the new store may be dangerous for her bank account. “I love the store; it's literally in the parking lot of my apartment, so on a Friday night, I can just go downstairs and find a shirt to wear that night.”

The new two-storey location offers men's and women's clothing, accessories and shoes. It also sells albums, records, books and knick-knacks. Unlike other larger Urban Outfitters stores, it doesn't have an extensive housewares section.

Leising described the current style in the store, “Women's is very '90s inspired, as you can tell from walking around. We have a girl power concept, which is based on your Drew Barrymore from the '90s and then acid rain which is more of a bohemian ‘free-loving' kind of feel.”

On February 7, the store is hosting a grand opening party featuring three bands: Eternal Summers, The Elwins, and Richie Blackz. The bands will play in-store from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information on Urban Outfitters or to shop online, visit urbanoutfitters.com.