Jeweller F. Hinds launches new-look store at the Trafford Centre, Manchester
Interior Suppliers |
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| Shop-fitting | ITAB Interiors |
| Wall coverings | Muraspec |
| Cabinets | Gralyn Joinery |
| Carpet tiles | Milliken |
| Ceramics tiles | Porcelanosa |
Hinds was established in 1856, and remains a family owned and run independent business. Today there are 118 branches across England and Wales from the North East to Devon and West Wales to East Anglia. F. Hinds is one of the largest jewellers in the UK, with nearly 1,000 staff serving over 2 million customers every year. At the end of 2015, F. Hinds reopened their flagship Trafford Centre store after a comprehensive £300,000 re-fit.
Neil Hinds, Property Director of F. Hinds, explains the aspirations for the new look store: “We wanted to create a contemporary design appealing to the younger fashion-conscious customers who are strongly represented in regional shopping centres, without alienating core customers who know us from our traditional locations.”
To do this F. Hinds and their design team focused on several key areas: They experimented by incorporating a luxurious purple livery with crisp white ceramic tiling; created greater visibility and clearer sight lines into the store; increased the customer area with a more open layout and with new merchandise and visual displays.
“Milliken already supplied the majority of our carpet and were able to produce the colour, design and quality we required at a reasonable price,” explains Neil. “Our new store is contemporary, bright, lovely and a success! Existing customers have commented that they find it more luxurious and appealing and new customers have come in for the first time. Our staff adapted well to the more open environment and are enjoying the less formal style of interaction with customers it produces.”
Ian Suthers, Milliken National Account Manager, explains the background to the project: “The aim of this new retail design was to rebrand the company (in specific stores) to attract a younger more affluent design-focused customer. We have a longstanding relationship with F. Hinds, this informs our ability to develop and manufacture products that have met their changing needs and requirements over the years.”
Ian Suthers goes on to explain: “The client was seeking a more upmarket product and this required a design that would complement their new colour and aesthetic requirements. F. Hinds worked together with our internal carpet design team, to create a specification that complemented the other finishes in the design process such as the furniture, lighting and general décor. The carpet products installed are from our Nordic Stories and Formwork ranges. Nordic Stories was selected as it provides a textured luxurious effect at a competitive price. In terms of overall aesthetics and performance the Nordic Stories design provides an excellent level of seam-ability (the design resembles a broadloom carpet design when installed rather than a carpet tile, whilst providing all the advantages of a speedy installation and the simple replacement of worn or damaged tiles). It also provides excellent underfoot comfort (similar to a quality broadloom carpet with a quality underlay) and superb acoustics that add to overall ambience of the customer experience in store.”
Nordic Stories is produced using tufted textured loop pile yarn and Formwork is a dense high performance loop pile carpet tile. Available with cushion backing with 90 per cent recycled content which provides underfoot comfort, improved acoustics and superior appearance retention. To further reduce environmental impact, the ranges can be supplied with adhesive free installation using TractionBack® which helps reduce materials usage and saves installation time. Both ranges are also certified to meet CRI Green Label Plus and GuT standards.