The Yard Creative announces trial concept with John Lewis

London, United Kingdom, 24th March 2023 – The Yard Creative has today announced its partnership with John Lewis on their newly redesigned Horsham store layout that opened mid-March. Moving to a ‘trial’ approach, the store has been flexibly designed to adapt to local community needs. 

To move with consumer behaviours, the Horsham store is being used as a testing ground and has been transformed from an ‘At Home’ branch to a one-stop destination for fashion, beauty, tech and home design.The store is designed to encourage more cross-department shopping and trials something new – a diagonal pathway that takes you directly to the heart of the store which hosts The Showcase. This is an area that can be activated to celebrate a season, a trend or a brand.

Jack Howe, Branch Manager, John Lewis Horsham, says: “We’ve listened to our local customers in Horsham and we’re thrilled they can now shop and experience a larger John Lewis offering with more departments. Early customer reaction has been incredibly positive and they love our new look. As shoppers return to the high street, our multi-million pound investment provides a major boost for the town centre and will attract more shoppers into the store.”

Adaptability and evolution are key to the store with a fundamental design feature that means everything is moveable. Walls have been knocked down and shelving units that have been repurposed and modified in a commitment to sustainable and responsible store design, can easily move to different sections of the store. This means that the store can quickly react to commercial insights and feedback from customers, Partners and brands to continuously improve the customer experience.

Services such as ‘The World of Design’ in the homeware department and the new kids area, which includes an interactive trail and activity table, have been introduced to inspire discovery. In addition, Services such as Click and Collect are responding to the needs of customers’ busy lives by being more accessible, relocating to the front of the store and operating extended hours.

Steve James-Royle, co-founder at The Yard Creative comments: “It has been a privilege to work with John Lewis as it champions a new adaptive mindset. Despite its 150-year history, the heritage department store understands that the world of retail is changing, as are customer behaviours, and that it must adapt too. Our work will help John Lewis create a store fit for tomorrow, and flexible for the future – and ultimately a brand that remains the go-to for all life’s moments.”

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The Yard Creative is an award-winning, full-service evidential design agency who only work with clients who want to challenge their sector. Working with global brands, developers and entrepreneurs they work across research, strategy and design, including interior design, branding and comms and front-end digital. 

For more information, please contact:

Steve James-Royle – The Yard Creative, steve@theyardcreative.com 07947 764275

The Leather Market, 3rd Floor, Studio 9, Weston St, London SE1 3ER