Inside the Experience Store that’s rewriting the rules of High Street wellness
The creative story behind Holland & Barrett’s new era
When Holland & Barrett opened its first Experience Store in Cardiff last week, it wasn’t just a new retail format, it was a declaration of intent. It was about disrupting the brand’s own image, inviting in a new audience and proving that wellness retail can feel radically different.
The store, located on Queen Street, (and voted the UK’s best high street), is warm, tactile and emotionally engaging. Customers can get a health check, discover their biological age or simply sit in calm comfort surrounded by a carefully choreographed space that says, “We’ve got you.” The design of the space is the result of a deeply collaborative project between H&B and creative agency Syn, led by Co-Founder and Creative Partner, Chris Newell.
“This wasn’t just a facelift,” Chris says. “It was a bold vision for how their brand is brought to life in store. H&B were brave enough to do something different, to speak to a new generation and show up in a way they never had before.”
Never Miss a Retail Update!That bravery was evident from the first conversations. “The original brief was to create a ‘wow wall,’” Chris says. “But what we realised quickly was that we weren’t just designing a wall — we were designing a feeling. A moment. An emotional trigger that would make someone stop, step inside, and feel looked after.”
Syn applied what they call a “feeling-first” creative approach, a process that blends storytelling, materiality, language and behavioural insight. Script typography, soft-touch materials, ambient lighting and a more human tone of voice all work together to create something that looks good, but more importantly, feels good.
“The beauty and strength of physical retail,” Chris says, “is that it goes beyond pictures and words. It’s touch, tactility, and connection. It’s emotional architecture.”
That emotional anchor — care, calm, comfort — became the core of the creative idea. But delivering it was far from simple.
“We always talk about creative integrity,” Chris explains. “It’s the idea that even when the concept evolves through feedback, budget, timelines or space constraints – the feeling must survive. It’s not about ego. It’s about protecting the soul of the idea through every twist and turn. Holland & Barrett are the perfect partner when it comes to creativity, a forward thinking brand with a commitment to creating inspiring retail experiences”
The team’s journey from initial concept to full-store execution took six months of development and a fast-paced build. It involved everything to do with the retail concept and store vision: design, retail ops, brand, digital, architecture, legal, fit-out, and more.
“There are so many people involved,” says Chris. “it was a collaboration with not just H&B, but many other partners, agencies and suppliers. Everyone’s got to be steering the ship in the same direction. That’s what makes retail such a rich career path. You’re working with brand strategists, creatives, project managers, digital teams, architects, marketers. And you’re all carving one shared story.
That’s a sentiment echoed by Holland & Barrett themselves.
“We’ve partnered with Syn to embrace a fresh creative vision which has played out in Cardiff’s pioneering Experience Store design,” said Richard Fisher, Store Design Manager at Holland & Barrett. “At H&B we are committed to redefining the wellness shopping experience, fostering a sense of community and customer connection.”
“The H&B Experience Store is another step in our transformation of H&B’s store estate across the UK and Ireland,” added Nick Gerrard, Property & Format Director. “We look forward to trialling new concepts and immersive experiences alongside an even wider range of wellness solutions with our largest store to date.”
This Cardiff flagship is part of a broader £70 million investment across the store estate, but it also marks a moment of cultural evolution. It’s a physical space designed to make people feel better, not just shop better.
And for Chris and the Syn team, it’s proof that retail is anything but ordinary.
“This is why retail matters,” he says. “It’s not just shelves and products. It’s psychology, storytelling, collaboration, design, and culture all rolled into one! And when you deliver something that lands, when the team feels proud, the client’s buzzing, and customers are genuinely connecting, that’s the best part of the job.”
Because for Chris, momentum isn’t just a marketing metric. It’s a feeling. It’s energy. It’s the moment when ideas become real, and people see what they’ve created, together.
“You can feel it,” he says. “That collective sense of pride when something goes live — it’s like a charge that runs through the whole team. We talk about brand momentum at Syn, but it creates personal momentum too. It fuels people. It reminds you why you do what you do.”
Retail might be a career that starts with a weekend shift, but behind the best stores on the high street are passionate, multi-skilled teams creating change through space, story, and emotion. The H&B Cardiff Experience Store is more than a design success, it’s a signal that, at its best, retail is still one of the most powerful storytelling tools we have.
And it’s proof that great retail doesn’t just happen but is made by people with vision, creativity and a belief in what physical space can do.
