Søstrene Grene plants Oxford Circus flagship
After working at the Dolphin Tavern and Falcon & Firkin in London in the 1990s the creative director of Danish homewares brand Søstrene Grene has finally proudly opened a flagship store in the capital next to Oxford Street.
The UK flagship outlet opened on March 28 and spans two floors encompassing 430 square metres of trading space on Argyll Street, located just off Oxford Circus and the country’s main shopping thoroughfare, and complements the company’s four other smaller London-based stores.
Cresten Grene, creative director of Søstrene Grene, says: “London has always been a place we’ve looked up to and it’s extremely overwhelming to open in central London. We’ve a very strong connection with this beautiful city. I worked in pubs and since then we’ve [felt we] needed an iconic store on Oxford Street and we’ve now finally opened up next to Oxford Circus.”
The appeal of the capital began with his parents who set up Søstrene Grene in 1973 and would stay at Brown’s Hotel. His mother’s background in the fashion industry and his father’s time as a ballet instructor are still very much reflected in the company’s store designs today, which fall within the remit of Grene. He works alongside brother Mikkel who is CEO.
Never Miss a Retail Update!“My father used his experience in theatre to stage the stores including the dark paint (on the ceilings) and the lighting. It’s a unique atmosphere and feeling. We’ve also still got the classical music playing in the background. Many things are the same in the stores but we’re also eager to do new things such as introduce new lines, areas in the stores, and categories,” he explains.
Regular Søstrene Grene shoppers will recognise the curated selection of affordable homewares, furniture, lifestyle products, and craft essentials at the new flagship. The Argyll Street store also includes an Experience Room that in previous outlets have been used to encourage customers to get creative – whether by drawing on the walls or writing Christmas wishes on paper stars.
Also housed in the flagship is the Senses Room that is a completely new concept for Søstrene Grene, designed to engage all five senses in an immersive and interactive shopping experience. The initial use for the Senses Room is to show off an unusual Easter installation.
Cresten says the Senses Room, along with other areas of the store, are found as shoppers venture through the space on a maze-like route. ”It’s like going through a city. It’s retail for the senses. Almost a city within a city. There are lots of hidden secrets and surprises around the store,” he suggests.
Running through the store are various silhouettes of the two Grene sisters Anna and Clara. Søstrene Grene is Danish for ‘the Grene sisters’, with Grene being the family name of Cresten, Mikkel and their parents who founded the business.
The characters behind the two sisters were inspired by the brothers’ mother’s two aunts who represent the company and the concept. Anna is the creative sister with a highly developed sense of aesthetics, while Clara is the practical and orderly sister. Together, they are behind the diverse experience that Søstrene Grene offers customers.
Also important to the company is sustainability and among various initiatives it has phased-out a line of single-use products, focused on choosing more re-used product materials, and prioritised logistics solutions with lower carbon emissions.
The new flagship helps take the family-owned business to over 300 stores that are operated from the headquarters in Aarhus, Denmark. The shops are predominantly run on a joint-venture or franchise basis across Europe and online in 14 markets. Argyll Street in run as a joint-venture with partners Norma Jacob and Richard Power. The success of the business to date very much suggests Cresten Grene will not be heading back to working in pubs any time soon.
