I have been waiting for the opening of Anthropologie for quite some time and therefore was quite excited to finally view the finished store. Having initially viewed the store from across the street, to enable me to get wider perspective of the site I was intrigued to find out what this scheme was about. On closer inspection the 'things' suspended on these strings are in fact teabags...! Whether they are dipped in colour or just a collection of herbal teabags is not quite clear, however on this scale it creates an incredibly dramatic effect.
Usually, I am not allowed to photograph inside stores and am often ushered out by the in house security if I attempt to do so. Therefore, during my late evening flaneur-ing of the city I sometimes manage to photograph these places through the glass - thankfully this worked quite well and we are able to view the customers journey (at least in part) through the space. I know a lot of you have asked me to include more interiors so hopefully this will suffice. Anyway, to the right of the space we have the usual promotional merchandise behind which is the first focal point. Although the display above the shelves doesn't actually relate to the product below, its more of an installation, it is brilliantly produced. (If you click on the visual below to enlarge it you will see what I mean) Looking directly through the store we have the dreaded pillars that plague in so many ways the flow through the space. I think I would have done something with this in this instance as it is one of the first things a customer sees. The bust form does attempt to disguise it however I feel that it needs something much bigger. My only real criticism however is the use of the bust forms which seem rather lost both in the windows and in store. The bust forms seem to give the illusion that they are merely hovering in the space rather than making a statement that says 'we are here'. Still, it is a pleasure find new places to shop and this store is a welcome addition helping to refresh this lower end of Regent st. here in London.
