Selfridges to launch ‘Silent’ shopping in the new year
Store founder Harry Gordon Selfridge might have had the idea back in 1909, but it has taken London’s Selfridges department store over a century to hush the crowds and call for a little quiet. With the launch of the No Noise space in the store’s Ultralounge on January 11 next year, shoppers will get to experience ‘silent’ shopping in the UK capital’s noisy city center.
Customers entering the No Noise experience will be asked to leave their mobile phones, shoes and other ‘distracting’ objects at the door. Meanwhile meditation experts Headspace will be providing massages and techniques for shoppers hoping to zone out and find some inner peace and tranquility (as well as indulge in a little retail therapy).
Alannah Weston, the store’s creative director, told WWD that the room is intended to invite “customers to find a moment of peace in a world where we are bombarded by a cacophony of information and stimulation.”
At the center of the space will be the ‘Quiet Shop’, with a curated range of products to encourage what the store calls “considered purchasing”. Maison Martin Margiela, whose clothes famously feature no logo, only a subtly stitched motif, will be featured in a pared-down edit of “debranded” ready-to-wear clothing alongside items from Prada, ACNE and famous minimalist designers Yohji Yamamoto, Jil Sander and Ann Demeulemeester.
