It’s just a couple of months since we heard that British luxury brand Represent has signed up for its first standalone store in London. But before that, the hoarding is coming down to reveal another UK flagship as it prepares to debut in Manchester in September.

That will make it the brand’s first directly-operated UK store as the London location (on Wardour Street in the West End) isn’t due to open its doors until next year.

In a deal with Manchester Arndale, it has signed a lease for a 5,419 sq ft store on New Cathedral Street in Manchester’s city centre, a location close to other luxury stores such as Louis Vuitton, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Hugo Boss, and Ralph Lauren.

The store is opposite the key Arndale shopping destination so is in a high-traffic area in the heart of the city’s high-end shopping district.

The company said its store will “provide a bespoke luxury shopping experience where customers can book an appointment with an advisor who will be able to offer recommendations tailored to their needs”.

This spring, the label had also opened in Los Angeles, which means the opening programme has reversed the norm for British luxury brands — that norm tends to be a London store followed by a regional flagship then fingers crossed as it attempts to crack the US market with a debut store there.

Ahead of the opening, Fanshionnetwork.com grabbed a quick chat with co-founder George Heaton about the forthcoming store and the firm’s opening strategy.

Fashionnetwork.com: Why did you choose Manchester in particular? What is it about the specific location of the store and the consumers there that appealed to you?

George Heaton: Manchester will be our second retail location, after Los Angeles, opening Q3/Q4 of 2024, with London as the third, following in the New Year. Manchester is our hometown, where we’re based and where our customer base grew out from. It would always have come first if our US growth strategy didn’t move so fast, alongside the perfect location coming up in Manchester at the time. 

FNW: It all seems to be coming together very quickly. How long have the stores been on the agenda?

GH: We’d been secretly hunting for our locations in Manchester and London for three years now!

FNW: Is the Manchester store design concept completely new or is it an evolution of existing spaces?

GH: What’s great about the past three years since we decided the physical retail footprints would be on the horizon, is that we were able to test with retailers such as Selfridges, Flannels, Harrods and Ounass (UAE) on what Represent looks, feels, and even smells like. The senses it provides, the colour palette it carries and the textures we use within the build. We’re carrying through the DNA that you’ll notice in the Los Angeles store.

Are you available in other physical stores in Manchester?

We have great partners around the city. Selfridges, END., Flannels and Harvey Nichols.

You opened your first standalone store in the US, why did you choose to open there first? How big is the US market to your business and what percentage does the UK account for?

Currently the US is around 20% of our overall business, with the UK being over 50%. We took the chance on Los Angeles as our strategy is to penetrate American markets with retail, physical and digital marketing, events and collaborations, myself moving to LA and building out our first retail team alongside our PR office. I believe being present and having a stake in the ground wherever we want to truly leave a mark is very important.

You’ve previously said you want a 70/30 split between online and store sales, is this still the case given that you’re very focused on opening physical shops at present?

That is our current sales split between our omnichannel and the retailers we sell to. As we expand our own physical retail footprint, this may sway slightly higher to our own channels. Likewise as the brand see’s great growth via our own channels, so do the retailers.