Cameron Barclay Case Studies - Playboy Flagship Store

Playboy Enterprises International, Inc.

In September 2007, Playboy -- in conjunction with Global Designer Brands (GDB) which owns and operates Playboy Concept Boutiques in Melbourne and Auckland -- opened with great celebration the Playboy London Flagship Store on Oxford Street, the first Playboy store of its kind in Europe and the largest in the world.

The 4,000 square-foot store has three levels and offers Playboy’s iconic and stylish collections of fashion apparel, accessories, and home products. The design represents concepts that are inherent to the world-renowned Playboy brand. The location is design-driven, with unique fixtures and fittings purposely designed to reflect the Playboy lifestyle, including the Playboy Rabbit Head Design which the store features both on its façade and internally.

The store was acquired in January 2007, requiring complete refurbishment. In fact, every element of the structure needed refurbishment or replacement from the basement upwards, and the extensive renewal of mezzanine floorlevels to the rear of the building. Cameron Barclay Consulting was awarded the contract to refurbish and refit the complete store with a proposed opening date of 1 September 2007.

Treatment of the public-facing parts of the store was design-led and bespoke, and the main feature was to be a basement to first-floor sweeping spiral staircase, covered with stone steps. To facilitate and support the staircase, the entire centre of the building from basement to first floor had to be removed and structurally supported until new steel girders could be introduced and fitted.

Once the staircase was in place, the project took on a new lease of life and refurbishment of all floor areas, renewal of all services and decorations, renewal of the exterior mezzanine to support new A/C units at the rear of the building, and the façade, signage, fixtures, and fittings. All of these tasks were completed for the official opening attended by Playboy CEO and Chairman Christie Hefner and a host of celebrities and Playboy Playmates in September 2007.

"This project was particularly difficult for a number of reasons. The location on Oxford Street -- which is the world’s busiest shopping street -- was particularly challenging, and the structural fabric of the building was in need of a great deal of attention which did eat into the project timescales. Liaising with the architects and designers based in Sydney, Australia with a 12-hour time-difference was another factor. However, despite all of these difficulties, Cameron Barclay did as they always do; they came through on the day and have provided Playboy with a beautiful retail store that we can all be proud of. This was probably the most complex shop refurbishment project that Oxford Street has seen for many years, and I am only too pleased that we entrusted Cameron Barclay Consulting with the job of delivering this project."

Markus Grindel - Senior Vice President, Marketing Director, International Publishing- Playboy Enterprises International, Inc.

Related Case Studies

• Refurbishment and fit out the Playboy offices in Farringdon, London

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