Carvela to open debut South East store at Bluewater

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jul 21, 2021

Kurt Geiger-owned women’s footwear and accessories retail brand Carvela has opened a standalone store at the Landsec-operated Bluewater mall in Kent. It becomes Carvela's seventh store in the UK and first in the southeast of England.

The 1,196 square feet unit, on the Upper Guildhall floor, sees the boutique bringing its ‘fashion for a fearless generation’ focus to the mall with its range of shoes, bags, and accessories.

On the USP front, Carvela said its all-female design team is “pioneering new construction techniques for footwear that combine comfort and style, while enabling an extension of shoe sizes and widths that does not compromise quality”. 

Meanwhile, the brand has also recently launched its own bespoke online platform.

Sarah Pugh, head of Carvela Buying & Merchandise, said: “Signing for a dedicated store at Bluewater is another great step forward for Carvela. Bluewater is a destination with huge draw for our customers, and one where we have performed brilliantly in the past”.

Rob Hardie, Portfolio director at Landsec, co-owner and asset manager of Bluewater, added: “Following the success of Carvela’s capsule collection in Bluewater’s Kurt Geiger store, we have worked with the brand to create a bespoke standalone boutique that will help Carvela realise its full potential”.

This latest addition to Bluewater’s retail roster is slowly helping Landsec reduce the number of empty units as major physical brands were lost to the pandemic. These included Topshop/Topman, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Burton and Evans. The mall also lost both Oasis and Coast brands last year and is due to lose Gap as the US brand exits physical retail in the UK to concentrate on online ops.

But Hardie added: “Bluewater is a celebration of the best in retail, with Carvela adding to the offer alongside recent debut concepts from Zara and Vanilla”.