The full retail branding experience – a designer’s paradise!

Jealously is such an ugly word – but it’s the only one that I can think of. I am, of course, talking about my feelings towards the designers who have been lucky enough to work with a brand that I (quite literally) stumbled across this weekend while away in the beautiful city of York.

The brand I am referring to is The Yorkshire Soap Co. Now, as many of you know who follow my design blog regularly, I am constantly bleating on about how important it is to get your company’s image, brand and whole experience right. It’s what separates you from everyone else – and there’s a lot of them!

So this weekend, whilst wandering down Blake Street in York – just below the minster – I walked right up to The Yorkshire Soap Company shop and was greeted with soapy bubbles blowing out into the old cobbled streets. However, although similar tricks have been tried by the likes of Disney & Co. You can forget the similarities right there. Looking into the store from the street you are drawn into an amazingly unique retail experience.

Echoing a mixture between  a dreamy Paris in spring, Alice and Wonderland and tea at The Ritz, the in-store branding is sumptuous, rich and visually stunning. With eye-level chandeliers to add drama and spots of detailed light, the individual points of sale range from old butler’s basins, an antique piano through to glass shelves stacked with the soaps that, quite honestly, wouldn’t look out of place at a bijou French confectioners or patisserie.

The soap products themselves are exquisite – but given the effort and imagination that Warren and Marc (the owners) have poured into the concept, this is unsurprising. However, it’s the retail experience that is stunning and one that gets you at all senses, sight, sound and smell. You are visually stimulated by the individual points of sale, the creativity in the level of detail and the overall feeling from the moment you arrive to the point you leave. It’s almost as you might imagine an old-fashioned Paris or Mayfair store used to be in Victorian times, with each customer being greeted at the door by the Patron du Maison and introduced to all the products on offer. Meanwhile, in the background there’s gentle and ever-so-slightly camp (but nonetheless appropriate) music and luxurious aromas from all the soap.

Quite honestly, you’ll find it impossible to leave empty-handed and want to go back the moment you’ve left.

So, here it is. My envy – as green as Pantone 377, of the designer who gets to work with these guys and to support them in a graphic and website-design way. However, respect is due, and this is me paying that to those guys, along with Warren and Marc for creating the amazing retail and branding experience, that is, The Yorkshire Soap Company.

If, however, it’s time for a fresh looking at things on the website front, fellas and you’d like Aubergine’s take on how to present your website – you know where we are! Always happy to visit York.

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