Trafford Centre signs Abercrombie prototype store

Abercrombie & Fitch has taken 5,500 sq ft within Intu’s Trafford Centre, and will use the unit for its first UK store outside of London.

The shop will open this August, with Abercrombie & Fitch planning to use the location for a new prototype store model.

The prototype aims for improved customer engagement and productivity on a smaller footprint, and was designed to encourage product trial while providing the customer with a vision of the A&F brand.

The modernised space includes fitting rooms with amenities designed to enhance the customer’s mood, including separate controls for light and music, as well as a phone charging dock. Select fitting rooms act as private suites to accommodate larger groups of friends and families. Cash wraps will be placed throughout the space, enabling a quicker and more accessible checkout experience.

Stacia Andersen, brand president of Abercrombie & Fitch and Abercrombie kids, said: “Manchester is a young, vibrant and fashion-forward city, making intu Trafford Centre an ideal location for our second store and our first prototype in the UK.

“Our stores are an important gateway for us to engage with our customer, and their design is a key element of delivering a seamless, customer experience, across all our platforms. We’ve seen increased productivity with these new prototypes and we look forward to offering another engaging A&F experience to both new and existing customers in the Manchester area.”

Abercrombie & Fitch will open as work gets underway on a £75m extension of Intu Trafford Centre’s Barton Square, which will gain 110,000 sq ft of retail space, a glass-domed roof and a fully redesigned interior. The space will launch in 2019 with Primark signed up as an anchor tenant.