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The Store X · Berlin, Germany

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Name: The Store Berlin
Location: Berlin · Germany
Photographer: Kirchenerkutt
Words: Alice Finney

Spanning the ground floor of Soho House Berlin, ‘The Store Berlin’ exists at the intersection of art, lifestyle, dining, and fashion, offering an immersive experience designed to make you feel at home rather than in a 30,000 square foot department store.

With a successful homeware, fashion, and art house already in central London, creative director Alex Eagle opened up the Berlin flagship ‘The Store Berlin’ back in February 2014. A fashion heavyweight, Eagle has an impressive CV which includes editorial stints at Tank and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as a PR leg at British luxury fashion label Joseph. Her foray into the retail environment was spurred by the realization that the way we shop today is markedly different than it was ten years ago: “people want an edit across everything in their lives: clothes, homeware, furniture, books, art, and music. With so much instantly available online, they crave a more inspiring environment when they shop in store,” she remarks. Enter ‘The Store Berlin’ — a place where people can snack on homemade granola at the ‘The Store Kitchen’, have their nails done at the Cowshed Spa, watch Khalil Joseph’s monumental Fly Paper in the exhibition space or buy a Balenciaga coat. It’s a retail recipe that is clearly working well for the team as it has since opened up shops on The Strand, London and in the Cotswolds.

At the heart of the experience is the idea that customers use the space as a place for interaction, respite and stimulation. They are encouraged to spend the day there, relaxing on one of the many plush velvet sofas or thumbing through a copy of 032C, rather than feeling rushed and pressured to buy something. A workstation has even been set up so that guests can use their laptops in a co-working environment. Combing the eclecticism of an emporium with the comfort of a rather luxurious living room, the light-filled space is paving the way for a new kind of retail therapy.