Stroud's new department store Sandersons helps us fall back in love with shopping
As other department stores across the country close down, and with retail pundits wondering if the old fashioned department store format has a future, Stroud - recently nominated as the best place to life in the UK by The Times newspaper, is bucking the trend with the opening of a new boutique department store, Sandersons. And it looks fabulous.
The fit-out team headed by the award-winning store designer John Hoyle have completed the transformation of the retail unit at the newly refurbished Five Valleys. The style has been modelled on New York’s Meatpacking District.
Sandersons joins the growing retail line up at the centre the same week that Craghoppers, Victoria R and Rough Hands Coffee also launched their new stores in the town's extensively refurbished shopping centre.
More than 20 new jobs have been created in the town and the development represents part of a £17 million investment in Stroud from the owners Dransfield Properties which owns the Five Valleys Shopping Centre.
The new store which the store won Best New Retailer at the 2019 Drapers Awards, has sister stores in Sheffield and Morpeth and carries British heritage brands including Barbour, Barbour International, Hobbs, Whistles and Holland Cooper, with their full fashion and equestrian range.
The store is packed with more than 15,000 sq. ft. of beautifully designed retail space made up of men’s and ladies’ fashion, beauty, skincare, footwear, accessories, loungewear and homeware.
Other womenswear brands include Pennyblack, from the Max Mara family of labels as well as Tommy Hilfiger and Part Two. The new store has also sought to fill the gap in the market for high quality menswear in the area – with collections including Jacob Cohen, Gran Sasso, Tommy Hilfiger and Armani Exchange.
Sandersons CEO Mark Dransfield said: “We are delighted to be launching our third store here in Stroud, the response from the local community has been amazing and we are so proud to be part of this wonderful and unique town.
“It’s a really exciting time for the town as Stroud has just been named as the best place to live in the UK by the Sunday Times. We're proud to be a part of the town and to be delivering the major regeneration of the Five Valleys centre."
“We are bringing a really exciting mix of high end, luxury and much loved brands to Stroud, most of which haven’t been available in the area before now. We take pride on carefully sourcing our brands from across the globe and that’s what makes the Sandersons shopping experience so unique.
“We have recruited a great team of local people who have really taken the Sanderson ethos on board and they are all ready to provide exceptional customer service to our shoppers”.
