Page 25 - RLI April 2019

olIVEr BoNaS STorE
farnham, uk
work hard, play An independent British lifestyle store, Oliver Bonas designs its own take on fashion

hard & BE kINd and homeware. Here, RLI sits down with company Founder Oliver Tress to talk about
his company and where he hopes to take it in the coming years.

he Oliver Bonas story begins with its Founder Luton Airport, represents the beginnings of the brand in the range, to make the store more relevant to the location. based around giving the customer an enjoyable experience at
Oliver Tress. His creative upbringing, culturally travel retail sector, a sector they are looking at expanding in So how does the company continue to develop new whatever point customers interact with the brand, whether
influenced by the many countries he lived in, over the next few years. products to keep its momentum going? that be in store or online.
Tinstilled a love of design and an exploratory spirit On the international front, plans are moving forward for “The quest for new product is a constant one and we Tress believes that modern retail is extremely competitive
from an early age. the first store in Ireland, which will offer an opportunity to have an in-house design team who travel the globe for and faces oversupply across the board, he points out that in
Oliver’s penchant for bringing gifts for friends from his test all of the systems ahead of other potential European inspiration and to learn about new trends. There are a lot of today’s retail world you have to differentiate and that there
travels abroad gradually turned into a small business and in openings in countries such as Holland and Germany. mechanisms in today’s world for researching trends, so we are a variety of different ways of doing this.
1993 the first shop opened. “There are lots of locations that excite me and lots of strive to ensure we challenge ourselves and the status quo in “In our case obviously
Over two decades later, the brand has evolved from places I would like the brand to have a physical presence,” the way we look at things.” we are trying to navigate “Our cOntinuing challenge is tO
curating others’ designs to creating its own and it has grown to says Tress. “At the moment we have South Korea in our Delving into the values of the company and its ethos, our brand to be unique, to make sure we are different and
now operate over 70 stores across the UK which are run by a sights, and for me I would love to take the brand to the US Tress explains that there are two key elements which he make our product unique
team who share Oliver’s passion for bringing new ideas to life. at some point in the future.” believes keep customers coming back and also what it is that and ensure the way we talk stand Out frOm the crOwd”
“The last 12 months has seen us open eight new stores The coming months will see the launch of a relocated distinguishes the brand from its peers in the industry. One of to our customer is unique.
and maintain an omni-channel approach,” explains Oliver store in Edinburgh which will be 5,000sq ft, one of the largest them originated in a wall art they created years ago, which We want to create a loyalty with our customers and make
Tress, Founder of Oliver Bonas. “Our continuing challenge is to in its portfolio and a sign of the direction the brand would had the words: Work Hard, Play Hard, Be Kind on it. The sure it is worth their while coming to us,” explains Tress.
make sure we are different and stand out from the crowd, and like to take with future stores. product sold well and in time it was adopted as the basis for “Moving forward, our strategy is to broaden our product
we do this by making sure the way that we interact with our The Oliver Bonas store offer remains consistent across its the company’s values, you work hard while you are with the range and increase the size of the product range. We also
customers is unique, along with our unique range of products.” portfolio, the only exception to this rule was some local buying company, but you also play hard and remain kind. want to increase our range in categories such as shoes,
The company’s most recent store opened in February at for some of its stores. For example in its Glasgow unit, the The second element is that, at all levels of the company, and finally we want to look for expansion internationally,”
Gatwick’s North Terminal. This store, along with the one at company bought and introduced local books to its product the customer comes first and everything employees do is Tress concludes.

24 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL APRIL 2019 MARCH 2019 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL 33