Browns Focus

The first store that we visited was Browns Focus on South Molton Street w1

being a saturday the area was quite busy with shoppers and tourists, i came

from Bond Street Station and found it quite easy to get to the store.

The shops exterior was made up of very large display windows on either side of the entrance

the shop sign is a slim  metallic shiny gold one which stretches across the top with Browns Focus

in Times New Roman font.Apon entering the store i was suprised with the darkness of the interior compared with its brighter exterior.The walls were dark and mirror like, the floor wooden and a large wooden counter which merged with the stair case to the basement floor was situated in the middle, this counter was made of a smooth golden brown wood, it was quite a feature as it served more than one purpose, at the counters front near the entrance of the store i could see accessories housed within a glass window within the counter, these accessories ranged from Tom Ford Glasses, Marc Jacob Wallets, Holly Fulton Jewelery, and black skull wax candles. The Holly Fulton Jewelwery added brightness to the display with chunky necklaces in oranges, jades, and white, whereas items such as the black skull candles and marc jacob wallets added balance.

as i made my way around the store i noticed that the clothing was arranged by designer and each garment was attached to a black chain to the clothe rail (for security). There was lighting above the clothing, this lighting coupled with the reflective walls created an illusion of a larger space. The clothing was placed on the perimeter of the shop floor. walking around i noticed labels like Emilio De La Morena, Holly Fulton and David Koma. The Holly Fulton Rail was  at the back of the floor near the stairs to the basement , it was quite attractive as its bright colours stood out against the dark reflectiveness of the walls. I was quite interested in a bright orange and black cotton & velvet jacket. The jacket had a Bright orange cotton background with the black velvet in blocky patterns on top, i liked the contrast in colour and texture of this garment, it was thick without being heavy and very soft, this jacket was priced at £1150. Another garment in the Holly Fulton section was pale yellow shift dress with black and white sequin and crystal motif in the center. the dress was wool with a silk lining, it was well finished with neat clean seams throughout, it was priced at £2272.  From the Holly Fulton  rail i was able to go down the wooden stairs which merged with the counter and look at the basement floor. The basement was refreshingly bright and white with white walls and brighter lighting than the ground floor the flooring was still wooden but here there was seating against the back wall in the form of flat leathery cushion like slabs on top of a long boxy white plinth.Built into the wall immedietky behind this seating was an arch with leather bags, gloves and wallets inside. At the back of this arch was a mirror which reflected the products making it seem like there was more. On this Basement floor labels like ACNE,Mary Katranzou and Ashish could be found.  hanging on a small rail is an Ashish jumper with dark silver sequins in a t-shirt section and cable knit creme sleeves joined with thick red cross stitches, this jumper is heavy with its densely covered sequins and thick wool sleeves but i really liked the difference in texture ,colour and materal in this garment, this was £675. As i made my way back upstairs i realised that the music playing in the store was one of my favourite songs by the band Wolfgang, a track called back to back which i really liked, it's a slow bassy rythmic tune.

The Sales staff were stylishly dressed in black jeans,and shirts, they were friendly and polite and not at all intimidating. on my way out of the store i noticed that the point of sale area was a blocky wooden counter in the same style as the large one in the middle of the store.

overall the store was fresh , slick and stylish. It had a focussed range of collections and the layout and merchandising was done in a way which meant you could find and see things easily.

i felt at ease perusing through the rails and  really investigating the craftmenship of the garments.  I will definetly re-visit this store as it has a unique combination of street, innovation, and quality.