I really hope that I'm not just typing this in jet-lag stupor and that I am in fact making some inkling of a valid point because god forbid that I wake up tomorrow and realise that this is blurry blot on the blog that needs to be deleted (I've never EVER deleted a post…).
Here goes though… in a blurry sun drenched drive from Heathrow airport straight to work this morning, I caught sight of the longstanding ex-Virgin Megastore building on the corner of Regent Street on Piccadilly that was then turned into Zavvi and post Zavvi-meltdown was lying empty for aaages. For anybody who hasn't been to London, the space is huuge (33,875 sq ft to be exact). This is old news to some but it was news to me when I saw these posters up in the window declaring that "The Sting", a "network of brands" of "international fashion" is set to open in Spring 2010.
Without even researching what the heck The Sting is, I already sat in the back of the cab fuming to myself like the middle-aged busy body that I am. Everything about the poster from the font to the graphics to the wording was odious. With two swift phrases of 'international fashion' and 'network of brands' I already had visions of sad racks of polo shirts and stacks of tired jeans. As it turns out, The Sting is a Dutch chain of stores that is looking to advance into the UK market with brands like erm…Costes, Cotton Club, Hallinger New Zealand, Miss America, and Stangata. I'm trying to bite my tongue here and yes, this will come off sounding sadly snobby but there you go.
Whilst I'm in full comprehension of my stubborn battiness, I am reasonable though. Of COURSE I'm not expecting Dover Street Market Nr. 2 to drop down on the space and OF COURSE I'm aware of the fact that casual wear flies off shelves like nobody's business. Just look at the droves of people that go to Abercrombie and Fitch near Savile Row (if i had a penny for every tourist asking me for directions to a store that I have never even set my foot inside…grrr). The Sting may have added bile to another ex-Zavvi store on the butt-end of Oxford Street currently being inhabited by a shop called Hyper Hyper which of course bears no resemblance to the Hyper Hyper Londoners will know from the Kensington High Street market days…
In my dusty brain there were hopes that the Crown Estate who are responsible for the conservation and development of Regent Street would have more pride in 1 Piccadilly Building. I very naively dreamt of a reinstatement of a department store; Barkers or Derry & Toms perhaps. Or perhaps the physical version of what CultureLabel.com sells on their site combined with an expansive place for tea and cakes (tourists escaping to Starbuck's in the heart of London is also a bit of sad affair…). Something a bit fee and twee in its quintessential Englishness but it's ok, because the location commands a bit of tweeness. Yes, this is STILL Batty British Lady speaking and I'm sticking to it because I'm allowed to be mad in my jet-lag stupor.
I'm pre-judging of course. I've yet to see what The Sting is ACTUALLY all about but I definitely knew I was a bit STUNG when I got back to London.
(Pics of offending windows from The London Insider)
When I first went spotted Hyper Hyper on Oxford St from a bus, I got REALLY excited. So excited I ran off the bus and into the shop. Wow. Disappointment doesn’t even cover it!
Take heart tho: Anthropologie’s pretty pricey but even its existence as a large gorgeous department shop in that area cheers me up. I mean, it’s not ALL cream puff shops and sportswear!
http://enchantedhunters.blogspot.com
oh! my god! i’m so embarrassed š being dutch i would hope a more stylishly Dutch lable, like maybe SissyBoy would enter the British market instead of being represented by the (you guessed it) blandest casual wear ever. i don’t even hate the sting, i just think their tentacly ways are heinous.
god that looks bad! I think they are making a mistake…the market for “fashionable” casual wear is surely all taken up by abercrombie, jack wills and hollister???
I share in your disappointment as I have to go past the bloody place twice a day on my bus to and from work. My bile has subdued though and now I just sigh to myself. Britain is not a nation of intelligent consumers. That is why droves of idiots are queuing up outside Applecrumble and Fish every day. And such a prime retail location like that was bound to be bought by a giant corporation. Sigh.
Oh gawd, I had no idea that was going in there. What a freakin’ shame. Off to mutter and grumble some more… xx
As a Dutch person who has had to pass “The Sting” many a time in her pre London days (there is one in my hometown) I can tell you you have every right to be angry. The clothes are an absolute eyesore and it’s stuffed with overpriced two years behind the times “trend” items, not to mention the horrible techno music they keep blaring throughout the stores. I never thought they’d go international!
I live in America and I’ve never heard of the store Miss America. Just the name alone brings up connotations of the blandness and cookie cutter looks that is beauty beauty contests.
Sadly the majority of stores here in the US are just like this one. It is a blight. Thanks to malls and WalMart. I have to spend so much time trying not to find bad clothing here. Sorry it’s spreading.
I was surprised to see the logo of The Sting on your site, and I am sorry to read why it’s there! But I don’t give them any chance on the British market… Why would anyone go to the Sting when you have so many options available? (I feel mean saying this though)
Applecrumble and Fish – brilliant!
Oh OH Hyper Hyper. The store of my teens. One of the ONLY places in England to buy fashion forward stuff if you cldn’t afford Browns etc. I used to wander around in a haze of lust and longing before crossing the road to Kensington Market to buy cheap jewellery and black plimsolls. I bought a silver floor length lycra halterneck Sub Couture dress from HH in, god, maybe 1994 for a black tie NYE and I was sooooo hip compared to everyone in their taffeta party dresses. I wore it with black patent heels that I scoured London for (in the days when the High Street only sold DISGUSTING shoes) in a vague hope of finding a facsimile of a pair in Vogue, and a diamantāĀ© choker also from a booth in Hyper Hyper. It all sounds vile/tacky now, but it was the dernier cri back then.
God teens have it easy nowadays: if you saw something in a runway picture (no internet pics then) in a mag or something in editorial you liked, it took weeks to hunt down something even vaguely similar, always only in London, or you had to make it yourself. Sigh. LLGxx
ew. i call that whole phenomena, and it’s not just in fashion, the Big Nothing machine. and it’s on the move and gaining critical mass.
Oh god….the mediocrity….it’s not a store we have in New Zealand and from the sound of it I’m grateful. Kinda embarrassed our name is used in this post, though I’ve never heard of it.
It would be nice if they tried to integrate with the historic architecture just a little… what an eyesore. If nothing else, you are fully entitled to judge THAT.
Ugh, god no. Another reason to avoid Piccadilly Circus like the plague. They’re turning it into Croydon. Oh dear.
Wow that looks terrible, seems like it would have been better if the building remained empty. The font used makes me think of a sports bar or American football teams, something like that. Awful.
http://ganymedekids.blogspot.com
It is hideous and they had the cheek to refuse TK Maxx, which would be preferable.
There is no hope of the former glory and I completely agree about the font/style – odious!
It’s rather GAP-ish looking.
I was hoping for TK Maxx too.
Well Susie I have to say I agree with your misgivings.
Does sound pretty terrible.
I too would love to see something that had some “quintessential Englishness”.
It so bizarre that they call it ‘International’ as its clear from the comments above that that statement is false. Are these people aware that international folks are communicating daily on sites such as this?
@sara – they’ve been international for a while, there’s one in Antwerp too. I’ve never been inside though, their storefront displays look like complete blandness to me.
I FEEL YOU SISTER! It is so annoying, it looks like it will be so cheap and such a let down. I would like something that serves Londoners and tourists alike.
They turned down TK Maxx for being too cheap in feel! Pft. At least I could have bagged a Missoni shaped homewares bargain there. Or fun cheap sunnies.
HaHa…Remember walking past Hyper Hyper when it first opened and I was mortified! Inredibly cheap and nasty clothes. There is a rumour that HMV down the road is going to move there and have a cinema built in at the top. Another Primark will probably be opened in its place