Hermes boutiques in London

[Cancan]

Does shopping in London require an appointment? My husband is going in a couple of weeks (business trip) and very much wants to do some shopping. He is a longtime established customer at Madison Avenue, but wants to take advantage of the exchange rate. Plus, our anniversary is in a few weeks. Any tips? He'd be thrilled to come home with a B30 in any shade of gray, but is also looking for scarves, ties, and jewelry. Thanks!

 

[880]

Does shopping in London require an appointment? My husband is going in a couple of weeks (business trip) and very much wants to do some shopping. He is a longtime established customer at Madison Avenue, but wants to take advantage of the exchange rate. Plus, our anniversary is in a few weeks. Any tips? He'd be thrilled to come home with a B30 in any shade of gray, but is also looking for scarves, ties, and jewelry. Thanks!

If he’s an established Madison client, then why not ask your NY SA. With the Madison opening, stock should be relatively good for us in NY for a change. And, I think London is mainly local wishlist and VAT hasn’t been reinstated yet? (someone from London pls correct me if I’m wrong)

when I was last in London, earlier this year, no appt was needed, but QB were certainly not for casual tourists, ans most bags displayed were not for sale. I was fortunate to be offered a Getta (only bc SAs like my DH lol) but did not take it. I personally liked the vibe at CP, but the RTW buy is slightly different from each other and from NY.

 

[mktlim]

Does shopping in London require an appointment? My husband is going in a couple of weeks (business trip) and very much wants to do some shopping. He is a longtime established customer at Madison Avenue, but wants to take advantage of the exchange rate. Plus, our anniversary is in a few weeks. Any tips? He'd be thrilled to come home with a B30 in any shade of gray, but is also looking for scarves, ties, and jewelry. Thanks!

I was in London a couple of weeks ago, they do take walk-ins (can only speak for CP/NBS) but probably best to go early. I went an hour after opening and the wait was a bit long on a weekend. For scarves I didn't wait at all when I went to NBS...other departments had wait times. NBS had an okay selection but I think I found more scarves online then again I was looking for older season designs. I didn't really shop at CP, just went there to pick up my online order.

IF you want something that's available online and you are 100% sure you want it, I do suggest ordering off the site and doing a pick up in store. I'm sure your local H.com account will work on the UK site. I managed to use my H.ca account for my order.

 

[shermes]

Does shopping in London require an appointment? My husband is going in a couple of weeks (business trip) and very much wants to do some shopping. He is a longtime established customer at Madison Avenue, but wants to take advantage of the exchange rate. Plus, our anniversary is in a few weeks. Any tips? He'd be thrilled to come home with a B30 in any shade of gray, but is also looking for scarves, ties, and jewelry. Thanks!

If he’s an established Madison client, then why not ask your NY SA. With the Madison opening, stock should be relatively good for us in NY for a change. And, I think London is mainly local wishlist and VAT hasn’t been reinstated yet? (someone from London pls correct me if I’m wrong)

when I was last in London, earlier this year, no appt was needed, but QB were certainly not for casual tourists, ans most bags displayed were not for sale. I was fortunate to be offered a Getta (only bc SAs like my DH lol) but did not take it. I personally liked the vibe at CP, but the RTW buy is slightly different from each other and from NY.

No appointment is required anymore. But as @880 says you can ask your NY SA if she has a contact in one of the London stores to assist or you can call the customer service number which can be found online.

In terms of VAT, this has not been reinstated since brexit happened. I believe the only way you can claim VAT is if you have the item delivered back to your home country. Now the £ is all over the place and has weakened so I can see why one would take advantage.

In terms of QB, this is based on a wishlist system and expires after 12 months. Scoring a QB will be difficult, I have family from the US who came and were not successful regardless of spend.

If he has time to pop over to Paris he can try score an appointment and see if he can get the B30!

I hope he comes back with lots of goodies for you!!

 

[PippaL]

I went to Selfridges today and they offered the Picotin 22 in alezan the SA was lovely. So far, I would say the service was friendlier to tourists in department stores but CP and NBS were also nice and very professional. Got offered bags at Selfridges, Harrods and NBS without having to buy anything (but I’m not into any QB and I doubt they would have offered me one anyway) and without any appointment. I did however show up at opening time. When I left NBS, they weren’t taking any more names for the leather queue and it was only about 11h30.

 

[Lostinlondon]

Not sure whether this belongs in the existing “Hermes boutiques in London”. If so, mods, please feel free to move.
Just seen this in this article from WWD about the new NYC store, posted by Flowerly in the Hermes in print thread:
Each Hermès store is unique and designed to fit into the community in which it is located. Some are big and others are small. Craen used London as an example, saying it will soon have one of the largest units in the world as well as one of the smallest.
Since none of the existing stores would qualify as being “one of the largest units in the world”, I interpret this as an indication that there are plans for a new one.
Unfortunately, my favourite SA has just taken extended leave to travel the world and I don’t know who else I could ask.
Did anyone else hear this as well?

 

[maxroxxherhandbags]

Not sure whether this belongs in the existing “Hermes boutiques in London”. If so, mods, please feel free to move.
Just seen this in this article from WWD about the new NYC store, posted by Flowerly in the Hermes in print thread:
Each Hermès store is unique and designed to fit into the community in which it is located. Some are big and others are small. Craen used London as an example, saying it will soon have one of the largest units in the world as well as one of the smallest.
Since none of the existing stores would qualify as being “one of the largest units in the world”, I interpret this as an indication that there are plans for a new one.
Unfortunately, my favourite SA has just taken extended leave to travel the world and I don’t know who else I could ask.
Did anyone else hear this as well?

Yes I have heard that there are plans to extend one of the existing boutique sites.
I heard it from my SA .
I think its a couple of years down the line however..at least.

 

[papertiger]

Yes I have heard that there are plans to extend one of the existing boutique sites.
I heard it from my SA .
I think its a couple of years down the line however..at least.

Not sure whether this belongs in the existing “Hermes boutiques in London”. If so, mods, please feel free to move.
Just seen this in this article from WWD about the new NYC store, posted by Flowerly in the Hermes in print thread:
Each Hermès store is unique and designed to fit into the community in which it is located. Some are big and others are small. Craen used London as an example, saying it will soon have one of the largest units in the world as well as one of the smallest.
Since none of the existing stores would qualify as being “one of the largest units in the world”, I interpret this as an indication that there are plans for a new one.
Unfortunately, my favourite SA has just taken extended leave to travel the world and I don’t know who else I could ask.
Did anyone else hear this as well?

It will probably move down the road to 167 Bond Street OR they'll turn the offices in to more space on the current site.

Hermes owns the old Asprey store site, 167 Bond St. They bought it when Asprey was stripped and Quinlan Private (investment co) sold off most of its assets, Oct 2009 for 73 million pounds (80 million euros, 116 million dollars). Asprey's owners rented the store back from Hermes. In 2021 Asprey moved to the William and Son building in Bruton St.

What you see (below) at 167 Bond Street is approx 1/3 of the the ground floor (renovated in 2004) there are a further 2 floors of retail space above, workshops above those and a vast basement store room.

 

[paula24jen]

Not sure whether this belongs in the existing “Hermes boutiques in London”. If so, mods, please feel free to move.
Just seen this in this article from WWD about the new NYC store, posted by Flowerly in the Hermes in print thread:
Each Hermès store is unique and designed to fit into the community in which it is located. Some are big and others are small. Craen used London as an example, saying it will soon have one of the largest units in the world as well as one of the smallest.
Since none of the existing stores would qualify as being “one of the largest units in the world”, I interpret this as an indication that there are plans for a new one.
Unfortunately, my favourite SA has just taken extended leave to travel the world and I don’t know who else I could ask.
Did anyone else hear this as well?

Having one of the largest H stores globally could be great, but unless it had stock to sell what would be the point? It’s not like the brand needs more exposure…

 

[periogirl28]

London needs a Maison.

 

[ClassicTwist]

It will probably move down the road to 167 Bond Street OR they'll turn the offices in to more space on the current site.

Hermes owns the old Asprey store site, 167 Bond St. They bought it when Asprey was stripped and Quinlan Private (investment co) sold off most of its assets, Oct 2009 for 73 million pounds (80 million euros, 116 million dollars). Asprey's owners rented the store back from Hermes. In 2021 Asprey moved to the William and Son building in Bruton St.

What you see (below) at 167 Bond Street is approx 1/3 of the the ground floor (renovated in 2004) there are a further 2 floors of retail space above, workshops above those and a vast basement store room.

View attachment 5620377

Bingo

 

[papertiger]

Having one of the largest H stores globally could be great, but unless it had stock to sell what would be the point? It’s not like the brand needs more exposure…

However, if you've been upstairs to NBS on a normal afternoon, you will know it looks like a waiting room to leave town before a hurricane. Queues outside the front door almost at all times. Not just busy, there is literally no where to stand let alone sit upstairs.

H needs to make better use of downstairs and the honeware section - even the homeware furniture was being sat on by waiting clients.

We used to get asked if we'd want water/coffee and a chat about H history

They also need more and better utilised staff. They have some downstairs doing nothing beyond waiting in hope for the next scarf/menswear customers, no one behind the cash desk, and absolute mayhem upstairs, whilst the queue outside has to managed by 2, sometimes 3. Managing a queue is not an efficient use of trained retail staff's time and expertise (although it needs someone experienced) and then temps on scarf counters. Plus, you have security that are more deterrent than useful as their vantage points are pretty useless if something did happen.

 

[ClassicTwist]

Chanel will be taking over the current Hermes store on NBS.

 

[periogirl28]

Chanel will be taking over the current Hermes store on NBS.

Oh nice!!

 

[papertiger]

Chanel will be taking over the current Hermes store on NBS.

I know Chanel wanted the Asprey (167) building but lost out to H so that 'musical chairs' makes sense. Must kill them that they will have to pay Hermes rent though

It will be great for London actually.