Checkland Kindleysides creates Speedo flagship

Swimwear specialist Speedo UK is to open a flagship store in London’s Covent Garden, as well as a store in Nottingham, to support its move into the leisurewear market.

The new stores, which open this month, are being designed by Checkland Kindleysides, the Leicester design consultancy which designed the first Speedo store at Bluewater in Kent in March of last year. The opening of the two new stores will bring the total number of standalone Speedo sites in the UK to three.

Speedo UK marketing manager Georgina Collicutt says the openings are part of the company’s strategy to generate a greater awareness of its product in the high street.

“We are taking a stronger stance in leisurewear and the stores give us a position from which to do that,” she explains.

The design work for the new stores, which includes the interiors, merchandising systems, signage and application of in-store graphics, is an evolution of the designs created for the Bluewater store, according to managing director Jeff Kindleysides.

“We are moving the essence of what we did there and also taking advantage of the layout of the new sites to do things that we couldn’t do at Bluewater,” he explains.

“The new sites at Nottingham and Covent Garden are both built over two floors, so we are able to position the product in a more defined way than at Bluewater. The brand can be defined more effectively,” he adds.