J.Crew: The pre-opening.

The J.Crew London flagship store on Regent Street is fully open for business this week and certainly worth a mosey around if you are looking to get a head start on those Holiday gifts. I popped in there last week the day before it’s big opening to have a look around and see if the J.Crew team have managed to transplant a touch of that preppy magic into their first store outside of the USA.

J.Crew: The details.

When I lived in London prior to my five year stint in New York, Regent Street was not a particularly cool place to shop. It was chock a block full of old fashioned brands and stores which you might loiter in if you were dodging the latest rain storm, or if you were looking for a little cashmere for your Granny for Christmas. It made more sense to head to Bond Street or the King’s Road if you were up for a little high end shopping.

Fast forward to today and the street has had a resurgence, with new and exciting stores making their mark in the beautiful regency buildings. New kids on the block  J.Crew have certainly made use of the impressive interiors and are working some great display ideas – who knew for example that statement necklaces looked so good when paired with masonry paint brushes?

There’s also tons of the classic Jenna Lyons mad styling going on. I loved the tee shirt below. I’m immediately adopting it as my mantra when hubs starts moaning on about fiscal prudence vs my shopping habit.

There are also a bunch of lustworthy departments to wander through, particularly the men’s store which is enormous. As well as cute artsy touches between departments.

As with all J.Crew stores attention to detail and color play a huge part in the display ethos… loved these socks and belts.

These days Regent Street is booming and becoming on of my favourite one stop shop destinations. What with Cos, & Other Stories on one end, Anthropologie and J.Crew arriving half way down, and of course the awesome Liberty just a hop skip and a jump off the main drag. The Christmas lights are ready, and the countdown to the Holidays is on… I’m heading right over there to nail my Chirstmas list in one hit.