Their newly opened second store on Oxford Street launched three months ago and they enlisted the hip Bip Ling, dj and fashion blogger, as the campaign star. The company already has 480 stores worldwide and with plans to open five more stores in Westfield Stratford, Lakeside, Bluewater, Liverpool and Glasgow, the Forever 21 store may quickly become a key player in the UK high street. Forever 21 is a great fast fashion store that offers trendy merchandise at low prices. The location of the shop is well suited to Oxford Street appealing to the mid-market customer. It will be in competition with chains such as Topshop, River Island, H&M and New Look in the UK.
Bip Ling (blogger and dj) is the face of Forever 21 in England
The window was dressed for autumn. Khakis, burnt oranges, warm red and browns with cosy knits were combined with stylish jackets and skirts giving a youthful and fun appearance to the shop. The Oxford street shop is spread over three floors so you have a vast amount of styles to choose from. All key trends are covered at Forever 21 from colour blocking, polka dots to floral patterns.
The shop is brightly lit with high ceilings and white walls, glitzy chandeliers and shiny white glittery floors. It feels very fresh and cool, very different to its English competitors and considerably more fashion forward than New Look and Primark. The shop design is spread out, not every space has been crowded with stock so it feels calm. There are mannequins everywhere with new looks displayed. The key to the shop is the visual displays; it attracts the young shoppers and makes the whole experience more fun. The atmosphere of the shop is very exciting; it feels friendly with approachable staff.
Each trend is clearly segmented in store. The ground floor offers winter fashions with a young bohemian twist, fringing, florals, animal print, and tribal all add to the fashionable merchandise. Jackets, knits, coats dresses fill the rails all in complementary shades of deep browns and reds. As I went further into the store bright colours were introduced, forever 21 embraced the colour blocking trend with tops and denim in 20 different colours. A jewel coloured purple maxi dress stood out, similar to the long sheer dresses from Gucci Winter collection.
The bottom floor continued to follow the key trends, more evening wear was displayed. A lot of sequins, lace and metallic detail were added to the dresses. The style was very youthful and aimed at a teenage girls crowd.
The top floor offers accessories and shoes; the jewellery section was impressive, with a varying collection in a princess style boudoir environment. The visual merchandising installations were amazing on this floor, using a white bicycle to display their jewellery, and glossy white tables that displayed the accessories gave the store a more alluring look, however the shoes department is lacking in range and could have more styles available.
Forever 21 gives its rivals a run for their money on price, tops are from £7-£25, trousers and jeans are £15-£25 and dresses from £15-£30; the low price range makes it ideal for teenagers to spend their money in forever 21 but however the quality has been compromised; the fake leather jackets feel plasticy and some of the knitwear probably won’t last after a few washes.
Overall I think Forever 21 is a great cheap alternative to other retailers such as River Island and Topshop and much more fashion-forward than New Look and Primark. Also the visual merchandising is great and shop layout is good compared to its main competitors. I feel that it definitely has a chance on the British high street.
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