Cabot Circus people

Thursday, 17 July 2008

It’s my first Harvey Nichols store opening as a General Manager and this is both exciting and terrifying.

In the last two weeks I have relocated from Edinburgh with my husband and four year old son in tow, moved into a new home in a new city and embarked on the task of opening our first store in the south west.

I am hoping to be writing this blog on a regular basis to share some of the triumphs and tribulations which both I and the Harvey Nichols team experience over the coming weeks before the official opening of the store on the 25 September.

This key date seemed like ages away but increasingly as I look through my diary and the days are ticked off it seems far too short a time to complete the required shop fitting, recruitment, training, merchandising and commissioning of a brand new 37,000 sq ft retail store, still best foot forward!

First off was a trip to Bath to join the hospitality marketing team at Taste Bath; we had a beautiful stand bang in the middle of the festival area which we shared with fellow restaurateurs and Quakers Friars neighbour Blanc Brassiere.  This was a chance to catch up with Louise McCrimmon our new Head Chef, currently based at our Leeds Store, and to meet and talk to other established restaurant businesses in the area.

A crucial part of both our store and the new development is the hospitality offer and getting the message that Harvey Nichols Bristol will have an architect designed restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner across to potential staff and customers is the aim of our four days there.

Week two in Bristol has been spent running between interviews, conducting site visits and sourcing some temporary office space which we can work from until the site is handed over.

I haven’t been on site for at least a month so a lot has changed since my last visit.  Looking a bit less of a fashion diva, though if Stella McCartney sent hard hats and high vis jackets down the catwalk next season I would be bang on trend, I spent time with our Project Manager reviewing progress.

The shop fitters have started on the ground floor where the floor has already been laid and whilst not as far ahead on the other floors the services are all but fitted and the miles and miles of electrical and IT cabling nearly complete.

Although the specially designed screen which will flank the escalators and go from ground floor to ceiling height on the second floor needed to be sent back to Germany to be resprayed as the colour was incorrect, we are on schedule and the store is taking shape.  The heavy plant to heat and cool the building has been shoe-horned onto the roof and is ready to be connected up to the services in the next few weeks.

In the restaurant, the feature ceiling is in place and whilst not complete it’s easy to see how stunning the restaurant will look, its partner ceiling in the bar is just beginning, although gunmetal rather than gold as in the restaurant, it too will help to create a sophisticated and contemporary space.

Hurrah! We also have an office space at Temple Quay in the city centre and once IT have visited to get us up and running we will have a base to work from. Bristolians, who are about the friendliest people I have ever met, tell me about the excitement over the new Cabot’s Circus development and Harvey Nichols in particular and though this adds to the pressure I feel in the store managing to live up to expectations there is also a support and positively towards the new retailers which has given me extra energy even when I have felt at my most exhausted.

By the end of this week after having interviewed some fantastic candidates I am confident of confirming most of the key positions before I go on holiday on Friday which will allow me to relax and recharge my batteries, then it will be all hands to the pumps for the crucial eight weeks before the ribbon is cut and we welcome the first customers.

More updates soon!

• Previous