Gift Focus - Jan/Feb 2020 (Issue 117)

180 Brutal beauty Attracting architectural enthusiasts and creatives, The Barbican Centre is a world-class arts and learning centre in the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. Jo Davis, head of retail takes us on a tour around the Barbican Shop Give us an overview of The Barbican Shop. How important is the location? We have two shops; one is located in the Art Gallery and the Barbican Shop is located in the foyer. The Art Gallery shop will always reflect and be relevant to the exhibition happening at the time, with products that use artworks from the show, or are influenced by themes and ideas within the exhibition. The Barbican Shop in our foyers has a much broader product offer however. This is definitely influenced by the building, what happens inside the centre and the Brutalist aesthetic. Products range from books, stationery and greetings cards to jewellery, apparel and accessories. When did the shop open and how has it evolved over time? The foyer shop, in its current location, opened in December 2016. It has almost trebled in size, meaning the offer suddenly had to grow and diversify. We have had a lot more opportunity to develop our own products and ranges since the growth of the shop as well as explore new categories which we previously didn’t have the room for. Who is your customer? Our customers are so varied. During the day we’ll see students, freelances, local residents and office workers pass through our shop doors. In the evening, there may be a theatre show or music event in the Hall, which will bring a whole different audience to the building. We have a lot of people who visit us specifically for the architecture – these customers are often very engaged with our own Barbican ranges. Describe your product offering. We offer a mixture of architecturally influenced products, specifically referencing our building, brutalism and concrete. This sits alongside contemporary design, publications and gift ideas. Each story is carefully curated by our retail buyer and represents the style and feel of the Barbican, whilst being accessible to a really varied audience. How do you decide what products to stock? What are the most important factors? Pricing is really important when deciding on products to include in our ranges. We try to ensure there’s a mixture of price points across the shop; offering entry level price points and ‘pick up’ lines for the casual souvenir buyer, through to mid-range and higher end price points for those looking for something special to gift or maybe treat themselves. What’s your current best-seller? It’s actually one of our ‘entry –level’ items, which our team always upsell at the till, the Barbican tote bag. It will almost certainly always be in our top 10 sellers and we’re always checking we have plenty of stock! It’s such a simple item, but we refresh it with new colourways throughout the year and it’s a really easy add on at the till point. What’s your USP? Do you have any exclusive gifts? The fact we are located inside such a unique and iconic building is definitely something that attracts people to us. It’s a haven for