A UK menswear brand has announced the opening of its 20th, and largest, bricks and mortar store in Yorkshire.
Skopes will open the doors to its flagship store in the White Rose Centre on Saturday 28th September.
The new location marks both a major expansion for the heritage tailoring brand and a homecoming to the city where it was originally founded in 1948.
The new 3,800 sq ft store will create eight new roles and offer a full range of menswear, including suits, outerwear, shirts, footwear and accessories in a variety of styles, fits, and colours as well as plus sizing up to a 62in chest.
The store has been several years in the making and mixes the brand’s manufacturing heritage with a modern colour scheme to create a light bright and welcoming environment. The layout eschews typical product categories, instead being organised by clearly defined, yet changing style trends and themes, such as ‘Getting Hitched’ and ‘Ready for the Races’.
The store includes two large digital screens to immerse customers in visuals with a giant bird’s eye view of Leeds, brand mantras celebrating the suit as an icon across the walls, and a bespoke in-store aroma to enhance the overall experience.
Skopes has a rich history in Leeds, dating back 76 years to when it was founded by Sydney Cope. Today, the brand is led by the third generation of the family, CEO Simon Cope, and has continued to expand its reach with 19 existing stores and 15 concessions across the UK.
The nationwide chain opened the first of its next generation concept stores in Westfield, London in 2018, since adding Meadowhall, Sheffield and the Metro Centre in Newcastle. The White Rose store will be the 20th overall, with further stores planned for 2025.
Speaking about the opening of the White Rose store, Simon said: “Leeds isn’t just where Skopes was founded; it’s in our blood. The city’s heritage in textiles and its appreciation for quality and style have shaped us from day one.
As the textile industry in Leeds evolved, so has Skopes. We’ve continuously adapted to the changing needs of our customers – including rolling out a broad range of sizes not typically found on the high street – while remaining relevant and maintaining our point of difference.
Opening a store in our home city has been on the agenda for a few years and we’ve been waiting for the right location to become available. The White Rose Centre has offered us the chance to showcase our full range of clothing, footwear and accessories and to connect with our local customers in a special way. Opening our 20th store in Leeds feels like a celebration and we can’t wait to meet them at the store.”
Steven Foster, centre director at White Rose Shopping Centre, added: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Skopes to our line-up here at White Rose. Skopes has built a great reputation as a leading menswear retailer in the past ten years, and we’re thrilled to support a Leeds born-and-bred brand. The new store is set to open with a splash, and we know our guests will enjoy Skopes’ offering.”
Speaking about the store design, Mike Barber, head of retail at Skopes, said: “Since we launched our first concept store in Westfield London in 2018, we’ve refined and improved the shopping experience we offer our customers. We believed then, and we still believe now, that the consumer deserves better. Our aim is to go above and beyond the usual high street experience, every time a customer walks through the door. A fact borne out by our best-in-class Trustpilot rating.
The Leeds store has been designed with our customer at its heart. We’ve added plenty of informal dwell spaces for our teams to chat with customers and really get to know their personality so we can understand what they need. The role of the suit in men’s lives has changed dramatically since the pandemic and the five-days-a-week suited and booted look for the office is virtually a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean the suit is dead. We’ve we said from the outset that we did not want a boring ‘suits you, sir’ old-fashioned store. Our customers now want suits for specific occasions and events, which our store lay-out reflects.”
Skopes’ White Rose store opens Saturday 28th September at 9:30 am with a ‘brunch party’ that will be open to the public and see VIP guests, as well as live entertainment and an expert stylist in attendance.
