Shopping with experts: Covent Garden new stores

Kurt geiger
While we were away, a couple of interesting stores opened in Covent Garden. I've not been a big fan of the market area recently, mostly because it's full of tourists (many stores now indicate prices with the VAT tax deducted, as tourists can claim this back), but a few new openings made me look again.

The first store I visited was a lovely perfume shop called  L'Artisan Parfumeur, (situated in the market itself) where I went to sniff a few fragrances I've been reading about in the book The Perfect Scent by Chandler Burr. The scents that are mentioned in the book were lovely, but I ended up buying something different for M.A.D, a gorgeous smoky, woody, wintery smell called Timbuktu. It's quite masculine but I think I'll be borrowing it……

I then went to the new Apple store on the corner of James Street, which was absolutely heaving with people, lots of them men. It's a beautiful store, not really like a shop at all as it has two floors of tables, with nice comfy stools, where you just get to play with all the nice gadgets Apple do. You have to get to the third floor before you get any product you can pick up off the shelves. I loved the kids height table and chairs for small people to enjoy and I counted eight play tables for iPads, with four live iPads on each one. 

And then there is the new Kurt Geiger store right opposite Apple, which is the funnest shoe store I've been in for ages. Great window display, really clued up staff and just gorgeous shoes. In the centre of the store there is a shoe chandelier hanging from the mirrored ceiling (everything is mirrored, it's a full on environment) which is just fabulous. I wasn't allowed to take a photo of it (why stores makes beautiful interiors and then forbid us from recording them I will never understand…) but the cheery assistant I got chatting to reckoned every bedroom should have one as it is the perfect way to display and organise your shoe collection. 

The store really buzzed with humour and fun, I'd recommend a trip and if you struggle to get M.A.D or your kids to come with you, tell them about the Apple store and you can leave them in there for hours while you shop. I can't think of a better way to spend a rainy bank holiday weekend. And you can always ask Kurt Geiger's advice on exactly WHAT shoe to wear with your maxi dress (scroll down to yesterday's post), one that perhaps might not break your ankle……

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