Neiman Marcus Atlanta Welcomes Burberry with Major Summer Takeover – WWD

LONDON – The curtain has risen on Neiman Marcus’ “retail-tainment” plan with an immersive installation at the retailer’s Atlanta store showcasing the new Burberry TB Summer Monogram collection.

For the first time in Neiman Marcus’ history, the entire exterior of a store has been taken over by a brand.

The exterior of the Atlanta store at the Lenox Square mall has been wrapped in a pattern that fuses the Burberry check with the TB Monogram print. Inside there is a “graphic, sculptural space” that includes the Burberry signature patterns.

The space is meant to conjure a summer holiday spirit, and more than 50 styles in men’s, women’s and accessories — all exclusive to Neiman’s — are on display inside.

Neiman Marcus is the exclusive U.S. stockist of the TB Summer Monogram collection, along with selected Burberry stores. The Neiman Marcus installation, which opened this week, will run until July 6. The collection includes lightweight coats, jackets, swimwear and sunglasses.

Thibaut Perrin-Faivre, president of Burberry Americas, said that reimagining the luxury experience to inspire consumers is important to the company. As reported, Burberry designed a major immersive installation at its Rodeo Drive store earlier this year to coincide with Frieze and a number of events taking place in Los Angeles at the time.

“We have continued to unlock new possibilities – with our Rodeo Drive takeover celebrating the spring 2022 collection in February this year; Burberry’s partnership with downtown New York City restaurant Lucien in May, and now this collaboration in Atlanta.

“The project brings Burberry’s house codes to life in a fully immersive experience, as we further evolve how customers interact with our brand and products. Through our partnership with Neiman Marcus, we are continually striving to create experiences that are a first of their kind,” he said.

He described Atlanta as a city with a “thriving creative community,” and said the city has been among the top-performing markets of previous Burberry capsule collections in the U.S. “We are excited to be collaborating with Neiman Marcus on this exclusive partnership to introduce the latest iteration of TB Summer Monogram to our customers,” he added.

Lana Todorovich, president and chief merchandising officer at Neiman Marcus, said that Atlanta is the number one Neiman Marcus store year-to-date for Burberry sales.

“We chose this store as the destination for the Burberry installation and dynamic TB Monogram pattern takeover of the façade because we believed our customer would fall in love with the magnitude of this immersive experience.

“Knowing that Atlanta is a highly social city with a taste for luxury, it felt natural to host an event to celebrate the collection. Atlanta’s rapid growth in the entertainment and sports industries over the past few years has also made a significant impact on our store performance, specifically with our luxury designer brands,” she said.

Todorovich added that the store plans to open two Burberry shop-in-shops in Atlanta for women’s ready-to-wear and handbags this upcoming fall season.

Asked who was buying Burberry at the Atlanta store, she said the brand has a “strong, loyal customer base, and has been attracting and retaining a significant number of new and younger loyal customers. Overall, we have seen the Burberry customer base grow, especially in women’s, with a consistent, solid loyal base in men’s. Average customer spend has increased across all categories with Burberry because the new collections have an appeal to a wide range of customers,” she said.

Burberry bestsellers at Neiman Marcus include ready-to-wear and accessories featuring the brand’s reinvention of the heritage check pattern and logo.

“Over the last year, we have been pleased with performance in women’s and handbags. Burberry is also our leading brand in children’s, and many families love to find matching looks. At the same time, we have a successful men’s ready-to-wear and shoe business driven by the demand for fashion sportswear,” she said.

Todorovich added that the TB Summer Monogram collection features all the brand’s bestselling styles and the store anticipates that the “silk shirt dresses, men’s hoodies, logo totes and women’s shoes in this collection will resonate with our customers.”

As reported on Friday, Neiman Marcus plans to go big on “retail-tainment” and Todorovich said the aim is to bring “incredible fashion and exclusive product, often across multiple categories,” and “engage our customers at a different level.”

The experiences, she said, “are multisensory, multidimensional, and the scale is fully immersive. It’s no longer shopping as usual.”