Mary Portas has collaborated with House of Fraser to open her own shop.
Her London store, simply called Mary, will be situated on the first floor of House of Fraser’s Oxford Street branch.
It is a big step for Portas who is putting her reputation on the line with her latest retail venture.
Since 2005 Portas has been on a crusade to completely change the way the high-street serves us.
The Channel 4 Queen of Shops star has recently been appointed by David Cameron to help Britain’s ailing high-street.
Portas’ new shop will allow the flame-haired retail guru to put the lessons she has learnt over the years into practice.
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The fifty-one year old held auditions for shop staff and appealed to her 90,000 Twitter followers to apply for the job. Over 350 hopefuls turned up on the day and the final staff were hand-picked by Portas.
This means Portas’ shop will not only feature an interesting mix of designs for women but shop assistants will actually know what they are talking about.
There will even be bell-boys on hand to wait on customers and fitting rooms with gentle lighting that can be controlled.
Portas has thought of every detail to ensure her customer’s are made to feel special and like individuals.
Portas believes that women in their 40s are not catered for on the high-street and hopes to address this issue with her new fashion line, which is aimed specifically at this age bracket.
“The fashion industry was putting out collections that were getting more and more youthful,' she says.
“Everything was based on trend and youth and ‘buy now, buy now’. I just thought, "My God, if you don't have a designer income - and let's face it that's most people - where do you go?" It seemed that the middle ground was disappearing.”
