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Quote:6. BUDGET: CHEAP GETS CHIC
The value end of retail has traditionally involved compromise: products will be cheap, but so will the environments that sell them. Now retailers such as Primark, from Ireland, Japan’s Uniqlo, and Aldi, from Germany, are showing that value retailing does not have to be a depressing experience. Primark opened a 3,700m2 store on Oxford Street in 2007 that plays all the mid-market merchandising tricks. Designed by London-based Dalziel + Pow, it has dark wood perimeter panels, blue neon strips above the central escalator and mannequins placed casually around the store. Down the street, Uniqlo’s flagship would not disgrace some nearby Bond Street operations. But given the success of the likes of Primark, what will become of mid-market retailers?...