Patagonia's first London store opened it's doors last week in Covent Garden. The 4,300 sq ft of retail space will be a showcase for the full Patagonia offering from core alpine and ski/snowboard products, to its footwear collection.
As with all Patagonia stores, the Covent Garden space was selected in keeping with Patagonia’s retail brief, to use historic sites and to preserve the integrity of the building. This is certainly the case in Covent Garden, whereby this listed building was formally part of the Watney Combe & Reid brewery, founded in 1837, which produced the popular Watney's Red Barrel beer. Furthermore, the basement of the premises formally housed the fruit and vegetables, which were stored ready for the Covent Garden market.
The new store will provide a venue for activities taking place throughout the year. Monthly events will be arranged to encourage customers to become part of the Patagonia community. This will range from surf/snow movie nights, to books signings, as well as presentations from key ambassadors such as Matt Helliker and Jon Bracey documenting their recent climbing successes in Alaska, as well as Lynn Hill and Piolets d'Or winners Nico Favresse and Sean Villanueva (see facebook for more info).
In line with Patagonia’s environmental commitment, local environmental groups will also be encouraged to use the space.
In the upcoming weeks, Patagonia London will offer an inspiring and unique art exhibition by artist and climber Andy Parkin. Parkin will be showcasing work from his latest series based on the Patagonian landscape.
