Join the Club!

Are you a very Selfridges person? What about a very very Selfridges person? Would you like to be? If you said yes to any of these questions, good news – there’s a club opening for you. 

Selfridges was the first to bring “experiential” activations to shopping in the early 2000s under the leadership of retail king Vittorio Radice. Their Corner Shop, for example, is every brand's pop-up dream. But now, at 25,000 square feet, ensconced within the Oxford Street flagship, 40 Duke is set to be the department store’s biggest investment in over a decade, and there is no shortage of services on offer. Configured in a rather intuitive, open-plan design, 40 Duke combines hospitality with retail to create a quintessential “third space”: restaurants, bars, and a terrace cafe, seamlessly blended with personal shopping and concierge suites, private event spaces and an array of beauty treatment rooms. 

40 Duke is an ambitious project, given the scale of its desire to service its members to the hilt. Take its opening hours: open from dawn to the twilight hours, the space offers as much a chance to catch a live set as to host a business meeting. With 60+ expert concierges and shoppers, curators for everything from DJs to coffee tables, and a litany of top chefs and sommeliers, it feels like a hybrid of where department store-meets-hotel-meets-food hall-meets spa-meets-concierge-meets personal shopper all coalesce. The question is whether you want to have your work meetings in the same place you pick up your Pradas. Then again, you may or may not get the opportunity to take advantage of it. Because like all clubs worth their while, you’ll have to jump a few hoops to get in.

As it stands, access to 40 Duke will be limited to members of Selfridges Unlocked, a tiered membership scheme wherein levels run commensurate with time and money spent in store. From the first of May, the Very Very Selfridges People amongst us will have unlimited access to the space; for everyone else, day passes are granted with the booking of a personal shopping appointment. So get ready for a new retail experience, where all that money you’ve spent at Selfridges in the past can lead to something new for mind, body and spirit.

Learn more about 40 Duke here.