In February 1997 the Burton Group opened Style Union in Guildford’s Friary Centre – a trial store bringing its menswear brands together under one roof. I was its Brand Manager, the equivalent of visual merchandising manager. Nearly thirty years on, the idea looks remarkably modern.
A mini menswear department store
Menswear was underperforming, so the group tried something new: a condensed, multi-brand store over two floors, with Debenhams’ sportswear, an internet café, lifestyle magazines, a fragrance counter and a tailoring service that brought customers back to collect their suits. Style Union grew to stores in Guildford, Carlisle and Leeds, plus a London flagship on Oxford Street.
Opening the doors
The Guildford store took over a former Burton Menswear site. Designer and TV presenter Jeff Banks promoted his Studio suit range and worked the launch himself. The team combined the existing Burton staff with managers recruited from Debenhams stores across the region – a mix of experience that brought its own challenges.
Where we experimented: the windows
Head office felt the standard visual merchandising guidelines weren’t working, so we were given room to try things. With three window elevations, a toolkit of new props and graphics, and store managers trusted to agree the promotional calendar, the windows became our laboratory. Inside, though, departments largely copied the old format – and that taught me something important.
Four lessons for retailers today
- Convenience and choice are a strong offer – bringing brands together under one roof is now how Next, Matalan and M&S trade.
- Change needs people on board. Staff who aren’t briefed on a new approach will keep doing things the old way.
- Test formats in different places before you roll them out.
- Big structural changes – like Debenhams leaving the group later in 1997 – can sink good ideas.
Style Union’s legacy
Style Union was short-lived. When Debenhams announced in autumn 1997 that it would leave the Burton Group, the remaining brands became a new company, Arcadia Group – named through a staff competition. But the idea lived on. Today’s retailers combine their own ranges with other brands in smaller stores and online, much as Style Union tried to do. As the Burton Group’s former Chief Executive, John Hoerner, put it to me in 2024, retailers should look at their business from the customer’s side, not their own.
Read the full article
Read the full article, “Style Union: challenges for High Street menswear brands in 1990s Britain”, on the CHORD RetailHistory blog (22 January 2025).
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