EXPERT PERSPECTIVE

House of Rituals: A thing of beauty.

On a recent visit to Amsterdam, Karl McKeever explores the not so recently opened ‘House of Rituals’ flagship store – a world first for the brand. 

By Karl McKeever
Posted 22.04.2023

Originally opened in 2020 as part of the brand’s twentieth birthday anniversary, the store has since won two prestigious awards by the Ebeltoft Consulting Group. In 2021, awarded ‘One of the World’s Top 10 Stores’ and a year later, to coincide with the completion of the store and the opening of additional Wellness themed floors, ‘The Worlds Most Innovative Retail Concept’.

With such high praise to its name, I wanted to experience the store for myself, and see what was new.

Set in a beautifully restored historic building over 1900sqm and five expansive floors, this is a very big store and considerably larger than any other operated by the brand. And it really does impress on every level.

Located adjacent to one of the City’s major shopping streets, design of the retail environment has been taken to a level of sophisticated luxury with the variety of interior treatments, finishes and materials and great attention to detail within every general merchandise category. 

Here, the brand has taken the opportunity to create original and distinctive theming for each product collection — all tied together by a thoughtful and luxurious interpretation of the brand’s proposition and values. This is complemented by outstanding visual merchandising execution in every area. 

A notable development is the inclusion of numerous technology features set within every category. Screens, devices and ‘play stations’ allow shoppers to learn about the products, share stories on social media and to order unique and customisable options within many categories.

In addition to the brands signature toiletries and home fragrance ranges, several new categories are introduced here for the very first time including: luxury bedlinen and home textiles, semi-precious jewellery, bespoke candle making and even a place to create unique Eau de Parfum. 

This all adds up to a ‘much richer’ customer experience, a place to play, and stay, where brand competency and product expertise is celebrated in a highly immersive, sensorially lavish, ‘hyper-indulgent’ shopper experience.

However, it’s the additional floors that opened in 2022 which really take the brand into a new direction. Here a Mind and Body spa over two floors bring the concept of Wellness into life.

The Mind Spa offers a place for individual and group relaxation, meditation and spiritual healing. Here with a variety of technology enabled features, guests can escape the stresses of daily life for a while (paid time and experience!), in areas such as ‘The Brain Bar’, Sleep Pods’, Contemplation Suite and more. 

Each beautifully designed spa space area providing a much welcome boost of energising tranquillity and a place to spiritually recharge. 

As in general merchandise areas, technology is actively used to deliver both experience and service features, but of course, with the additional support of fully qualified salon and healthcare team members who assist the guest experience for maximum benefit. 

The Body Spa offers a range of bookable private services to beautify, pamper and enhance the skin, hands, and feet — many of these services feature Rituals Retail range of personal care products. Within both areas, as with the rest of the store, the retail environment is sublime. Great care and attention to detail in the fit and finish of each area, all supplied with the latest in health and beauty technology and hardware.

If that wasn’t enough, to complete the brand experience, an exclusive hospitality element has been designed into the store. 

Located on the ground floor, guests will find ROUHI (Japanese for ‘My Soul’). This superb small scale restaurant and walk up to bar has an eclectic, healthy Asian menu featuring light bites and entrees that chime with the brand’s feel good / eat good ethos. Beautiful interior design, quality food and beverage produced in the open ‘show kitchen’ are the order of the day. Here, easy to use, convenient ‘at table‘ technology facilitates food and drink ordering, menu advice and payment options for a totally contactless (if you prefer) experience. 

In short, Rituals have created something truly remarkable here, and very worthy of accolade. 

The store combines the brands rich heritage and values, with whole new levels and several layers of category extending and revenue generating brand competence. Not just a great look and feel, but with an enhanced commercial proposition too. It elevates, inspires, and takes relaxation to a level where the House of Rituals, Amsterdam can truly be called a ‘Best in Class’ retail experience. It’s something other retailers can also take inspiration from should they be seeking ways to truly define what customer experience means, and how they create a store that is truly different and distinctive to e-commerce.