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LONDON – 21 September 2007 – Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI) announced today that it opened a 4,000 square-foot Playboy London Flagship Store on Oxford Street, its first freestanding retail location in Europe. The store, which occupies the entire building, features a dramatic, customized 39-step spiraling staircase, enabling customers to shop for Playboy's fashion and home collections on three levels. Playboy's upscale shopping destination will be owned and operated under license by Global Designer Brands (GDB).
The first Playboy store in London follows store openings in: Las Vegas (The Forum Shops and Palms Casino Resort), Melbourne, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Auckland. To celebrate the launch, Playboy CEO Christie Hefner, GDB's Creative Director and Designer Christopher Chronis, and world-famous Playboy Bunnies will host an exclusive evening event later this month featuring a welcome ceremony with models styled in Playboy apparel and accessories.
"Historically, Playboy has had a longstanding relationship with London, one of the biggest fashion capitals in the world. Playboy's growing retail success at London's preeminent retailers has demonstrated consumer demand to expand confidently to a freestanding Playboy London Flagship Store in this desirable market," said Christie Hefner, chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. "Given Oxford Street's reputation for offering the latest fashions to discerning London shoppers, we believe that the freestanding Playboy store, while complementing our third-party distribution, will create additional interest and enthusiasm for our wide range of products."
From the moment that visitors walk through the sliding glass-façade doors etched with the iconic Rabbit Head logo, the Playboy London Flagship Store will offer a unique shopping experience to style-conscious men and women, as well as to Playboy, design, and art enthusiasts. Unlike traditional retailers, the Playboy London Flagship Store emphasizes a design-driven look, inspired by the spirit of Playboy and representing concepts inherent to the iconic brand. Its fixturing is purpose-developed for Playboy, making the architectural elements "concepts" unto themselves, with furniture and fixtures inspired by Playboy iconography to enhance the shopping experience. Examples include Rabbit Ear-shaped bars for hanging Playboy men's and women's fashion collections and furniture styled after the Playboy Rabbit Head Design, including the Playboy monogram, which was inspired from the outline of the famous Playboy cufflinks worn by the world-renowned Playboy Bunnies.
The exciting format and design of the store undoubtedly will be a destination point for European shoppers, offering men's and women's apparel collections including Playboy denim, underwear, loungewear, swimwear, eyewear, belts, bags, jewelry, footwear, "Playboy Intimates" high-end lingerie, and "Playboy Beauty" cosmetics. Additionally, the Playboy London location will debut three new categories, never before available in the UK: “Playboy Icon” luxury eveningwear from Australian designer Christopher Chronis, “Playboy Physical” activewear, and the “Playboy Legacy Collection,” a limited-edition collectible of iconic photographs hand-picked from Playboy's archives. In celebration of London Design Week and the opening of the Playboy London Flagship Store, several of the Playboy Legacy Collection photographs and images will be exhibited at the Sketch Parlor on Conduit Street.
Playboy's branded line of licensed fashion and consumer products has experienced exceptional growth at retail since its repositioning in 1999, with a product offering that includes men's and women's fashion apparel and accessories, underwear, legwear, outerwear and footwear, as well as home furnishings and lifestyle and entertainment products. Playboy's licensed products business as a whole now generates in excess of $800 million in global retail sales in more than 150 countries and territories. Celebrities and fashion influencers spotted wearing Playboy fashions and accessories include Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Jade Jagger, Snoop Dogg, and Lenny Kravitz.
About Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
Playboy Enterprises is a brand-driven, international multimedia entertainment company that publishes editions of Playboy magazine around the world; operates television networks and distributes programming globally; owns Playboy.com, a leading men's lifestyle and entertainment web site; and licenses the Playboy trademark internationally for a range of consumer products and services.
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