Lark London has been continuing its retail expansion in Surrey with the opening of a new store in Weybridge, which opened last week (20 February), bringing the total number of stores in Lark’s retail portfolio to 19.
Commenting on the newly opened store, co-owner Priya Aurora-Crowe said: “We are so excited to be joining the lovely Weybridge community with our shiny new shop. Well done to our amazing Lark team for working so hard to get the shop open so quickly. We’re now looking forward to meeting the locals.”
Husband and co-owner Dom is in charge of all new store openings, where he carries out the shop fittings and maintenance himself, as well as managing the builders, alongside the accounting and finance side of the business.
Describing the concept of Lark, Dom highlights that the stores are “very bright, very open and very welcoming”, with Priya emphasising that they are inclusive of price point, gender and age.
“We’re an affordable boutique experience, with our customers varying from a 13 year old girl to an older shopper in their ‘70s or ‘80s. In every category, we offer entry, middle and top end, so that there’s a price point to suit every customer.”
A myriad of product categories go right across the board, ranging from clothing – women’s, men’s and babywear – to home fragrancing, wellness, beauty, jewellery, home, interiors, children’s gifts, novelty and, of course, greeting cards. “They’re our bread and butter,” states Priya. “Most customers come in to buy a card – always displayed at the front of the store – and then are quickly tempted by everything else that we offer.”
Most products stocked by Lark are sustainable and have links to charities, while merchandising follows the Mary Portas strategy of colour blocking.
Over the past year, in addition to Weybridge, new Lark stores have opened in Blackheath, East Sheen, Esher, Putney, Richmond, Southfields and Woking.
Expanding Lark’s retail reach further still, Priya and Dom recently joined forces with South London retail multiple Jumping Bean (which has upmarket gift and lifestyle stores in Beckenham, Dulwich and Honor Oak Park). “We have a lot of skill sets between us and work very closely with co-owners Nilou Noorbakhsh and Terry Jones,” states Priya.
Top: We did it! Dom Aurora-Crowe and the team at the newly opened Lark store in Weybridge.
