National kitchen retailer Magnet has now started to roll out its “immersive” new concept store programme.

Following the launch of its first revamped store in Stockton-on-Tees, Magnet has refurbished its South Wimbledon showroom, with a third pilot store due to open in Sale, Manchester.

Alike the Stockton-on Tees showroom, the South Wimbledon studio features a working kitchen to host cookery demonstrations, a style and materials area to select handles, finishes and materials, plus individual design consultation areas.

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In addition, the showroom also has a co-located trade counter, which has had a makeover in the same aesthetic.

Talking about the new look concept, executive vice president Dan Carr said: “What we really wanted to achieve was to create this warm, immersive but inspiring experience with the showrooms.

“In understanding that, and knowing that’s what we wanted to do, we’ve got a North Star, which is our brand philosophy of ‘better by design’, so making everything beautiful and purposeful as well, and thinking about that all the way through.”

Alongside the trio of pilot makeovers,  a new store has also been opened in Portsmouth which has been designed in the new concept.

Speaking on the choice of the locations for its pilot showrooms, Dan Carr said: “What Sale, South Wimbledon and Stockton all have in common are criteria that we like to have in our store locations.

“We like to be visible, ideally from a main road into town. We like to be accessible for our trade customers and to have trade and retail together on the same site.”

He added Stockton was also close to its factory in Darlington, where Magnet makes all its cabinets, and enables its colleagues easier access to see its latest store direction.

When asked if it the entire network of 196 stores will be refurbished with the new aesthetic,  Dan Carr said the company will use the pilots to learn what works best for the company and its customers.

He explained: “We’ll take those elements and try to roll those out to the rest of the store network, as quickly as we can.

“I don’t have an exact timeframe for it but we will work, quite quickly, on a rolling basis to take the key elements everywhere, so that we’ve got a real consistency from something that you might see in our advertising, to what you see on our website, to what you see when you come into store.”

In fact, Dan Carr said the refreshed showroom concept has already reaped rewards for Magnet: “Stockton has been open since July and we’re really pleased with what we’ve achieved with the format. So, lots of it will definitely carry through to the rest of the store estate.

“We’re pleased with the increase in footfall and we’re definitely seeing a positive improvement in our conversion rates and our average transaction value as well.”