House of Fraser launches competition for emerging brands

Department store chain House of Fraser is partnering with non-for-profit foundation The Great Retail Revival to offer ten “promising” retail brands the chance to trade within its flagship Oxford Street store in the new ‘POP at HOF’ pop-up. The competition marks the foundation’s first

initiative and it aims to help support fledging retail brands to grow and ultimately help one of the UK’s most significant business sectors to thrive. It is hoped that the platform within House of Fraser will help the chosen retail brands access new consumers and push forward with their business potential.

Retail brands will be selected through a two-stage competition with the short-listed businesses competing live in front of an expert judging panel, which includes: House of Fraser's COO Nigel Oddy; Dress2Kill Founder James Hibbert; Liz Houghton, Founder of Mint Velvet; Anna Murphy, editor of The Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine; and Katy Young, beauty editor at The Daily Telegraph.

The

competition is open to small retail brands that have been trading for a minimum of two years, who can apply online via thegreatretailrevival.org before March 20. The winners will get the opportunity to retail their products within House of Fraser's Oxford Street flagship this May for two weeks and will be given prime e-commerce space on the retailer’s website, as well receive mentoring by the HoF and Great Retail Revival Foundation teams to get them “high street” ready.

Nine winners will be chosen directly by the judging panel with a tenth spot given to the winner of a shortlist which will be judged by House of Fraser customers via social media channels. At the end of the pop-up on May 27, one brand will be chosen to retail at HoF for a year online and will be considered for an in-store concession.

House of Fraser partners with The Great Retail Revival

John King, House of Fraser CEO said: “We are delighted to be partnering with this exciting project and feel proud to be in a position to give smaller retail brands the opportunity to break into an industry which we are proud to be a part of.

“This is the beginning of what we hope will be an exciting partnership with Great Retail Revival Foundation that will see POP at HOF touring to other parts of the country and helping even more small brands throughout the year and into the future.”

James Hibbert, director of The Great Retail Revival added: “We are hugely grateful to House of Fraser for backing our first project in helping to revive retail in Britain. POP at HOF will help put up and coming retailers on the map and give them some vital experience and mentoring to helping them become the new next generation of retailers.”

Winners of the competition will be revealed on April 2, with the ‘POP at HOF’ opening on May 8 for two weeks.