Aubaine to take over Selfridges restaurant

SELFRIDGES’ second floor restaurant is to be taken over by restaurant company Aubaine, in its first foray outside London.

The French bistro chain already has three locations in London including one in Selfridges’ Oxford Street store.

The restaurant will open in early November, ahead of a full refurbishment of the restaurant space along with the rest of the second floor, which is due to take place next year.

Aubaine will also open Le Café within Selfridges’ new beauty hall on the lower ground floor, which is expected to open in the next four to six weeks.

Sue West, retail operations director for Selfridges, said:  “It feels very much like a ladies restaurant café, it’s very feminine with a French Provencal feel.”

West emphasised that despite the tough retail environment, investment was not only being made in Selfridges Exchange Square store, but also in the Trafford Centre.

Over the next 18 months the department store will invest around £2m in a three phase development of the Trafford Centre store, with menswear the first area to be transformed.

West said: “Retailing is tough but we are not a Plc or private equity backed. We are privately run and nothing we do is short term, it is all long term. Every recession we have we come out of but even so we have still got a strong market in Manchester.”

She added that the city centre and Trafford Centre catered to very different customers, with the Trafford Centre being more home and family oriented, giving Selfridges the opportunity to have two very different looking stores.

“It is a very different environment and product brand mix,” she said. “We have four stores in the UK so can develop our offer within their own market, we are not a huge chain where people expect the same look from each branch.”