Chic delivered to your door

ONLINE SHOPPING: Hide the credit card: Anthropologie, London's hippest new American import, is going online – and delivering to Ireland, writes Tom Sykes

LIKE MANY MEN, my purpose on conjugal shopping trips is to sow doubt. If my wife represents the fast-moving wheels of retail enthusiasm, I am the brake pedal of thrift. When in a shop together, my most oft-uttered remark – laced with faux regret – is: “Yes, it’s gorgeous darling, but where will we put it?” Therefore I am usually not taken on trips to her favourite store, Anthropologie, a US chain beloved of bohos and bankers alike for its eclectic range of fashion and homewares. This week, it’s launching a European website, anthropologie.co.uk, delivering to Ireland at standard postal rates.

Suitcase-filling trips to Anthropologie used to be restricted by the necessity of crossing the Atlantic to reach one of its 130 outlets. That was until last year, when the company opened its first European store on London’s Regent Street, a jaw-dropping emporium of cool that has swiftly established itself as a tourist attraction in its own right, thanks in no small part to the 50ft garden climbing up the inside of the building, known as “the living wall”. A second branch is due to open next month on the King’s Road in Chelsea, and it will include an art gallery.

Living up to the American reputation for never doing things by half, an in-house team of artists travels the globe “curating” the contents and windows of each Anthropologie store every 12 weeks to keep the offerings fresh and edgy. The stock, which changes with astounding frequency, mainly focuses on women’s fashion but encompasses everything from paintings to objets trouvés, by way of hats and handcream. The duvet covers and eiderdowns alone are a potent invitation to take to one’s bed. The hand-painted china is cute but dishwasher safe. The elegant chandeliers constructed from recycled objects by South African art collective Magpie have some influential fans – one is reputed to hang in Sasha Obama’s bedroom at the White House. We are building a house at the moment – and every single door is to be festooned with appealingly retro Anthropologie doorknobs.

Although you wouldn’t suspect it from the carefully selected stock and homey atmosphere, which gives the customer the illusion of being in a well run mom-and-pop boutique, Anthropologie is part of the massive Urban Outfitters group, which has a market capitalisation of $5.3 billion.

But, if Urban Outfitters is a pasty kid on a skateboard listening to Kasabian on his iPod, Anthropologie is a graceful, gamine, not so much elder sister as yummy mummy – but a trendy one, with tickets to Florence and the Machine in her vinyl-print purse, peddling a particular lifestyle that comes at a price.

If Anthropologie comes close to anything on Irish shores, it is probably Avoca, which stocks a similarly eclectic range of craft, fashion, found objects and random knick-knacks.

There are no plans to open a bricks-and-mortar Irish store, but, with the Irish being the 10th biggest online shoppers globally, each spending about €2,000 via computer, that may not matter so much. Former city slickers now opting for life in the country know that if they want anything cool, it’s possible to have it delivered direct to their front door. “One of the great paradigm shifts brought about by the internet is the geographic accessibility of brands which may only have stores in and around major cities,” says its European MD, James Bidwell.

Anthropologie promises fast delivery – so keep an eye out for your local DPD van.

See anthropologie.co.uk

ONLINE SHOPPING