Desiree Bollier tells us how Bicester Village has stayed on-trend for three decades

Walpole: How has Bicester Village evolved over the past 30 years?

Desiree Bollier: Back in 1995, the area we now know as Bicester Village was just a dirt field full of sheep and cows – and when Scott Malkin, the Founder and Chairman of Value Retail, had the vision to create a luxury shopping village here, people thought he was crazy. Remember, this was the first ever example of this sort of shopping experience in Europe at the time. But that didn’t stop him and, three decades later, here we are! Of course, over those 30 years, we have refined that original vision as tastes changed and customer expectations evolved, but we have always remained consistent in our mission to create a young, vibrant street that feels exciting and offers an incredible visitor experience. That's really what makes Bicester Village original and unique.

How have you modified the customer experience over the years?

The main driver behind all our thinking has always been the customer, and this influences not only the brands we bring into the Village, but also the experience our guests have while they’re there. When we built the Village, there were no compromises on quality of the buildings or the shop-fits – and it’s architecturally distinctive, while still nodding to the vernacular of the local built environment. Today, that’s a key part of The Bicester Collection's DNA as we open more locations around the world, from New York to Shanghai.

A great example of this is that every single one of our villages around the world has a story behind the planting. We have characters who we imagine curating the look of the botanical elements of each destination. At Bicester Village, it’s an eccentric couple who adores gardens, and they really want to invite their guests on a stroll in the streets of Bicester. This story influences not just how we think about the physical design of the planted spaces, but down to the seedlings we plant. It’s so important for Bicester Village not to feel municipal.

Secondly, we always have our guests front of mind – they have always been part of the journey. They have a discerning international mindset, they have a real sense of what luxury means in all forms, they have an absolute drive for quality, and, above all, just want a really great experience. Right from the start we’ve looked at ourselves more as a hospitality venue, integrating a hotel mindset within our retail fashion environment. This is why we were one of the first retail spaces to hire a team from the hospitality world to ensure a seamless and effortless customer experience, which led to us introducing things like valet parking and hands-free shopping at a really early stage. We wanted to ensure our customers left feeling happy above all else – that they had had time well spent. It's that moment of going there as a sense of a holiday day, an oasis with no car honking, no stress of finding a parking spot, no music blabbing in the background – it's just a bucolic fashion escape for five or six hours that you can’t have anywhere else. That’s the real luxury.

What are luxury customers demanding right now that is affecting the experience you’re curating at Bicester Village?

Post-COVID, I think the luxury customer has really prioritised comfort in their downtime outside of work. They want to be super comfortable, but still elegant. I have been keen to introduce more brands that reflect how multifaceted wellness is today, from athleisurewear to organic beauty to home scent – our Diptyque pop-up store is a particularly successful example of how important this more experiential trend is to our customer.

So, how is Bicester Village itself celebrating its 30th birthday?

The team has done a stupendous job at creating lots of experiences for our guests to enjoy. We have a collaboration with The Gentlewoman, whose team has created an exclusive magazine for us to celebrate this milestone, called 1995 (currently for sale at our pop-up newsstand in the Village, which also features a curation of branded merch). We’ve also worked with Cecconi’s restaurant to introduce a special menu of classic Nineties dishes, as well as special promotional days where these set menus cost just £19.95

How are you future-proofing Bicester Village for the next 30 years?

My legacy is to make sure that whomever is managing Village in 30 years’ time realises that there is one key metric to keep in mind: the customer. If you remain relevant to the customer, you remain relevant in business. The customer is what makes you live and breathe. What we always want to avoid is creating any sense of stagnation at Bicester Village – that’s why each year we re-merchandise nearly 15 to 20 per cent of our brands at the location. That’s a lot of work that we do not to keep ourselves busy, but to remain relevant.

We need to remember that our guest is multigenerational and to embrace that. Tastes don’t just change when it comes to brands, but the very idea of luxury changes from generation to generation. For example, over the past few years we’ve seen healthy eating become more important and we’ve seen superfluous experiences become more important to our customer, and have changed our offerings at Bicester Village to reflect that. Of course, that will continue to evolve. What form is it going to take? I don't know. But what I do know is that we will find the answers because we need to constantly be obsessed with remaining relevant.