It’s been billed as one of the greatest luxury flagship stores in the world, a merging of the digital and physical to create a retail experience second to none.

Burberry’s Regent St London flagship has to be seen to be believed, and the 2013 Westfield World Retail Study Tour did just that.

Tour attendees witnessed first hand what it’s like to shop in the luxury environment, from the 38sqm digital screen to the bespoke soundtrack recreating the rain and bluster of the London streets beyond its doors.

Before arriving at the store, which opened in September last year, I’d already seen plenty of photos but had been underwhelmed. Now having visited, let me be the first to say, the photos do not do it justice. Perhaps this is because Burberry Regent St is about more than just a pretty fitout and some high end product.

To truly appreciate the store, you need to become immersed in it, experiencing its assault on the senses, from sight and sound, to colour, size, luxury and technology. The devil is in the detail.

The Westfield World Retail Study Tour group was given a guided tour of the store before its doors opened to the morning crowd.

Much has been made of the fact that this store has embraced technology, having been based on the Burberry website itself, but the success of this is that Burberry has managed to do it in a way that is both natural and novelty.

In the fitting rooms, the group watched as mirrors turned into catwalk shows and information displays when an RFID enabled garment was held up to it, while handbags are able to trigger a short video on the product’s creation.

One of the learnings that Burberry had when putting the store together, was that while some retailers are eliminating registers from their store environment in preference of mobile checkouts, a lot of shoppers still prefer to use a till to check out.

As a result there are now four registers strategically placed to allow people to shop however they prefer.

The store’s creation was overseen by Burberry chief creative officer, Christopher Bailey, who told the Westfield World Retail Study Tour, “when we started this project two years ago we had a dream team and we sat in rooms and dreamed about,‘what does the customer want”?

“We wrote a script with actors and a story looking at what their lives are like, what they are doing, and tried to build that into the store,” Bailey said.

“The future will always be customer first and whatever supports that. It shouldn’t be about the technology, the technology should be about them,” he said.

“It’s not just shopping. The important thing is that when you go in, you feel entertained.

All content used within the store is created specially for both online and the store at the same time, with a big focus on Burberry’s signature trench coat and ‘Art of the Trench’ campaign, as well as catwalk shoes, often to demonstrate the product merchandised alongside.

Events are key to the flagship, which is designed to operate not just a store but also a ‘cultural hub’, and features a permanent hydraulic stage.

So far it has been host to Fashion Week showings and UK band, the Kaiser Chiefs, with performances able to be streamed live online, enabled by satellite technology and an uplink stream.

An added touch of the store is the 100 year old working organ cornered off at the back of the store, a relic from the building’s days as a cinema, that still requires regular tuning, and has provided the background for at least one event already.

Says Bailey of the building: “We’ve combined seven different properties to put this together in a building that began construction 200 years ago.

“A lot of the ideas behind this store are restorative, as opposed to innovative. As far as the architecture goes, there’s a lot of respect given to the heritage.”

While much of the discussion of Burberry Regent St focus on technology and fitout, product can certainly not be overlooked. The Regent St store stocks the Burberry Limited Edition, Prorsum, London, Brit, and childrenswear ranges, as well as accessories, footwear, fragrance, and beauty.

It is also home to the first ever physical presence of Burberry Bespoke, a customisation brand based on the iconic Burberry trench coat, previously only available online.

“We have plans, it’s not over yet, stay tuned,” says Bailey.

“We have a lot of spaces that are still not deployed. It’s like a child learning to walk, soon it will run and then it will sprint and then it will really do the distance.

“It’s daunting to see how some of the big guys are reinventing themselves. When you look at companies like Google or Amazon, they are reinventing themselves in real time, in delivery services, payment, procurement, connectivity and engagement, and those are the things we have to do.

“We don’t think we’re leading, we may be out in front, but we have to keep moving.

“What is next is really what does the customer want, what do they need, and can we make it simpler for them to do what they want.”

This story originally appeared in Inside Retail Magazine’s August/September 2013 edition as part of our exclusive coverage on the 2013 Westfield World Retail Study Tour.

Inside Retail Magazine’s December/January 2014 issue, featuring Inside Retail Magazine’s annual Shopping Centre Developments Guide 2014 is available now. For more information, click here.