Skopes opens its largest brick-and-mortar store in Leeds

Menswear brand Skopes has opened what it says is its largest brick and mortar location ever in Leeds, marking a “major expansion” for the label and a homecoming to the city where it was founded in 1948.

The flagship store, which is located in White Rose Shopping Centre, spans 3,800 square feet and offers a full range of menswear, including suits, outerwear, shirts, footwear and accessories.

According to the brand, eight new jobs were created in the process, which it noted had been “several years in the making”, with an interior that intends to merge the tailoring brand’s manufacturing heritage with a modern colour scheme.

Like other stores in Skopes’ portfolio, White Rose will offer customers “quick turnaround” alterations, and is said to be organised by defined trends and themes, such as ‘Getting Hitches’ and ‘Ready for the Races’.

It is the 20th store opened by the retailer since it embarked on a retail expansion in 2018, with further store openings also planned for 2025.

Head of retail at Skopes, Mike Barber, said that since the first store opening, the company has “refined and improved the shopping experience”, as it strived to go “above and beyond the usual high street experience”.

Barber continued: “The role of the suit in men’s lives has changed dramatically since the pandemic and the five-days-a-week suited and booted look for the office is virtually a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean the suit is dead.

“We've said from the outset that we did not want a boring ‘suits you, sir’ old-fashioned store. Our customers now want suits for specific occasions and events, which our store lay-out reflects.”