Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge: What's New on the Ground Floor
Harvey Nichols has been quietly rebuilding its Knightsbridge flagship from the ground up, and the first stage has changed how the store greets you. Last year the retailer announced a substantial, floor-by-floor redevelopment of the corner building at Knightsbridge and Sloane Street, starting with a reimagined ground floor that was scheduled to open in September 2025. If you have not been in since, a spring visit is a good moment to see what has changed.
A new ground floor
The aim, according to the store, is to re-establish Harvey Nichols as a global destination for fashion, accessories and creative ideas. In practice that means:
- A curated jewellery edit of fine and designer jewellery, mixing established names with emerging makers.
- Homeware and gifting, including décor, artisan candles, sculptural vases, tabletop objects and books chosen as objects in their own right.
- Bold primary colour throughout, with movable fixtures so the floor can change for brand collaborations and seasonal displays.
- Opened-up windows that let far more natural light into the ground floor.
- A flexible experiential space for events and launches.
The artist and designer Gary Card created a new installation for the space, and the store's leadership, chief executive Julia Goddard and creative director Kate Phelan, framed the ground floor as the beginning of a longer story. FashionUnited's report on the plans sets out the full vision.
The corner window
The detail most shoppers notice first is outside. The prominent corner window at the junction of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street has become a pop-up space for exclusive brand moments and launches, so it is worth a glance every time you pass. It turns one of the busiest corners in SW1 into a rotating showcase, and it gives the store a way to stage short, exclusive launches without rearranging the floors inside. Expect it to be one of the first places new collaborations appear.
Downstairs and upstairs
The changes are not confined to the ground floor. In December, the Notting Hill favourite Secret Sandwich Shop opened its second site on the lower ground floor, with sandos, an LA-inspired matcha menu and Japanese-influenced cocktails, as reported by Hot Dinners. At the top of the building, the Fifth Floor remains the store's dining and drinking destination, with its own dedicated lift.
How to shop it
Weekday mornings are the calmest time to browse the new jewellery edit, and the store's personal shopping team can pull pieces ahead of an appointment. With further phases of the redevelopment still to come, it is a store worth revisiting through the year as each floor changes. The ground floor's movable fixtures also mean the edit itself shifts with the seasons, so what you see in May may look quite different by the autumn.
Getting there
Harvey Nichols is at 109 to 125 Knightsbridge, SW1X, sitting directly above Knightsbridge station with an exit almost at its door. Sloane Street's boutiques start right outside. See our guide to Harvey Nichols for more, including the Fifth Floor.
Lead image: ell brown via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
