Premium appliances brand Miele has confirmed plans to relocate its Cavendish Place, London Experience Centre to the kitchen and home interiors mecca that is London’s Wigmore Street.
The opening of the new Wigmore Street Miele Experience Centre is due to coincide with the closing of the Cavendish Place Experience Centre, in march 2025 which in doing so will keep the number of UK Miele Experience Centre's at seven.
Wigmore Street in London is home to DesignSpace, Halcyon Interiors Poggenpohl, GlobalLuxuryLondon, Poliform, Nicholas Anthony, bulthaup, Boffi, Rimadesio and award-winning Italian design company Salvatori plus many more kitchen, bedroom and bathroom brands.
And it isnt just Wigmore Street that is home to so many Kbb brands as the likes of Hacker kitchens London, Decorum Est, Supremati, nahSal Interiors and Rachel Usher interiors design all within a short walk of Wigmore Street.
“Wigmore Street has long been recognised as a premium destination for kitchen design in London, making it the ideal location for our new Experience Centre,” commented John Pickering, managing director of Miele GB.
“This investment represents our continued commitment to delivering world-class experiences for both our customers and our kitchen retail partners. At Miele, we believe in empowering our trade partners by providing them with a resource where they can confidently send their clients for VIP treatment, expert advice, and hands-on experiences with our products.”
The other Miele Experience Centre's are in Brent Cross, Mayfair, Bluewater, Abingdon, Edinburgh, Solihull and Cambridge.
Despite Miele announcing in February of this year that it may have to relocate or cut up to 12% of its total employee numbers the business opened the Mayfair Miele Experience Centre.
On accounting the summer opening of the Mayfair centre, John Pickering, managing director of Miele GB said: “We are incredibly excited to open our newest Miele Experience Centre in Mayfair, a location synonymous with quality, luxury and excellence.
“This opening is a testament to our commitment to bringing the Miele experience closer to our customers. As we celebrate our 125th anniversary, we are proud to continue our tradition of innovation and excellence, setting the standard for quality, and we look forward to welcoming visitors to experience the Miele difference.”
Whilst the post-covid Kbb landscape is certainly challenging, with many Kbb brands disappearing altogether, according to Miele, its long-term refocusing strategy will help the company free up to €500 million (£426m) by 2026 through improvements in turnover and reducing material costs, but the company confirmed that a reduction in its staff was regretfully “unavoidable”.
With 2024 being Miele's 125th year in business, news of the job losses does put this milestone in a different light and takes the celebratory wind out of its sails so to speak but the strategy is deemed necessary, given the Miele board feel that the current economic climate isnt just blip, but perhaps part of a wider shift.
Miele’s executive board commented: “These are grave measures, and we are fully aware that this will hit many colleagues hard.”
“What we are currently experiencing is not just a blip in the economic cycle but rather a sustainable shift in the framework conditions which are relevant to us and to which we must adjust. Miele would not be Miele if the pending transformation were not to be conducted as socially compatibly as possible and in close collaboration with employee representatives.”
