Who knew …

“candles are integral to the history of Fortnum’s. Three hundred and seven years ago, William Fortnum was a footman at the Court of Queen Anne, where one of his tasks was to empty half-burnt candles. Instead of leaving the wax to go to waste, he would take the used candles home make new candles from them to sell to the ladies of the court.  Following his success, Mr Fortnum joined forces with his landlord, Hugh Mason, and they went on to open Fortnum & Mason in 1707.”

More on the Fortnum & Mason candle history here

Via gpstudio

And four candles

Brought to you by John Lewis.

You can get a better/friendlier view of the whole thing here, or use your keyboard arrow keys to scroll.

67% of customers who try on items buy them. Only 10% of customers make a purchase that they haven’t tried on. That’s why stores have begun to make changing rooms more attractive to customers.

Lighting is of course the key element in changing rooms, if you can tell navy blue from black you know the lighting is working. Then come the add ons. Mary Portas when launching her new shop for women is going to have fitting rooms with a choice of lighting modes.

Neither do changing rooms have to be static tucked away in a corner. Bloomingdales in Santa Monica have installed pods that retract into the ceiling.

Also of note in the same ‘retailtainment’ vein, the Topman personal shopping suite by Lee Broom.

More reading for changing rooms:

Dezeen about Topman

Specialty Fabrics Review about Bloomingdales

PSFK Future of Retail

Spotted on LSN Global.