Steen & Strøm reopens after revamp with new name

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 21, 2021

Destination luxury Oslo department store Steen & Strøm has reopened after a €29.5 million (£25.5m) makeover. Operated by Promenaden Management, the 220-year-old store officially relaunched this week with a brand-new entrance onto Norway’s busiest shopping street for the first time in its history, a state-of-the-art beauty hall and upgraded architecture, including a new atrium. Sales on reopening have been strong.

The oldest continuously running department store in the world, it offers six floors of fashion, style, beauty, lifestyle and food, and the revamp includes a new name, logo and visual identity. The store is now known as Steen & Strøm 1797, emphasising its long history, despite its overall contemporary image.

Promenaden Management CEO Annette Lund said the store is “the jewel in the Promenaden Fashion District crown. Having a fashion destination like Steen & Strøm in Oslo greatly contributes to its international appeal”.

The new entrance opens onto Karl Johans gate, which is an important development as that’s Norway’s most visited shopping street with over 15.5m shoppers every year in normal times. The company expects the new doorway and wider makeover to drive its own footfall from 2.2 million to 5 million visitors next year.

The new beauty hall, which was flagged in advance earlier this spring, has opened with a focus on big-names and niche brands, as well as services. It also has the first Dior Beauty Boutique in the Nordics.

The company has also released campaign imagery emphasising its new name and long history.

The store’s new visual identity was created by Lotta Nieminen Studio, which has previously worked with Hermès, Bulgari, Condé Nast, Liberty of London, Monocle and Vanity Fair. The rebrand consists of a new logo as well as the adaption of the name.

Nieminen said: “Getting to pull from such a long history is an inspiring starting point to a project: the story is already there. It was important for me to interpret Steen & Strøm's heritage through a modern lens in order to highlight not just the legacy, but the store's position as a bold, forward-thinking fashion destination throughout the years. With the new name, a modern type palette and a bold take on colour, the brand elements give Steen & Strøm a confident visual voice that embodies its high-end playfulness.”

The opening of the revamped store is just the first phase in a two-year master plan to “future-proof” it, with the next two phases “set to transform the remaining floors of the department store and introduce elements such as a French luxury corner and a unisex floor”. And later this year, a new e-commerce initiative will be launched in collaboration with Wishibam.