Innovative Approach to Stockroom Storage from Avanta UK Helps AllSaints Build on

Fashion Retail Success

An inventive approach to stockroom storage taken by Avanta UK has helped one of

the UK’s leading High Street fashion retailers enhance the efficiency of its ret
ail operation. The project, undertaken for AllSaints in a number of the company
’s stores nationwide, has addressed a key requirement which many in the retail s
ector will recognise – how to maximise storage capacity in often very limited or
constrained areas. To date the programme has seen the Avanta approach produce
a remarkable average increase in capacity per store of some 174%.
Two key factors have contributed to the stockroom solution with the resultant be
nefits now being enjoyed in a number of AllSaints outlets. The installations ha
ve centred on use of the ‘Just’ shelving range that not only offers simple, vers
atile construction, but also provides a choice of standard or heavy duty shelvin
g as well as a dedicated garment hanging option. Importantly, each location is
now also gaining from the dramatic space saving advantages that arise from shelv
ing installed in a ‘mobile’ configuration which, as Andrew Chipp, Sales Director
at Avanta UK explains, has been further enhanced by highly innovative thinking
–
“The ability of mobile shelving to maximise capacity within a given footprint is
well understood,” he says. “Because it only requires one access aisle to be op
en at a time, the remainder of the mobile shelving facility can remain in a clos
ed position, thus maximising the density of the ‘storage cube’. However, with g
arment hanging, there can be a risk that, where products overhang the edge of th
e bay, tangling could occur – which is not only inconvenient but, far worse, cou
ld lead to product damage.
“Our designers have addressed this by incorporating a simple buffer mechanism on
each mobile base that prevents aisles from being completely closed while still
providing sufficient benefit from the mobile shelving concept,” he continues. “
It is a simple approach but one which we believe has played a central role in en
abling AllSaints to address a key storage issue, and one which is becoming incre
asingly significant across the organisation.”
It is the success of the AllSaints operation in the last two or three years – bo
th in the UK and internationally – that has seen greater demand placed on stockh
olding at each of its store locations around the country – the range of shoes al
one, for example, has seen a 40% increase over the period. The highly competiti
ve nature of the industry means that access to a range of product sizes and choi
ces on site is clearly vital, and it is this need that the approach taken by Ava
nta has addressed head on.
Andrew Chipp also adds emphasis to the suitability of the ‘Just’ shelving concep
t in this type of application –
“Its simple tap together and highly adjustable design offers unrestricted acces
s to both sides of each shelving run – very useful in a mobile configuration suc
h as at the AllSaints sites. With beams simply slotted into the uprights, the s
tructure can hold either chipboard shelves or can be fitted with the purpose-des
igned garment hanging system – both of which we have used extensively as part of
the AllSaints project.
“We are delighted that a highly respected and growing retail organisation such
as AllSaints has been able to gain from our system,” he adds. “We are confident
that everybody involved in the clothing retail industry will recognise the issu
es that have been addressed and the benefits that are now being enjoyed by the p
roduct used and the Avanta solution.”